The Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie came to me with an unusual question.
“Can the State tax itself?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but why would anyone care?”
“You remember there’s a bill that the Legislature passed, SB 3201, that would make a big change in how nonprofits pay general excise tax?”
“Yes, I’m aware of that one.”
“Rumor is that the University of Hawaii is scared of it because someone has been telling them that the research grants they get would be exposed to GET.”
“That’s ridiculous. First of all, governments don’t pay taxes. Taxpayers pay taxes.”
“What says they can’t?”
“I don’t know if there’s something that says they can’t. But they don’t. Why tax a state agency? It’s putting money from the right pocket to the left pocket. Entirely pointless.”
“Oh, but there might be a point. Someone might want to move money from special funds, which can be only used for certain things, to the State’s general fund, which can be used for anything.”
“There are much easier ways to do that. They can just enact a law moving the money between the funds. They did that in 2021.”
“But what if they wanted to be devious about it?”
“There’s already a law like that. It charges each special fund a maintenance fee, and siphons that money back to the general fund.”
“But if the Tax Department wanted to be inefficient and devious and really wanted to get a piece of the UH research grants, could they do it?”
“There would be problems. The Department issued a Tax Information Release in 1989 saying that our Department of Education and its public schools are not taxable entities subject to the GET.”
“Hmmm, I see. It’s tough to say a public school is never taxable while a public university is. But if the Department doesn’t like that precedent it can always change it, right?”
“In theory, I suppose. But then they’d get criticized for upending precedent just like the U.S. Supreme Court is under fire now.”
“Plus, no state agency files tax returns now, and I think they’d be furious if the Tax Director says that they need to.”
“Especially for the back years. If you need to file a tax return and you don’t, there is no statute of limitations so they would have to file tax returns for periods before the agency workers were even born.”
For some reason, the Doggie found that funny. He was rolling on the floor, then breaking into a coughing fit.
“You okay, Doggie?”
“Just getting old, I guess. But if you’re wrong on this, so help me I’ll jump up on your face and bite you on the schnozz!”
HONOLULU (July 6, 2022)— Mānoa Valley Theatre is thrilled to announce the extension of the wickedly funny Once Upon One Time, a musical comedy by Lisa Matsumoto, with music by Paul Palmore and additional songs by Roslyn Catracchia now through July 17th at Kaimukī High School. Lisa Matsumoto’s Once Upon One Time adapts and intertwines familiar tales to create a musical fairy tale fantasy for the whole family! Audience members journey to the kingdom of Da Wicked Queen and crazy characters in this delightful retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Hansel and Gretel, told “local style,” as you’ve never heard them before.
Added Performances:
Friday, July 15 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, July 16 at 3:00 & 7:30 pm
Sunday, July 17 at 3:00 pm
Stage Direction – Michael Ng. Music Direction – Darcie Yoshinaga. Assistant Music Director – Justin Garde. Choreographer – Katherine Jones. Set Designer, Scenic Artist and Assistant Technical Director – MJ Matsushita. Technical Director – Willie Sabel. Prop Design – John M. Cummings III. Lighting Design – Chris Gouveia. Costume Design – Kimmerie Jones. Hair and Makeup Design – Lisa Ponce de Leon. Assistant Hair and Makeup Design – Joshua Oshiro. Sound Designer and Engineer – Robert Matsushita. Stage Manager – Erich Steinwandt-Gudoy. Assistant to the Directors – Justine Whyland. Backstage Crew Chief – Masako Wheeler. Cast: Narrator 1 – Devon Nekoba, Narrator 2 – Jarod Bailon, Da Wicked Queen – Kathrine Nakano, Da Oddah Prince – Jantzen Shinmoto, Da Hunta – Stephanie Sanchez, De Mean Step Mother – Elliot Dimacali, Noelani – Ayzhia-Marie Tadeo, Hauna – Jared Paakaula, Tantaran – Isaiah Avilla, Lehua – Alanna Poelzing, Red Rose Haku – Leimomi Herrell, Honey Girl – Samantha Fukushima, Kekoa – Jarren Amian, Maile – Nadia Amian, Menehune Who – Ernor Sewell-Welle, Menehune Wat – Misipati Wene-Sataraka, Menehune Wen – Justin Garde, Menehune Wea – I.S., Ruben, Menehune Why – Dwayne Asiata, Menehune How Come/Lolo – Andrew Asato, The Lost Princess – Rachel League, Da Mean Mongoose – Kirk Lapilio Jr., The Prince/Da Prince – Nolan Hong, Tutu/Fairy God Tutu – Jill Chung, Geckos – Keela Chung, Easton Ikenaga, Kaelyn, Nekoba, Teagan Timtim, Bufos – Nahale Brash and Chad Okumura.
The production originally scheduled to run June 30th – July 10th will now run through July 17th. Show times are Thur. and Fri. and Sat. 7:30 p.m., and Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets: Adult- $40. Seniors and Military- $35, Youth (25 years old and younger) $22. Suggested for ages 13 and over. Call 988-6131 or purchase tickets online at manoavalleytheatre.com. The doors will open for seating one half hour prior to each performance. No outside food or drinks allowed. The play is performed in two acts with one intermission.
All performances take place at Kaimukī High School.
Mānoa Valley Theatre recognizes Season Benefactor Sponsors Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., Cades Schutte and the Cades Foundation, and The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The Season Presenter Sponsors are Richard & Myrna Cundy, the George Mason Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. Season Sponsors are First Hawaiian Bank, Bob & Corrine Taylor, Jeffrey S. Portnoy in memory of Sandi Portnoy. The Season Supporting Sponsors are Beth Tarter & Nathan Sult, Kosasa Foundation and Sunshine Arbor Care.
This weekend is a time for celebrating the Declaration of Independence, which was the inspiration behind the founding of the United States of America.
In Hawaii, this July 4th can be additionally meaningful, as we have the opportunity to defend liberty and uphold the system of political checks and balances embodied in both our national and state constitutions.
