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Entries for 'Keli'i Akina PhD'
Friday, April 25, 2025 |
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Focus should be on job growth and progress, not more and more taxes
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:06 PM :: 304 Views :: Taxes
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... Hawaii continues to suffer anemic economic growth — the second slowest in the country ....
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Monday, April 21, 2025 |
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SB1296: Apply rebuilding waivers to all Lahaina fire victims
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 9:09 PM :: 440 Views :: Maui County, Development
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... SB1296 seeks to exempt buildings anywhere in Hawaii destroyed by a disaster from needing a Special Management Area permit to rebuild ....
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Sunday, April 13, 2025 |
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WSJ: Lahaina's Lessons for Los Angeles
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:03 PM :: 847 Views :: Maui County, Development
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... how intractable regulations have delayed rebuilding in Lahaina ....
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Saturday, April 12, 2025 |
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Why are "blankety blank" tax-hike bills even allowed?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:50 PM :: 711 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, Tourism
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... In addition to the TAT-related bills — HB504 and SB1396 — our state legislators also are considering a big tax increase — via HB202 — on all Hawaii businesses through a stealthy redefining of what is considered an adequate reserve fund of the state's unemployment insurance program ....
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Saturday, April 5, 2025 |
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Turns out you can fight city hall — and win!
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:29 PM :: 816 Views :: Hawaii County , Development
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... Ausman sued Hawai‘i County’s Board of Appeals after finding himself in the strange position of owning a beach house in Milolii that he couldn’t live in or renovate ....
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Sunday, March 30, 2025 |
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We can do more to help Hawaii businesses rebound
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:29 AM :: 825 Views :: Economy, Small Business, COVID-19
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... Hawaii’s anemic economic growth — the second slowest in the country — should be a sign ....
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Thursday, March 27, 2025 |
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Tax hike on tourism would create ‘unintended consequences for all’
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 12:00 PM :: 873 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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... For the third year in a row, Hawaii policymakers are considering a bill that suggests they believe tourists are an endless source of funds ....
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Saturday, March 22, 2025 |
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Lahaina: Still waiting for permits
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:59 PM :: 918 Views :: Maui County, Development, Land Use
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... he’s paying a mortgage on an empty lot and watching his resources drain away while waiting for permits and approvals to rebuild ....
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Sunday, March 16, 2025 |
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SB1278: Legislature poised to fix a state wrong?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:27 AM :: 639 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, COVID-19
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... SB1278 would exempt from the state general excise tax any federal grants that Hawaii restaurants received during the COVID-19 lockdowns ....
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Thursday, March 13, 2025 |
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Tax bills suggest obliviousness to our daily struggles
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:11 PM :: 611 Views :: Taxes, Cost of Living
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... Let’s steer clear of tax hikes, instead focus on lowering costs ....
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Thursday, March 13, 2025 |
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HB422: Let’s close the book on school impact fees
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 3:59 PM :: 512 Views :: Education K-12, Development
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... HB422 would abolish the school impact fee program and transfer its balance to the School Facilities Special Fund ....
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Saturday, March 8, 2025 |
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Spreading Aloha Through Saying Goodbye
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:24 PM :: 963 Views :: Cost of Living
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“More Native Hawaiians flock to mainland cities and leave Hawaiʻi, citing high costs.”
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Wednesday, March 5, 2025 |
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Will Kōloa Rum Co. lawsuit be the nail in Jones Act coffin?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:00 AM :: 1061 Views :: Jones Act
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... the act intentionally disadvantaged the ports of Hawaii and Alaska ....
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Saturday, February 22, 2025 |
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Political problems not the same as true emergencies
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:46 PM :: 1067 Views :: Maui County, Ethics, Development, Hawaii State Government
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... You might not have realized this, but Hawaii residents are living in multiple, continual states of emergency ....
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Saturday, February 15, 2025 |
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If we're not careful, nearly everything will become "historic"
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:01 PM :: 844 Views :: Development
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... state law defines any building, structure, object, district, area or site over 50 years old as historic ....
