•Majority rules •Recessions and furlough Fridays Majority rules Michael Levine’s Oct. 23 article in The Garden Island entitled “Council rules debate bubbles up” is a very accurate description of what I saw on the televised coverage of the Kaua‘i County
•Majority rules
•Recessions and furlough Fridays
Majority rules
Michael Levine’s Oct. 23 article in The Garden Island entitled “Council rules debate bubbles up” is a very accurate description of what I saw on the televised coverage of the Kaua‘i County Council meetings.
I hope the council members do watch themselves on TV to appreciate that which I write about today.
The subject “Council Rules” had been previously discussed and debated. With that in the background, the article reports, among other things, that Councilwoman Kawahara “criticized her colleagues for denying both the resolution and her request…” This, I believe, prompted a new and very junior member of the council to voice an effort to bring dignity and respect to council meetings which are being viewed by the public.
Councilman Kawakami is quoted as saying, “he is getting tired of every disagreement turning into ‘petty’ ‘grandstanding’ that doesn’t foster any kind of working relationship.” I might add from what I have seen that lengthy and repetitious dialogue used as a substitute for edification in discussion or debate as rebuttal becomes boring to listeners and I’m sure to other council members as well.
To express criticism of colleagues for denying a proposal displays a degree of immaturity of understanding the dynamics of democratic group decision-making. There is satisfaction in convincing a majority of colleagues to support any proposal. There is disappointment when the majority disagrees. That disappointment, however, should not merit criticism of colleagues and this is true of all elected or appointed members to any group decision-making body.
As always, every member must accept the basic rule that majority rules — right or wrong. With this acceptance, dignity and respect will follow and add to making better working relationships.
Alfred Laureta, Lihu‘e
Recessions and furlough Fridays
I am fearful about where we are going.
We are in a major recession, yet so many people do not know what made the Great Depression so great. In 1929, the stock market bubble burst and banks started failing. These shocks resulted in the public having less money to spend on labor.
Hoover and Roosevelt were of different parties, but they both used all their power, along with the unions, to keep wages from dropping. A free economy could have put people back to work in months. How? What happens when we have a bumper crop of mangoes and not many tourists to buy them? Do we keep the price high and let the mangoes rot? No, a free market will lower the price of mangoes until they all get sold and eaten.
In the same way, when there is not enough money to purchase people’s labor, it is better for wages to drop and everyone to start working again. Keeping wages high will mean some people cannot find work and will rot away in poverty. When everyone is accepting lower wages and working, plenty of goods and services will be produced and prices will drop. The average person will earn less dollars, but still be able to buy about the same amount of what they need. In 1930 or 1931, people could have been back to work at lower wages producing plenty of goods and services for everyone to enjoy.
However, in the Hoover/Roosevelt world, wages stayed high for those lucky enough to keep their jobs. Prices of goods and services dropped a little, but not very much, because they still had to be produced with expensive labor and there were so few people working to produce them. We became stuck in a cycle of misery that lasted 12 years until WW2.
The recent real estate boom led to booming state revenues as our property taxes doubled and incomes were high. Teachers’ salaries were increased significantly during that time. Now, after the bubble has burst, revenues for the state and all of us are down. Self-employed people (like myself) are working harder to make less.
The state had four main choices in dealing with teachers: (1) Raise taxes dramatically to try to get as much money from people in a recession as they received in a boom time. This would probably drive people out of Hawai‘i, leading to further revenue shortfalls. (2) Fire some teachers and have larger class sizes. (3) Keep the teachers, pay them less and have them teach less. (4) Keep the teachers, pay them less and have them teach the same.
The state chose option (3). Personally, I think option (4) would have been the lesser of four evils. After all, most of the rest of us are learning to live on fewer dollars than we did during boom times, while still working just as hard.
We are now in the unfortunate position of teaching our children less, waiting for another economic boom so we can afford to have a full school year again. That boom may not come again for a long time. As long as politicians and others view lower wages as a terrible taboo, we run the risk of being stuck in a depression every time another bubble bursts.
Mark Beeksma, Koloa