Earlier this week, Gov. David Ige announced his “intent to veto” SB3089, a bill that aims to reform the state’s emergency powers law. The measure would prevent the governor from unilaterally extending states of emergency beyond the statutory limit and imposing orders that conflict with the state Constitution or are not relevant to public safety or health.
Keli‘i Akina
The background for such a reform is the more than two years of lockdowns and other extreme government measures related to COVID-19 that we experienced firsthand starting in March 2020, and some of which still linger today.
During that long period, we learned about the flaws in the current law, the most notable of which is its automatic termination clause. This section of the law, which plainly says that an emergency shall end after 60 days. was ignored by the governor as he issued supplemental proclamation after supplemental proclamation, extending the initial emergency period seemingly indefinitely.
But that wasn’t the only problem exposed by the unusually long public health-related state of emergency. The governor unilaterally suspended laws and made new ones, if only temporarily, making him into a kind of super-legislator. Combined with his repeated emergency extensions, the result was an unchecked expansion of executive power that could last as long as the governor wanted.
Malia Hill, one of my colleagues at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, explained in her January 2021 policy report, Lockdowns vs. Liberty, that a legislative check on the governor is the best way to restore the state’s constitutional balance of powers, especially considering the reluctance of the courts to step in and the uncertainty over how they might rule. Changing the law itself will ensure that the people of Hawaii have a voice in their government during future emergencies.
To their credit, the majority of our legislators in both chambers understood the problem posed by the flawed statute and came close to reforming it during their 2021 session. During the 2022 session, they tried again and came up with SB3089.
This new bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, allows the Legislature to terminate an emergency, in whole or in part, by a two-thirds vote. It also states that the governor’s emergency powers must be consistent with the Hawaii Constitution, and requires justification for the suspension of laws.
Finally, it deals with the question of whether the automatic-termination clause is the final word on ending an emergency or whether the governor can extend an emergency.
As recently as a few weeks ago, Ige indicated that he might allow SB3089 to pass. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way he changed his mind and decided to defend the arbitrary and limitless use of executive power in an emergency.
SB3089 is hardly the extreme, anti-health-and-safety bill characterized in the governor’s press statement. In fact, it bears a strong resemblance to bills passed in other states as a result of their experiences during the coronavirus lockdowns.
All SB3089 does is correct an oversight in the existing emergency-management statute, which clearly was not crafted to deal with coronavirus-type public health emergencies. It even allows the Legislature to partially end a declared emergency, thereby providing a mechanism for the state to keep receiving and distributing federal aid.
My hope is that Gov. Ige will change his mind and allow SB3089 to become law. But if he doesn’t, the Legislature can vote to override his veto in a special session.
A veto override requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate. Given that SB3089 passed easily to begin with, there should be enough support to override Ige’s veto of the bill.
At the same time, however, the Legislature is preoccupied with the state budget bill, and it would be easy for the emergency powers bill to get lost in the shuffle.
That’s why it’s important to let the Legislature know how important this bill is, by calling or sending a letter to your state House and Senate representatives.
If you need some help on how to do that, just go to the “Take Action” page on the Grassroot Institute’s website and fill out the necessary information. The page will help you identify your elected representatives and assist you in crafting a message about SB3089.
This is your opportunity to tell your elected officials what you think about this bill and why it is vital to head off or override the governor’s veto.
Two years of “emergency rule” did untold damage to our liberties — and to the economic and social fabric of Hawaii. Let us act now so Hawaii’s future generations never have to experience what we most recently had to endure.
This Fourth of July weekend, take real action for liberty and let your legislator know why we need to restore the constitutional balance of powers by ensuring that SB3089 becomes law. __________
Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
These days, there are tons and tons of new items keeping our minds occupied – from the Johnny Depp trial to the January 6 hearings to the demise of Roe v. Wade. As our primary and general elections edge ever closer, however, there are a few long-term concepts that we as voters should be top of mind as well.
“It’s the economy, stupid.” This phrase, coined by Democratic strategist James Carville in 1992 as part of Bill Clinton’s campaign against George H.W. Bush, solidified one of the key concerns of Americans at the time – so much so that Clinton was able to unseat Bush even after Bush had enjoyed a public approval rating of 90% the year before, on the heels of the ground war in Kuwait.
On June 6, the financial site WalletHub put out a study called “2022’s Best and Worst State Economies.” In that site, our humble little state had lots of reasons to be humble, coming in at a bottom-scraping 48th out of 51 (50 states and the District of Columbia). The only three states to finish lower than us were Louisiana at 49th, Alaska at 50th, and West Virginia at 51st. West Coast states, by the way, were doing very well: California ranked 3rd overall, Oregon was 9th, and Washington state got the top spot.
To come up with their rankings, WalletHub examined indicators in three areas, Economic Activity, Economic Health, and Innovation Potential. Economic Activity included things like change in Gross Domestic Product in 2021 over 2020, exports per capita, and state gross public debt as a percentage of GDP. Economic Health included indicators like unemployment rate, change in nonfarm payrolls, growth in state personal income, government surplus/deficit per capita, and unfunded public pension plans per capita. Innovation Potential used metrics like share of jobs in high tech industries and STEM employment, entrepreneurial activity (from the Kauffman Index of Startup Activity), and inventor patents attributed to the state.
Of these three categories of metrics, Hawaii pulled in at 33rd on Economic Health, solidly in the middle of the pack, but was blown out in Economic Activity (47th) and Innovation Potential (50th).
But hold on a cotton-pickin’ minute there. Wasn’t it a mere 20 years ago when we as a state threw a whole bunch of resources at high technology and vowed to make the state a better, friendlier place for tech? And that institutions we set up for that purpose, like the High Technology Development Corporation, are still around today? It would be understandable if a few states caught up to us in that department in the past 20 years, but almost ALL of them? Yikes! We must be doing something terribly wrong.
