The Economic Crunch: How States Need the Contingency Plan
A signficant portion of our Mayor's time is spent working with those in the tourism industry to make sure that our number one source of income here on the islands is thriving. It's political "good business" to make sure that the hotel industry does not feel neglected here on the islands. With the current economic climate everyone has their eyes on occupancy rates at the hotels to make sure that we are keeping our Hawaiian economy sustained.
Of course, Monday, Dow dropped 777 points and nobody needs occupancy rates to know how the economy is doing.
Hawaii has always relied upon the tourism industry to keep our state fully funded and swinging, but with the economic and gasoline crisis that is looming above us there are a lot fears that are becoming realities. Joblessness and layoffs in the hotels seem to be higher than ever, and most in the sales markets of these hotels feel that the crunch of what we are feeling now is worse than what happened at 911.
That's the problem with putting all of your eggs in one basket.
Hawaii stands at a crucial point for many reasons: we are a full 2000 miles away from any major land mass which causes the increases of food supply and demand to go sky high, especially in times such as these. And though it is vital for us to become sustainable, there seems to be no rush on the part of our politicians to make sure that we can survive any food, gasoline or economic crisis. We still think tourism might be our sustainability. That unfortunately, is the worst mistake that we could make.
A few years ago I read that many believe the green movement will generate greater economic security than the dot com movement ever had, and that unlike the dot com movement, it has a greater chance of sustaining the revenue and economic upturn than the dot com movement did. Hawaii is one of those states that have the best chance at creating jobs in the green movement, given our terrific weather and oceanic interdependency.
Unfortunately instead of creating a way for companies like GM, Electric Motors and others to do research and progress green innovation, these companies have been all but ignored on the islands. Instead, we are still trying to get bigger and better hotels to build here.
Despite the fact that the Chicago Tribune recently reported that the economics of investing in green companies is the most bankable solution at this juncture, or the fact that "going green" is saving companies millions of dollars over the long run, Hawaii is still stuck on the plan that we've depended upon since before we were a state.
It may be why we are a sinking state.
If we are learning anything from Wall Street at this point it should be that each state needs a contingency plan for such a time as this. For Hawaii, it means re-looking at what has been our industry and start to see the future for what it is…very, very green.
Considering other options, such as making it easier for research and innovation to occur in this state, working alongside environmentalists to seek out solutions to or earths crisis and using the natural resources that we have here at our disposal may be exactly what we need as a state and a nation in order to rebuild the mess that we have made of Wall Street. Politicians who create legislation and tax breaks for these companies to work, will do more of us a favor in the long run than building a new hotel. It may be, in fact, the contingency plan that is absolutely necessary at this point.