• Bike path funds • Public broadcasting • Bird’s eye view Bike path funds A letter in Monday’s issue of The Garden Island characterized the millions of dollars being spent on the bike path as a positive act because it
• Bike path funds
• Public broadcasting
• Bird’s eye view
Bike path funds
A letter in Monday’s issue of The Garden Island characterized the millions of dollars being spent on the bike path as a positive act because it provides work that would otherwise not be available.
This reasoning is based on fallacy. The reality is that that there is no net economic gain from government spending.
The writer, and many others, forget that whatever government spends it must first forcibly take from the private sector of the economy. Would she have us believe that a thief is to be credited as a positive force in the economy when he spends his ill-got-ten gains? What is neglected here is the loss suffered by taxpayers and the missing economic benefit that their private spending and saving would have created in the absence of taxes.
We should always remember that it is private savings and spending — not government theft — that makes financial capital available for business investment and that it is investment alone that is the real engine of economic growth and therefore job creation.
Public broadcasting
Without a doubt, the best TV programming in Hawai‘i and in America is provided by PBS.
Two years ago, President Bush appointed Kenneth Tomlinson as Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and recently appointed Patricia Harrison as President and CEO. Among her other past political positions, Ms. Harrison was co-chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1997-2001.
Their mission: if unable to completely dismantle public broadcasting, to at least turn it into a right-wing political outlet. Tomlinson has been working for two years to do just that, and now Harrison has joined that same team.
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Republican Senator Arlen Specter, held a hearing about funding for public broad-casting. There were four appropriate witnesses who were directly involved in public broadcasting —Tomlinson, Harrison, Pat Mitchell (Pres. and CEO of PBS) and John Lawson, Pres. and CEO of a public TV station.
For some strange reason (pure politics?) Sen. Specter invited a fifth person (the only one not directly involved in public broadcasting) as one of the “witnesses” called to “testify.” This person was David Boaz from the right-wing Cato Institute. Sen. Specter seemed very fond of Boaz and focused almost all of his attention on him, in effect giving the Cato Institute a prominent platform from which to attack public broadcasting. After the hearing ended, Boaz was heard, still on mic, warmly thanking Specter for inviting him!
Bird’s eye view
Recently having the experience of flying with Wings Over Kauai, the changes on the island are truly astonishing. It makes one hold more dear the beauty of the island. A panoramic flight which encompasses the entire island, the diversity and development can truly be appreciated. With safety first, the pilot was most informative in guiding us around the vistas which can only be seen from a small plane.
New development, from mega mansions on the north shore, condo projects on the east side, expansions in Lihu‘e, and more condos in Kalaheo, once again reverberates a call to action which we must respond to in order to preserve the Kaua‘i that most of us are here for.