But is it really that strange? People generally were and are packing their things and getting on planes with one-way tickets out of here because they weren’t able to make ends meet. Is it a surprise that businesses, high-tech businesses among them, would do the same?
Lawmakers, please note: We know that some of you don’t think of businesses as your constituents, whom you are supposed to be serving. Some of you think that businesses are cows to be milked. But even so, if you want the milk you have to feed the cow.
Boundless optimism may be a great trait in a friend, but it’s not what you need when you’re dealing with billion-dollar projects and long-term cost projections.
From the beginning, the folks in charge of the Honolulu rail project have been relentlessly sunny in their projections. It was sold to the public on the promise that it would only cost about $4 billion, that it would be completed by 2019 and that the general excise tax surcharge associated with it would end by 2022.
By the time the Federal Transit Administration got on board with an agreement to contribute $1.55 billion, the expected cost was $5.12 billion.
Now, with the FTA still holding on to $744 million, the projected cost is approximately $12 billion. The last completion date we were given was 2031, and the GET surcharge has been extended to 2030.
Keli‘i Akina
In yet another display of optimism, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has submitted its 2022 recovery plan to the FTA, as required to secure the rest of the promised federal funds. Not only does the recovery plan state that the project can be finished for $9.93 billion, it also is generous in its ridership estimates and its projections of future revenue from the general excise and transient accommodations taxes.
In addition, the plan is vague about how certain aspects of the rail, such as the Pearl Highlands garage or the completion of the rail to Ala Moana, will be accomplished.
If you take off the rose-colored glasses, the recovery plan raises more questions than it answers.
In fact, two prominent rail critics — current HART board member Natalie Iwasa and former board member Joe Uno — have submitted their own letter to the FTA expressing their concerns about the recovery plan.
Iwasa and Uno catalog many of the technical faults with the way that revenue projections, cost estimates and ridership numbers have been calculated.
For example, their letter notes that the data used by HART to calculate annual growth rates in the GET and TAT did not take into account anomalous changes caused by legislative action in 2017. Based on calculations that account for those variables, Iwasa and Uno determined that HART overestimated its revenues from those taxes by at least $200 million through fiscal 2030.
In a similar way, Iwasa and Uno find issues with the recovery plan’s revised completion cost. They rightly point out that the rail has a history of underestimated costs and that the plan finds “savings” by:
>> Inflating the costs saved on the Pearl Highlands garage.
>> Overlooking the cost of delays and future legal settlements.
>> Not accounting for the current spike in inflation, which likely will increase its costs.
The trend of overly optimistic projections continues with the rail’s future ridership numbers. As Iwasa and Uno point out, HART’s ridership projections at one point would have been high for a city five times as big as Honolulu.
Construction of the Honolulu rail has been going on for years, and likely will continue for many years to come, even though it was supposed to be completed by now.
Actual ridership on recent rail projects around the country is about 59% less than predicted, but HART claims that mass transit ridership will increase by nearly 60% over pre-pandemic levels.
Iwasa and Uno explore several other problem areas, from the loss of public trust to operations and maintenance costs and environmental issues.
They ask why there has been so little discussion of options and alternatives, and that the FTA investigation these problems rather than simply approving HART’s recovery plan.
In a separate letter to the FTA, my colleague Joe Kent at the Grassroot Institute expressed similar concerns. He said the recovery plan has “overly optimistic assumptions about revenues, ridership and costs, and that this could saddle local taxpayers with unstated liabilities in the future.”
He pointed out that, given its track record of ballooning budgets and delays, HART’s projections should be treated with extreme skepticism.
There are a lot of people who are willing to just throw money at the rail until it’s done … and then, presumably, keep throwing money at it to keep it going regardless of who it is serving or how much it costs.
But in the end, taxpayers are going to be the ones who foot the bill for HART’s optimistic budget-busting.
I say we deserve more transparency and accountability in how the rail goes forward from here. I hope the FTA listens to the concerns of Iwasa and Uno, the Grassroot Institute, the Outdoor Circle and others regarding the projected costs, revenues and ridership of the wildly over-budget and behind-schedule Honolulu rail.
Perhaps this will be the moment when we will finally be able to have a real, fully transparent debate about the project’s future. _________
Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
Maui, our Garden Island, has been on the move lately. It recently passed a budget, its largest ever, where it proposes to spend more than One Billion Dollars in this fiscal year. This, by the way, is a 26% increase over last fiscal year’s budget of $844 million.
Where is all this moola coming from? For one thing, Maui jumped on the bandwagon when the counties were allowed to enact a surcharge on top of the State hotel room tax. The state tax is 10.25% and Maui County will be adding another three percentage points to it. That surcharge was estimated to add $60 million to Maui County coffers. But we need to remember that the $60 million is not all new money. The same bill that allowed the surcharge also scuppered $23.484 million in state transient accommodations taxes that were being paid over to Maui County as revenue sharing.
Then, Maui County is dropping its property tax rate on year-round residents while hoisting the rates on resorts and high-end second homes.
It’s going to spend more money than ever before on affordable housing. Of course, much will go to basic government services like roads, police and firefighters along with other county and social programs, like those that support local farmers, pay for summer child care workers and remove invasive species from the islands’ delicate natural ecosystems. In the end, though, the staggering size of the budget prompted some Council members to question whether county government would even be able to spend all of the moneys budgeted.
One of the more interesting observations on the budget was made by Councilmember Gabe Johnson. As reported in Honolulu Civil Beat, he said, “This budget is a moral document where we put our money where our mouth is.”
A budget is a moral document? So it’s not a matter of providing for products and services to serve the people of Maui, but it’s also about legislating morality?
We can’t deny that many legislative actions, including taxes, exemptions, credits and other features in the tax world, are there to encourage or mandate social policy. But it makes me wonder if the legislators sponsoring those measures have come to grips with the idea that they are supposed to be serving those who have elected them into office, and not the other way around. “You elected me,” some legislators may think, “which gives me the moral authority to encourage or require you and others to follow what I say is right and moral.”
