In his epic historical novel Hawaii, John Michener wrote of the ancestors of our islands' first Chinese immigrants, many of whom came to escape famine at home. On surviving
the famineI remember his description of entire villages becoming itinerant laborers searching China for work and food. Eventually, they would return, dig up the precious store of seed corn, carefully set aside even in the face of starvation. Planting this, they would begin again.
Famine was almost commonplace. Real tragedy was to return to discover someone had found and eaten the seed corn.
I'm reminded of Michener's story by the threat of a teacher strike. Union members are starving for money and respect. What is on the table, four percent raises next year and the year after, isn't chicken feed, given the slow pace of inflation and consumer price growth. Few in private industry have had raises that big lately or expect one soon.
Gov. Ben Cayetano says he has offered all the state can give. The extra weeks of instruction the governor would add to the school year means extra paychecks, too. To offer more, he says, means raising taxes or eliminating programs to make Hawaii more competitive and to make our economy grow.
If non-economic issues, such as teacher desires to be treated like professionals, are driving up the cost of settlement, we urge the administration to satisfy them, because to raise taxes in a recession is to eat the seed corn.
