Haku Mo‘olelo
The economists are at it again. When Sen. Hillary Clinton was bashed over whether she supported or didn’t support the North American Free Trade Agreements, her response revived the scenario of John Kerry voting for and not voting for funding for the Iraq invasion.
Any 30-second campaign response will be inadequate when it comes to complex issues of trade and globalization.
Adding to the difficulty, expert economists on television networks are relegated to simplistic answers as well, even if they’re given more than 30 seconds. Most also focus on economic theory to the exclusion of questions of social policy, ethics and political realities.
Economists advocating the benefits of free trade among sovereign countries in a global economy have no interest in ethics or social policies.
Free-trade theories are based on models of economic behavior that reduce the consumer to numbers reflecting market activity. The tenet of global free-trade theory
MAUI NEI
After six years of working on Maui — including one year of scuffling as a freelance writer — I was out of a job. I’d quit as a Neighbor Island correspondent for a city newspaper to spend time exploring the island.
I’d quit a county gig as
SHAVE ICE
O conspiracy . . .
where wilt thy find
a cavern dark enough
to mask thy
monstrous visage?
Seek none, conspiracy;
hide it in smiles
and affability.
— Will
SECOND THOUGHTS
Tsk. I should know better, especially since I’m borderline nuts when it comes to saving things. OK, so I’m over the border and in another country even.
It goes like this around here: The rubber bands our mail carrier uses to secure the da
CHECK IT OUT
A Maui News reader who walks frequently in Wailuku town noticed last month that scaffolding had been erected atop the awning in front of the former National Dollar Store on Main Street.
“The wooden awning is supported by eight metal brac
HAKU MO‘OLELO
If the demands made on the Maui County Council Land Use Committee over the past year reflect a real concern within the community for protection of natural and cultural resources and of agriculture, there is an opportunity now for those people doing t
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