Long-term residents are moral. Visitors, especially the wealthy ones, are cows to be milked for their money. Is that the kind of morality that Maui is all about? I thought we were more friendly and welcoming than that. Shouldn’t the Aloha Spirit be part of our morality too?
And, of course, this is not just a Maui problem. We too often have seen local politicians of all stripes take aim at transient or part-time residents. In 2017, we raised the transient accommodations tax to a record level, 10.25%, and a mere four years later we’re adding another 3 percentage points. Both the state and some counties have proposed a vacant homes tax. The list goes on.
Our lawmakers need to be aware that people can vote in different ways. One is at the ballot box. Another is with their feet. If they don’t like the environment, they can jump on a plane or a boat and off they go. They can also these days record their displeasure on social media for others to see, like an online review of a shop or restaurant but with the subject being the state or the county instead.
If we don’t watch out, that favorite old song might get reworded in the future: “They say that Maui no ka $$, and I agree… Maui no ka $$ surely ain’t the place for me.”
Let’s face it folks. We’ve spent a helluva lot more time in our kitchens in the last year or so than we ever dreamed possible. We’ve had no choice but to prepare nearly 100% more of our own meals. Not all of those meals were healthy and there are a lot of expanded waistlines to prove it. I’ve tried to use this period to learn how to prepare food that is going to not only be tasty but better for me.
The first device in my healthy kitchen arsenal is the Vitamix Ascent 2500 which occupies the upper mid-range of the company’s product line.
For readers who are serious home chefs, Vitamix is hardly an unknown entity. There’s a near cult-following around the product which was introduced in 1949.
I didn’t really understand the enthusiasm around this blender until I started using it. Now I get it and would have to agree, this is one bad-ass kitchen appliance.
Some have likened the Vitamix to a “Ferrari”. As I’ve written in another article, I would compare it to a Rolls Royce. Not the car but the jet aircraft engine. This came to mind after my “first blend” which is what the instruction manual calls your first cleaning after set it up. (Naturally you’ll want to clean the container before you use it).
The Ascent 2500control panel is easy to use. There’s a speed for every application and clicking on the icon (on righthand side of dial) will automatically blend smoothies, frozen desserts, spreads and soups.
The instructions direct you to add water and a few drops of soap. Then the fun begins.
You’re instructed to slowly crank up the rpms for 60 seconds—from 1 to 10 on the dial. The blades whip the soapy water in a foamy frenzy.
Holy moly! At “full throttle” the 2.2 horsepower motor it screams like a 747 on takeoff. It was impressive and to me, the uninitiated, it was a little scary. I mean my weed-wacker probably doesn’t have the ponies that the Ascent 2500 has.
Was this thing going to blow up and scatter shrapnel around my kitchen?
No way.
These are built on the order of “milspec” (military specifications) — like a tank. Maybe more dependable than an Abrams Tank. The warranty is good for ten years!
So, I started making stuff.
The blender comes with a massive 64 oz container with “self-detect” technologythat will read the size of the container (via wi-fi) and adjust blending times and speeds.The nice thing about this item is that it’s really easy to clean.
First were smoothies from dragon fruit, bananas, papaya—you name it. I’ve got a big garden that’s quite productive this time of year. So, it was smoothie city, throwing in items such as ginger and turmeric. For good measure I added vanilla. Not the stuff you get in the store. One of my neighbors cultivates the real deal. OMG, these smoothies oozed of good health.
Then onto humus and soups. Did you know that you can make hummus out of black beans or kidney beans? Experiment, kids!
So this is where the technology offers the home chef a few options. You can either point the dial to an automatic setting for smoothies, frozen desserts, and soups and flip the switch…and walk away. The program knows what to do.
Built into the system is “Self-Detect” technology. That means the blender “reads” the container size (which is communicated via wi-fi) and adjusts blending times and speed.
It helps if you have fresh ingredients….when it’s mango season it’s mango smoothie time. The Vitamix shines in this department…
Or, you can download their “Perfect Mix” app and pair the blender with your smartphone.
Once you have the app on your tablet or phone you find the hummus recipe. You add the ingredients to the container and point your finger to the “blend” icon on your screen. That brings up a bunch of other icons. For hummus you’ll want to find the “spreads” symbol. Tap that icon and the command is sent to the Vitamix.
Now the Vitamix “knows” has its marching orders. Flip the switch and the machine will take care of the rest.
Or, you can operate the 10-speed blender manually. My white kidney bean, or as we say in Italian (the can was imported) Fagioli Cannellini hummus was creamy smooth and the cumin seeds (which is what the recipe called for) were simply vaporized. It only took sixty seconds.
The “Perfect Mix” app comes in very handy. I used it for a hummus recipe.
In the future I may try 30 or 45 second to get a slightly rougher texture using the manual controls.
The engine is so powerful, the Vitamix can grind coffee or make nut “butter”. (For example, you toast walnuts and made walnut butter). It will pulverize anything to the point where the temperature of your mixture will rise if you don’t remove it in time. You can even grind grain and make flour with the Vitamix.
Of course, you can take your soups or dhal or whatever is loaded with vegetables and beat it into creamy submission.
“Simply Blending”, a 95-page recipe book comes with the package. There’s something for everyone.
One nice perk that comes with the blender is Simply Blending, a 95-page recipe book. It’s superbly photographed with some wonderful recipes to get you started.
Is this for everyone? At $500 probably not, if you’re just into weekly smoothies.
However, if you are serious about making other dishes and are willing to spend a few more bucks for a machine that’s a “keeper”, you’ll want this device.
A great selling point is that the Vitamix works both as blender and a food processor, so you get a two-fer. You can pack up that old food processer and give it away.
It’s been nearly a year since I wrote this article.
I had planned all kinds of treats with this machine but its main duties to date have been making humus, smoothies (depending on what’s in season) and occasionally pesto. In my experience the Ascent 2500 is everything it’s cracked up to be.
Works efficiently and has been wonderful during the Covid era where I’ve had more time to spend in the kitchen and pay attention to my diet.