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Sunday, February 9, 2025 |
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Don't tax me, bro!
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:16 AM :: 1182 Views :: Taxes
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“...So, how many tax hikes are they trying to pass this time?”
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Saturday, February 1, 2025 |
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Proposed "green fee" a reason for red flag
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 7:57 PM :: 946 Views :: Environment, Taxes, Tourism
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... Few ideas are as tenacious as the myth that we can make tourists pay for major programs without affecting locals ....
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Sunday, January 26, 2025 |
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Lowering our cost of living is worth cheering
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:36 AM :: 1019 Views :: Taxes, Cost of Living
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... the governor’s state income tax cut — approved unanimously last year by the Legislature — will reduce our taxes by as much as 71% for some families ....
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Monday, January 20, 2025 |
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Do Lahaina recovery efforts hold lessons for LA?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:35 PM :: 788 Views :: Maui County, Development
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... over the past year, we’ve seen how bureaucratic hurdles can make it difficult to rebuild homes and businesses ....
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Saturday, January 18, 2025 |
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Vigilance key to protecting historic state income tax cut
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:51 AM :: 705 Views :: Taxes
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... Hawaii lawmakers might undermine some of the benefits of the tax cut by raising taxes elsewhere, “just kind of surreptitiously” ....
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Sunday, January 12, 2025 |
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Walk back our tax cuts? That would be a shame.
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:01 AM :: 920 Views :: Taxes
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... You might have noticed something a little different about your most recent paycheck ....
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Saturday, January 11, 2025 |
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OHA Trustees Swear to Uphold Two Constitutions
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:00 AM :: 706 Views :: Hawaii History, OHA
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... trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) were sworn in by Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Justice Todd Eddins ....
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Friday, January 10, 2025 |
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Is another great year too much to ask?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:36 PM :: 763 Views :: Health Care, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... a modest but workable list of policy resolutions for 2025 ....
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Saturday, January 4, 2025 |
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Not Even Beautiful Hawaii Is Immune to ‘Tax Flight’
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:17 PM :: 1270 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Taxes
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... The Aloha State is finally facing the problem ....
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Saturday, December 21, 2024 |
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My wish list for Santa
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:26 PM :: 980 Views :: Development, Jones Act, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... a few requests for the people of Hawaii ....
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Saturday, December 14, 2024 |
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"Empty homes" tax deferral shows your voice matters
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:51 PM :: 2006 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... the credit for this win goes to you, the people who got involved and made their voices heard ....
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Tuesday, December 10, 2024 |
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Hawaii’s continuous exodus could get a whole lot worse
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 12:26 AM :: 1334 Views :: Hawaii Statistics
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... 70% of 1,500 local workers interviewed are either planning to move away or considering it ....
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Sunday, December 8, 2024 |
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Dream home in paradise leads to 'total dismay'
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:44 PM :: 2125 Views :: Hawaii County , Ethics, Development
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... Kafkaesque issues that so far have been unresolvable ....
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Sunday, November 24, 2024 |
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Put "empty homes" tax proposal on pause
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 8:10 PM :: 1606 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... the third time won’t be the charm ....
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Saturday, November 16, 2024 |
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I see people leaving
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:56 PM :: 2214 Views :: Development, Cost of Living
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... it could get worse ....
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Saturday, November 9, 2024 |
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Hawaii's permitting headaches: 'stories of anger and frustration'
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:50 PM :: 1649 Views :: Development, Cost of Living
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... these roadblocks hinder homebuilding, which fuels the ongoing housing crisis that impacts us all ....
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Friday, November 1, 2024 |
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4-3 Vote: OHA Trustees Decide not to seek Exemption from Sunshine Law
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:50 AM :: 2148 Views :: Ethics, OHA
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... The Board of Trustees voted not to pursue the exemption ....
