Saving Hawaii’s Economy By Reversing the Flow of the 9-5 White Collar Jobs – Rail Transit Not Enough

For years I have watched the world find solutions to things that are broken with even more busted up short-term patchwork and I think it’s going to happen again.    Currently the major concerns for Hawaii is the economy and over development, and the more Hawaii’s major economic sector of tourism suffers, it acts as an aggregate to tax the people – you, me us…….tuff times.

Today there are more men of Hawaii who are laborers that are out of work than any other working force.  With more layoffs in the forecast due to budget cuts across civil and construction futures, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  Furthermore, local businesses from organic foods to contractors are having to raise prices to compete with mainland influences.  That in turn affects the down-line of suppliers…..on and on and on.  We’re in an economic spin and we need relief now, not in 5 years.  Help?

The “simple solution” to save the work force and pump the economy seems to be a heated spin point of both the mayors and governors race; the proposed rail transit system from west Oahu to downtown Honolulu.  Everyone get’s back to work, right?  ::::yawn::::  Um well……..maybe, but a short-term patch for a long-term problem.  Really?

It’s a 5 year program that will tax the citizens a bazillion dollars while helping the economy?  How much more gas will it burn, pollution pumped into the air, lost time from work and families because of being stuck in traffic due to transit building delays?  What’s the guarantee that people will use the transit being that most of us have a love affair with getting some privacy in our own cars?   IMO, the only way that mass transit will work they way people forecast is if there’s a mass outage of gas.

Like usual, we wait.  We wait for others to make the calls and to decide how to make it all work for everyone else.  Wait, wait, wait.  Weaving between politics and citizen needs, we wait.  It’s the all-American way.  But like you, I have an idea; a possibility, a desire to be a part of making a change for Hawaii’s future.  My favorite saying is “The best way to deal with change is to create it”.

The politicians argument for transit mirrors mine; kind of.  Yea, less traffic.  Yea, less pollution, but I think I just about cream them all with my “solution” which actually helps the people of Hawaii with their personal economic stability and recovery, not the corporate mantra of “time lost in traffic is time lost in the office”.  And the real bummer is that the state of Hawaii will get taxed but only the island of Oahu will reap the long term benefits.  The citizens of our neighbor islands will get worked on taxes in the long run.  What the heck?

Well, it’s time to think of a new method of getting people to feel good about working a 9-5 grind, so why wait for others to do it for us?  It always starts with an idea so here I go.

Saving Hawaii’s Economy By Reversing the Flow of the 9-5 White Collar Jobs

• Give state tax credits to companies that allow employees to work from home.  This saves up to $350 per household per month on gas base based on 2 working adults.  Also, businesses can downsize their office space and potentially hire more people or invest more capital into product growth with monies saved.  This will also attract new businesses to Hawaii which will reflect in more work as well as a refreshed tax base for the state.
• Less morning and evening travel for 9-5 traffic means less traffic – MUCH LESS!.  Still need rail?
• More time for families to invest in parenting of their kids to better prepare them for life instead of latch-keying them.  It’s proven that with parents being more available to their kids result in a stronger chance that they will be ready for the world, especially with the challenges of of the DOE budget and furlough Fridays, etc……..
• MORE JOBS FOR HAWAII BUILDING CONTRACTORS!!! With the reversal of the work force and downtown Honolulu buildings becoming vacant, the buildings  get turned into affordable living which creates hundreds of millions of dollars worth of jobs for laborers to do the conversions.  This also takes the pressure from horizontal land development, of which more Native Hawaiians will fight (as they should), and takes it into a vertical development that already exists.  The total conversion of business building to residential building will go for as many years and the transit will and pump the economic machine for an eighth of the cost of rail.
• NO PROPERTY WILL BE TAKEN FROM LEGAL OWNERS – If the transit gets approved, it’s going to kick up a ton of dust because of private property seizures which the city can do.  This is called Eminent domain. If we reverse the flow, nobody has to go!
• Less gas used means price drops and stays in check with mainland prices.  This should also help with reduction of overall energy costs.  Of course, the Hawaii Government will get stressed out because of the taxes on our gas which  help fund maintenance on our roads will drop, so they’ll just chop some other municipal budget.  Hawaii’s state government is great at slashing DOE budgets, so why stop them now?  Keep the kids lolo?  Hmmmm, how many bank robberies so far this year?  Don’t get me started on that!
• BOTTOM LINE – More immediate money in the pockets of the citizens which translate to a surge of monies into local sectors, better debt pay-offs and management and the best – closer family development.

So to me, with the mere open-mindedness of some of the politicians who really say they want to make a difference, with what I call saving the economy by “Reversing The Flow”, we can turn Hawaii’s economic recovery from years away, to months away.

Would You Like Your Work Day To Look Like This?

Think about it – You wake up at 7am; not to rush into the shower and get all jammed up in traffic, but to make a cup of coffee, take your kids to school (save money for those who have to pay $ for school bus rides) then get back home to turn on your computer and turn on your company ISDN phone system and go to work.

Then at 12pm, make some lunch at your home of go to the local drive-in for your plate lunch (money into the local economy).  Then you come back home, work some more until you pick up your kids.  Once back home, work a little more than be there with your kids as they need help with their homework.  Then you work a bit more and it’s dinner time.  That is what your work day would look like and you’re still in your bus-up, day-to-day casual clothes.

I’m sure that there are those who will tear my idea up and those who will expand on it to make it better, but one thing is for sure, if we sit and wait and don’t share among ourselves  the great ideas we have, we have to wait for them.  Will they save us?  NO, WE NEED TO SAVE OURSELVES.

I’m just a blogger with an idea and a hope – so are you.  Share and engage.  We can make change happen without waiting for them to do it for us.  Remember, they work for us……

Would you like to work from home?

Geebz…..