So without further ado, here’s my health-freak mango concoction: fresh mangos, plain whole milk (home made) yogurt, teaspoon of matcha, fresh turmeric, juice of one small lime, (fresh) chopped vanilla bean, ice cubes, dash of moringa and splash of water. Of course you can substitute the “fresh” stuff above with less fresh ingredients but as they say, if you got it, may as well flaunt it and I’m lucky enough to have the space to grow things such as the mangos, the lime and the turmeric and/or make fresh stuff such as the yogurt.
My health-freak mango concoction…looks a bit suspect but quite yummy
What I’ve appreciated most of all is that it’s a smart machine.
If you overload the container with nuts or kidney beans or some other dense substance and the Vitamix can’t muscle through the mix, it will simply shut down. Essentially the machine is smart enough to know its limitations and it won’t let you burn out the engine. Obviously you don’t want to push your luck. Thus you learn not to overload the container.
As alluded to in the article, it’s easy to clean. Just add a little soap and let her rip for about 25 seconds. Bingo. Rinse out and you’ve got a clean container.
Yeah, it’s expensive but it’s engineered to be almost idiot-proof. I like that…
**********************
Leave it to the Italians for a wonderful sense of aesthetics. The small footprint of the the DeLonghi Livenza Air Fry Digital Convection Oven will both fit and look good on your counter.
My other kitchen acquisition is theDeLonghi Livenza Air Fry Digital Convection Oven. Essentially, it’s a 9-function digital Air Fry, Convection, Toaster Oven, Grill, Broil, Bake, Roast all-in-one toaster, air fryer, broiler and convection oven. Yes, it has nine presets.—Toast, Pizza, Bake, Broil, Grill, Air Fry, Convection, Cookies, Keep Warm and Pre-Heat.
Why opt for something like this?
Having a multi-functional device saves room and money. I don’t bake a lot of cookies or pizza. My primary use for this machine is to toast my whole wheat bread slices from the Bread Shop on Waialae and use it as an air fryer.
During this Covid era I decided to go primarily plant-based and the Livenza is perfect for air frying tofu (which takes about 25 minutes). Simple recipe—just cut the firm tofu into cubes, marinate it in shoyu, lime, garlic and a touch of chili. Roll it around in some hemp seeds (the kind from Costco) and put it in the air fryer basket which comes with the unit.
The air fryer does a wonderful job of making healthy dishes without overdoing on the oil. I like making tofu.
I also started using the air fryer on this device to make “chips” from edible hibiscus or “bele” (which is popular in the South Pacific) and other greens such as kale. Just harvest the leaves, tear them into about 3″ pieces, massage with olive oil and a bit of shoyu and air fry for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees. You can eat them like potato chips but they are much healthier.
At $158 on Amazon, it’s very reasonably priced and has a small footprint on the counter.
If there’s just one or two of you and there’s limited counter space (19 x 17.5 x 12 in) it’s perfect.
You can cook everything and save energy to boot. Of course, you’re limited by volume. If you’re gong to bake cookies, you won’t have all that much room compared to a standard oven.
Here are the features I really like: The oven’s interior is illuminated when cooking so you can see what in the heck is going on inside. It will beep when its finished.
The control panel of the DeLonghi Livenza Air Fry Digital Convection Oven offers nine options.
The digital display is easy to read. The oven is constructed from stainless steel which is aesthetically pleasing and very robust.
If you plan to cook or toast anything you must experiment and see what will work. Two steps are involved for making anything—set the time and the function. With the toaster you can opt for 2,4 or six slices. In addition to the air fryer basket you get a bake pan, pizza pan, wire rack, crumb tray and a one year warranty.
To make the walnut butter I described in the Vitamix I first toasted the nuts in the Livenza. It worked perfectly for that, and they provide a pan for this purpose.
The only thing I didn’t like about the design was that the oven door handle will hit the counter before it entirely opens. Thus, you have to keep some weight on the door when you open it or it will pop closed. There is a way around it. If you slide the front of the oven near the edge of the countertop the door handle will then overlap the edge and stay open by itself. Not a deal breaker.
You’ll want the Good Grips Easy-Clean Compost Bin on your kitchen counter.
The final item in your high tech kitchen is decidedly low tech but, entirely green in concept. It answers the age-old question, ‘what do you do with compost without attracting flies or stinking up your kitchen?’ I ditched the coffee can and went to the 1.75 gallonGood Grips Easy-Clean Compost Bin ($29.99). The smooth plastic makes it easy to clean or better yet you recycle a plastic bag you get at the grocery store. It has a “stay-open” lid so you can easily toss the egg shells or watermelon rinds. And yes, the lid is removable for convenient emptying.
Rob Kay, a Honolulu-based writer, covers technology and sustainability for Tech View and is the creator of fijiguide.com. He can be reached at Robertfredkay@gmail.com.
Prices are going up everywhere, and Hawaii families and businesses are hurting as a result.
We see it at the gas pump, where motorists have to weigh the cost against their other bills, such as food, medical, housing or daycare. We see it at the grocery store, where the prices of even staples such as milk and eggs threaten to bust the family budget.
Of course, Hawaii prices have long been high, so much so that more than 22,000 residents have left the state since 2016 in search of lower prices and greater job opportunities.
But over the last two years, the most severe danger to our ohana has been inflation. From a rate of 1.9% in 2018, inflation jumped to 7.1% in 2021 and was 8.2% as of April 2022.
A report issued in May calculated that Hawaii prices have gone up by 10% since January 2021. For the average Hawaii household, that is $622 more per month — yes, per month — including $283 more in transportation and $83 more in food.
Naturally, as our grocery and gas prices have climbed higher, our anxiety and frustration also has been increasing. Many people are feeling helpless as their paychecks lose pace with rising costs. That desperation brings hard questions: When will it end? What can we do about it?
