• Scamming the middle class • Voting green • Superferry’s boondoggle business plan • Help promote highway safety Scamming the middle class So the “privately funded” (including Anheuser-Busch and Verizon) Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i is telling us that Social Security
• Scamming the middle class • Voting green • Superferry’s boondoggle business plan • Help promote highway safety
Scamming the middle class
So the “privately funded” (including Anheuser-Busch and Verizon) Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i is telling us that Social Security is going broke.
Yes, the government has issued Treasury Notes — the safest investment in the world — to the Trust Fund. Mr. Kalapa suggests these notes are worthless. Does that mean the Treasuries owned by corporations are also worthless?
If nothing is done, the funds in the Trust Fund will last for another 27 years. So what is the hurry in “fixing it”?
This is yet another scam by certain groups that want to steal the wealth of the middle class and continue transferring that wealth to the richest 1 percent of our population.
The Republicans are filibustering extended unemployment insurance because it isn’t paid for. But that did not stop them from spending on their pet projects under the Bush Administration.
They would rather steal your retirement. Are you going to let them?
John Zwiebel, Kalaheo
Voting green
I’m voting green. I want to see more self sustaining energy and agriculture, curbside recycling, and expanded bus services.
My sister shared a car with her husband for many years on O‘ahu because it was convenient to take the bus. This could happen here.
In other words, I want politicians that our willing to make changes even though that is a difficult task. JoAnn Yukimura is running for council again. She started the bus service and the Sunshine Markets.
She has always been an advocate for sustainability and zero waste way before it was fashionable. Please check out her website and attend one of her many neighborhood gatherings.
Linda Silva, Kalaheo
Superferry’s boondoggle business plan
The July 24 letter writer Cayetano Gerardo must have missed the recent AP news item in The Garden Island, “The Hawaii Superferry was sailing under a facade of success … shortchanging the state on its monthly fees. The company’s inability to pay fully [as early as] July 2008 indicates it was in troubled waters nine months before [voluntarily ceasing operations]…”
Indeed, let’s remember and support the elected officials who took a stand against a boondoggle business plan that was destined to fail in the free market.
Furthermore, the voters/consumers of Hawai‘i can thank the blind political supporters of the Superferry for 18 more years of higher prices to cover the more than $40 million that the state lost on the Superferry and which other harbor users now have to cover and pass on to the consumers of Hawai‘i.
Indeed, come election day let’s remember the politicians who did not speak up and those who supported a Superferry business plan that was destined to fail under top-heavy operating expenses and ultimately cost the taxpayers and consumers more money for nothing. Vote ‘em down.
Brad Parsons, Hanalei
Help promote highway safety
The Kaua‘i Humane Society in Puhi maintains a beautiful facility and provides many services to the community. These include boarding, quarantine, and adoption services, as well as dog obedience classes and a “bark park” so pets and their owners have a safe, secure place to play.
However, when attempting to leave the facility, exiting cars encounter a dangerous left turn onto busy Kaumuali‘i Highway. Even making a right turn can be difficult at peak traffic times — but making a left turn is difficult and dangerous throughout the day.
This creates a hazard for those using the bark park and other KHS services as well as those simply driving by on the highway.
In checking with (Hawai‘i Dept. of Transportation, Kaua‘i District Office), I am informed they will investigate the possibility of creating a merge or “pocket” lane to assist cars that need to make a left turn.
This can be accomplished at no charge to KHS and with minimal cost or effort by repainting and repositioning existing lane lines. All residents are urged to make a safe exit from the Humane Society facility a reality by signing a petition to show their support.
Just stop the front desk where the petition is available and add your name to the list of those supporting highway safety. Let’s work together and make a change to benefit the community!
Charleen “Charly” Andrade (and Paka-Boy), Kapa‘a