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Sunday, October 27, 2024 |
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Hawaii's historic tax cut must be protected not because we want it, but because we need it
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 1:35 AM :: 1197 Views :: Taxes, Cost of Living
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... Hawaii’s lawmakers listened to the people and did the most effective thing they could to significantly lower our incredibly high cost of living ....
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Sunday, October 20, 2024 |
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Emergency: Stop Amending Building Codes
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:48 AM :: 1215 Views :: Development, Hawaii State Government
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... Gov. Green steps in where Legislature faltered ....
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Saturday, October 12, 2024 |
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Permitting nightmare on Big Island
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:04 PM :: 2209 Views :: Honolulu County, Development
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"That's not possible. If the building permit doesn’t have a final, you would not have issued me a remodeling permit.”
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Sunday, October 6, 2024 |
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To bee or not to bee?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 8:10 PM :: 1307 Views :: Hawaii County , Honolulu County, Agriculture
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... just as Hawai‘i County lawmakers were working on freeing the bees, the Honolulu County Council began making an unexpected beeline in the opposite direction ....
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Sunday, September 29, 2024 |
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Will rent stabilization reduce housing costs? Hardly.
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:50 AM :: 1573 Views :: Maui County, Development, Cost of Living
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... Price control will always have the same effect: scarcity, a distorted market and higher prices ....
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Monday, September 23, 2024 |
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Is Jones Act unconstitutional as it applies to Hawaii, Alaska?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:53 AM :: 1341 Views :: Jones Act
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... a new legal theory against the Jones Act ....
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Wednesday, September 18, 2024 |
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Healthy habits for a healthy economy
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:14 AM :: 1099 Views :: Taxes
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... the largest personal income tax cut in state history ....
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Sunday, September 8, 2024 |
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“Everybody knows you’re probably going to die before you ever get to the top”
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:30 PM :: 1999 Views :: Maui County, Development, Small Business
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... Maui County’s extremely long wait times and high fees to obtain water meters and add fixtures ....
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Sunday, September 1, 2024 |
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Will Front Street become just a fond memory?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:58 AM :: 2124 Views :: Maui County, Development, Hawaii History, Small Business
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... Let the people who have lost their properties and are bravely committed to rebuilding do just that — and enable them to do it quickly ....
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Tuesday, August 27, 2024 |
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‘If it can happen in Hawaii, it can happen everywhere’
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 4:57 AM :: 2885 Views :: Development, Health Care, Taxes
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... legislative victories this year in the areas of taxation, housing, healthcare and other issues ....
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Saturday, August 17, 2024 |
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Empty homes tax haunts us again
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 10:18 PM :: 3017 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... it’s important to differentiate between good intentions and good policy ....
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Sunday, August 11, 2024 |
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Doing what we can to Help our Maui Ohana
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:18 PM :: 2603 Views :: Maui County, Development
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... supporting policies that could speed up homebuilding and lighten the financial burden for the thousands of residents who lost their homes to the fires ....
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Sunday, August 4, 2024 |
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What Hawaii Businesses Really Need
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 6:52 AM :: 1160 Views :: Small Business
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... How much do Hawaii lawmakers really want to help businesses thrive? ....
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Sunday, July 28, 2024 |
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Regulations gone wrong
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:40 AM :: 1388 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Labor, Small Business
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... take a light-handed approach with occupational licensing ....
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Thursday, July 25, 2024 |
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Hawaii to Become one of the best states in terms of income tax?
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 11:50 PM :: 1629 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Taxes
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“ ... Hawaii goes from being the second worst to one of the best states in terms of taxation .... ”
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Sunday, July 21, 2024 |
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Rebuilding Lahaina: A breath of fresh air
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 5:05 PM :: 1220 Views :: Maui County, Development
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... All of these bills show that the Maui Council is making progress toward helping county residents find housing and rebuild their lives and businesses ....
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Wednesday, July 17, 2024 |
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The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 8:42 PM :: 1014 Views :: Economy
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... a scholarly contradiction of the myth that population growth must lead to scarcity ....
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