Policymakers, worried about the upcoming election, have tried to spread the blame, citing the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply-chain breakdowns, greedy corporations — anything that can’t be traced directly to their decisions.
However, the root cause of inflation is very simple: Officials in Washington, D.C., have been printing and spending too much money.
As Milton Friedman, one of the greatest economists of the 20th century, put it, inflation, “is always and everywhere, a result of too much money, of a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than [of] output.”
Milton Friedman
That is why many people have been nervous about the federal government’s recent unprecedented spending spree in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco placed much of the blame for our intensifying inflation on the massive federal spending programs justified as “COVID relief.”
The Fed, however, is not blameless. It is actually the great facilitator. Between March 2020 and March 2022, it added approximately $5.8 trillion to the money supply — nearly the same amount that had been added in the previous decade. The purpose of all this printing and spending might have been noble, but the chickens have come home to roost, with inflation on the verge of running rampant.
At this point, it might seem hopeless, since it is extremely difficult to change the policies that originate in Washington. However, while Hawaii lawmakers might not be able to hack at the root cause of our current inflationary spiral, there are some things they could do.
For example, some states have already passed temporary tax relief measures to lower the price of fuel in their states, including New York, Maryland, Georgia and Connecticut. Hawaii could join them. Motorists here are paying about 52 cents a gallon in taxes for both gasoline and diesel, and suspending those taxes would be a straightforward and effective way to help ease the pinch of inflation.
In fact, now is a good time to cut taxes across the board. Rather than use state and county budget surpluses as an excuse to keep spending, our state and county governments should tighten their belts — like the rest of us have been forced to do — and implement tax relief help to help us offset our increasing fuel, utility and grocery bills.
Hawaii lawmakers also could:
>> Cut regulations that discourage economic growth.
>> Reform the state’s restrictive occupational licensing laws so more people can find work.
>> Establish more regulatory “sandboxes,” such as the Digital Currency Innovation Lab, to reduce business costs and encourage entrepreneurship.
>> Reform land-use and homebuilding regulations to spur more housing supply and ease housing prices.
>> And much more.
Yes, inflation is a federal problem — and likely it won’t end until our federal representatives come to their senses, which I hope will be soon.
Nevertheless, there still is much our leaders in Hawaii could do to alleviate the pain that inflation is causing for Hawaii’s working families and businesses.
I only hope that they act quickly before more of our families, friends and neighbors are priced out of paradise. ____________
Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
Editor’s Note: In the first article in this series about investing in the current markets John H. Robinson, founder of Financial Planning Hawaii, examined where to park your cash and how to invest in bonds. In Part 2 he discusses the nuances of investing in stocks, real estate and cryptocurrency. John’s advice is buttressed by links from publications such as the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic and other publications to assist in your research.
STOCKS
As of this writing the S&P 500 Index is down more than 22% from its January 2022 peak while the NASDAQ Composite Index, a popular large-cap technology stock index benchmark is down more than 31% from its previous high water mark. Most consumers invest in the stock market for long term wealth accumulation, and the asset class has historically produced significant nominal and real returns. Most consumers know (or should know) that there may periods of time when stock prices decline. However, it is one thing understand the concept and quite another to see the reality reflected on one’s real-world portfolio values.
To manage stock market downturns, investors need to come to terms with too issues – understanding that the depth and duration of the stock market down turn is unknowable and determining the degree to which their investment portfolios may be exposed to permanent losses as opposed to temporary declines. The 35% one-month decline in the U.S. stock market in February and March 2020 was a useful learning experience for many younger investors who had never seen real market volatility.
However, that downturn proved to short-lived. While it is true that the overall stock market has recovered 100% of the time from all previous bear markets, consumers need to know that two downturns of more than 50% occurred in in the 2000s. Both declines last nearly 3 years and the recoveries took just as long. Simply put, short term money, which I define as funds you might need to spend with in the next 5-7 years probably should not be invested in the stock market.
In terms of assessing the risk of permanent loss, there is a long list of formerly “hot” VC-funded “unicorn” startups with brilliant ideas but no proven path to profitability. Many of these companies are already trading down 70-90% from their former peaks. Investors in these companies should realize that there is a very real possibility that many of these companies may not survive now that they have burned through their capital and are still not profitable. We saw this when the dotcom stocks when the internet bubble burst in early 2000. We saw this to a degree with the cannabis stocks a few years ago. Even investors who “diversified” by owning baskets of these companies in sector ETFs are not safe from permanent losses. Most of the red-hot Internet funds of the 1990s either never recovered or were merged out of existence.
That is not say that the stock market is all doom and gloom. Investors who are saving for retirement in their IRAs and/or retirement plans and who are investing on a truly broadly diversified basis using investments such as index funds/ETFs should view market downturns as opportunities and should even hope that the stock market stays down for an extended period of time. The knee-jerk reaction among 401(k) plan participants is often to cash out of stocks and stop contributing when bear markets occur. Sadly, that is exactly the opposite course that most should take. Down turns in the stock market are only problematic if you are forced to sell to meet expense needs when it is down. For long term investors it is a golden opportunity to buy when the stock market is on sale.
For people who are already retired, the advice is only slightly different. Ideally (i.e., if properly planned in advance), those approaching retirement and those who are already retired should have at least 5-7 years of retirement savings in safe, liquid investments with no exposure to market risk so that they are not forced to sell stocks when they may be down. To the extent that retirees have money available to invest in healthy companies that pay dividends and have a demonstrated proclivity for raising their dividends at or above the rate of inflation, rising dividend stocks may offer down market opportunities as well.
At this time, there are many companies that are more than 20% off their previous highs, with current yields in the 2-4% range that have consistently grown revenues, earnings, and dividends. Consumer should understand that investing in these companies is not risk free and that they are obviously not immune to volatility. Nonetheless, investing in a diversified (by industry sector) mix of 15-20 or more of these companies can be a reliable source of inflation-resistant passive income while offering appreciate potential over time as well. Qualified dividends are also tax-favored relative to ordinary income.
Some more seasoned investors who have been through previous downturns may be wondering if now is the time to double down and load up on stocks with prices of many great companies down 20% or more. My advice is that it is fine to continue to add, but not to be overly aggressive in diving into the market. Keep in mind that the downturn only began a few months ago and there is no way to tell how long it will last or how much more it may decline. Measured, consistent investing throughout is just fine.
Like stocks, real estate has historically been a wonderful way to accumulate wealth over time. In fact, the $500,000 capital gains tax exclusion for married couples ($250,000 for single people) on the sale of one’s personal residence makes home ownership a uniquely attractive investment. However, there is a perception among some consumers that real estate is a great investment because it always holds its value.
In truth, the risk profile for real estate is not all that different from stocks. Real estate investors and speculators/flippers in many parts of the country (most notably California and Florida) got a very real taste of that when the sub-prime mortgage market collapsed in 2008. Foreclosure rates soared and home prices plummeted in many areas of the country. In Hawaii, prices largely held firm through that period. The last major real estate bubble in our island paradise occurred with then Japanese real estate bubble burst in the early 1990s. It took more than decade from some properties in Hawaii to recover from that event.
In the past 6 months, 30-year mortgage rates have risen from under 3% to over 6% in some parts of the United States. Given that each 1% rise in interest rates raises the lifetime cost of homeownership by roughly 10%, it is difficult to imagine how inflated real estate prices can be sustained. With fewer borrowers able to afford homeownership, it stands to reason that the decrease in demand will ultimately lead to falling home prices and increased inventory.
In this environment, consumers who purchased homes, even at inflated prices can take comfort in knowing that they financed the purchases at historic low interest that may never be seen again in their lifetimes. My message to them is, “Enjoy your homes and your remarkably low monthly mortgages payments that are mostly principal.” My message to would be buyers, especially those with cash, is that prices may be much lower a year or two from now. Sellers who may be nervous would be wise to consider lowering their prices sooner rather than later. Would-be sellers who are holding for prices set when mortgage rates were lower run the risk of holding onto their properties much longer than they may desire.
What about the Rent vs. Buy decision and does it make sense for homeowners who sold, rent for a while before repurchasing? In a recent article, Paul Owers, a housing researcher at Florida Atlantic University long time journalist covering the Florida real estate market states, “Despite rapidly rising rents, prospective buyers in many U.S. markets could build long term wealth faster by renting a similar single-family property and investing the money that otherwise would have been spent on owning.” Later in the article, Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D, a real estate economist at FAU is quoted as follows, “Buying near the peak of a real estate market is never a good investment strategy. Even though rents are high right now and rising, renting becomes a hedge against locking in a home price that is too far above a market’s long-term pricing trend.”
Cryptocurrency is an odd duck in the investment world and I have traditionally been reticent to discuss it my communications. The reason is that it is not really an asset class. That is to say that there are no underlying fundamentals that could be considered to attempt to forecast its future. A counter argument to that – and the central thesis for crypto’s raison d’etre – is that it should be treated as a non-sovereign currency. However, all sovereign currencies have a central government behind them that is the basis for their relative valuations. For instance, there are sound fundamental reasons why Venezuela’s bolivar is viewed as less stable and weaker than the U.S. dollar. With crypto currencies, one can argue that it is valuable asset for nefarious individuals, corporations, and rogue nations to store and transact ill-gotten wealth, but I am not sure that is enough to build a credible investment thesis. At the same time, crypto is in the media so much that it is difficult to ignore.
As a financial planner, my approach to clients who inquire about crypto is to treat it as if it as I would an “idea stock” – a much-hyped company with a novel but unproven investment thesis that is still far generating revenues or profits. This would apply to many of the recent “unicorn” startups over the past several years. In this vein, I never advise clients to avoid crypto, as I certainly don’t want to be the person who kept you from getting rich if its hypothetical future value becomes reality. However, I caution investors not to underestimate the speculative risk and to find the balance between investing enough to change your lifestyle if it really his big, but not so much that it will permanently hurt your financial security in the more likely event that it fails.
Currently, the cryptocurrency market space is in turmoil. My sense from having been through other market bubbles bursting, is that the bloom is off the rose, and that there is growing widespread skepticism over the future of crypto currencies and the myriad derivative cryptocurrency trading platforms that have sprung up. In speaking at a technology conference last week, Bill Gates described cryptocurrency valuations as being driven solely by “Greater Fool Theory” – the notion that pricing is determined solely by the hope that someone will be willing to pay more than you did rather than having any meaningful fundamental valuation. Similarly, economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman last week likened the crypto currency market to a Ponzi Scheme.
Further contributing to the changing perceptions are the invalidation of two primary selling points that crypto proponents have touted as reasons to be bullish on the market’s future – (1) that crypto is valuable as an inflation hedge and (2) that it is safe and secure. The former claim was the source of Krugman’s ridicule (see article link below). With respect to security, within the last 12 months there have been three separate hacking events in which security flaws were exploited to extract $325 million, $540 million, and $611 million. That is not chump change and there have been countless other large-scale hacks as well.
There is no FDIC to give victims their money back. As one of the article links below stated, “Experts say cryptocurrency is increasingly being seen as low hanging fruit by hackers…Crypto transactions are irreversible, so if a hacker can get their hands on it, it’s very difficult for anyone to retrieve it.” These high profile heists obviously cast a huge pall over consumer sentiment, but hacking is not the only fraud threat. The unregulated nature of the crypto ecosystem lends itself well to a wide variety of fraudulent behavior including rampant pump and dump schemes. The failure of these crypto mantras undoubtedly also contributing to the decision by legions of scorned consumers to abandon crypto trading, most likely for good.
Count me among the crowd that believes “investing” in crypto is akin to buying a box of air. In full disclosure, I do not own, nor have I ever owned any form of crypto currency. I do not proclaim to be an expert in cryptocurrency investing, so I discourage any consumer from using my opinion alone to avoid buying it. However, I am an expert in financial planning, and, on that score, I encourage all investors to be judicious in the amount of capital you commit if you do decide to board the Crypto Crazy Train. If you are already in and down big and you invested more of your savings than you should have, I have no idea how to advise you. The same applies to people overloaded on unicorn idea stocks. Once the bloom comes off the rose, it rarely blossoms again.
The one universal law or rule that seems to hold constant in nature is the seeking of balance by all natural systems. Adjustment, compensation, contraction, expansion… an infinite number of corrective, balancing actions and reactions continuously unfold in the natural world; the world that includes us.
Visionary architect/engineer/cosmologist, R. Buckminster Fuller, recognized and identified this inherent, universal property of natural systems. He named it, tensegrity. Fuller observed that structures in nature, from the microcosm of atoms and cells, to the vastness of solar systems and galaxies, incorporate tense or rigid elements held together in a continuous web of flexible, compression members.
External pressure is distributed evenly across the entire structure, giving it a resilient, continuously, self-adjusting character that helps it adapt while maintaining its integrity, and ultimately, its interconnectivity and survival. He recognized this property as an analogue applicable to engineering and architectural design of man made structures as well. Natural systems are self-balancing and, in the case of organic systems, self-healing.
When massive, external pressures are so great as to overwhelm a systems ability to adjust, restore balance and, in the case of living, organic systems, to heal, then the system collapses — dies. This principle holds true for individual organisms and for complex, natural systems composed of diverse, interrelated, living organisms (a coral reef, for instance). When a “tipping point” occurs and a living systems capacity for restoring balance is exceeded, tensegral limits are broken and a reverse, domino effect begins.
The system enters a free fall of accelerating destabilization and ultimately, due to the interconnectivity of its elements, a complete unraveling and loss of integrity occurs. The living, self healing, organic machine becomes a self-propelled, irreversible, extinction machine. Of course, nature ultimately finds a new balance — a balance that may or may not include elements of the prior cycle.
Free – Fall The ecosphere of this planet is currently experiencing severe destabilization to a degree that places it on line with a point of no return. Whether or not, that point has actually been passed is not known. The human activity driving the degradation of the planet’s ability to sustain life, as we know it, has been clearly identified and publicized. Yet, that activity has not so much as paused, skipped a beat, broken stride. Rather, it has, accelerated, ramped up to new levels of intensity. Judgements of human behavior as good/bad, right/wrong seem useless and irrelevant. From an evolutionary perspective human behavior is dysfunctional . . . failed. Poor, unsuccessful choices leading to extinction rather than survival, perhaps made under the fictional belief that humanity is special, above nature and somehow exempt from natural consequences.
This disconnection and environmental free – fall are only temporary. Nature will reclaim and re-balance all of its elements. This can occur as a process of extinction, reabsorption into the flux of universal process — or it can happen by adaptive, evolutionary adjustment, leading to continuity of the current cycle of life.
Painting – “Mood of Peace” Balance is attainable when the equality of all life is acknowledged as equal. Nature has no special beings. Everything is equally important . . . or unimportant.
***********************
Joseph Carlisi – Biography
Born and raised in New York City, he earned BA and MA degrees in Philosophy at Hunter College of the City University of New York and then continued his graduate studies in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology working under the mentorship of Marvin Minsky. Joseph worked as a part time content and copy editor for Harvard University Press (science and medicine) while attending M.I.T.
After ten years as a university lecturer, researcher and administrator, he started and managed an advertising / public relations firm in San Diego, CA that handled a wide range of commercial accounts. On the academic side, he published a series of seven articles on animal behavior for Harvard Magazine and two books: “A Guide to Personal Power” and most recently “Playing God on the Eve of Extinction”.
Joseph Carlisi creates oil on canvas paintings that can be described as vivid, surreal and unexpected. His paintings have been exhibited and sold in: Honolulu, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, Miami, Tokyo, Yokohama, Amsterdam, Berlin and Salvador Brazil.
Can the State Tax Itself?
The Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie came to me with an unusual question.
“Can the State tax itself?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but why would anyone care?”
“You remember there’s a bill that the Legislature passed, SB 3201, that would make a big change in how nonprofits pay general excise tax?”
“Yes, I’m aware of that one.”
“Rumor is that the University of Hawaii is scared of it because someone has been telling them that the research grants they get would be exposed to GET.”
“That’s ridiculous. First of all, governments don’t pay taxes. Taxpayers pay taxes.”
“What says they can’t?”
“I don’t know if there’s something that says they can’t. But they don’t. Why tax a state agency? It’s putting money from the right pocket to the left pocket. Entirely pointless.”
“Oh, but there might be a point. Someone might want to move money from special funds, which can be only used for certain things, to the State’s general fund, which can be used for anything.”
“There are much easier ways to do that. They can just enact a law moving the money between the funds. They did that in 2021.”
“But what if they wanted to be devious about it?”
“There’s already a law like that. It charges each special fund a maintenance fee, and siphons that money back to the general fund.”
“But if the Tax Department wanted to be inefficient and devious and really wanted to get a piece of the UH research grants, could they do it?”
“There would be problems. The Department issued a Tax Information Release in 1989 saying that our Department of Education and its public schools are not taxable entities subject to the GET.”
“Hmmm, I see. It’s tough to say a public school is never taxable while a public university is. But if the Department doesn’t like that precedent it can always change it, right?”
“In theory, I suppose. But then they’d get criticized for upending precedent just like the U.S. Supreme Court is under fire now.”
“Plus, no state agency files tax returns now, and I think they’d be furious if the Tax Director says that they need to.”
“Especially for the back years. If you need to file a tax return and you don’t, there is no statute of limitations so they would have to file tax returns for periods before the agency workers were even born.”
For some reason, the Doggie found that funny. He was rolling on the floor, then breaking into a coughing fit.
“You okay, Doggie?”
“Just getting old, I guess. But if you’re wrong on this, so help me I’ll jump up on your face and bite you on the schnozz!”