SUNDAY, late afternoon at Ala Moana Beach Park, the sun moves down its arch to the ocean, the lifeguard packs his equipment and climbs down from his stand. Slowly the showers are filled not with surfers and hollering and playing little children, but raggedy men. Casualties of Hawaii’s
weak economyThe wounded and missing in action in our economy materialize around dusk at beach parks around the state to bathe before finding a safe sleeping place.
Most are successful. Some aren't. But every week there are more to join the ranks of the homeless in Hawaii.
They form the line we use to measure the bottom for our state.
Today, as the Legislature ends, the picture to remember should be of our beach park tent cities and blue-tarped shanties. Let them make speeches and press releases from that.
The biggest tax cut in the history of this state is likely to be a tax cut paid for by the poor, the homeless, the blue-collar state and county workers and by the relative handful of state workers who will be forced out of work.
How then do we spend our money?
Do we take our newfound tax cuts and buy new shoes at Liberty House? Should we take the money to the Institute for Human Services?
The initial figures put the state income tax cut for a family of four earning $50,000 at a total of $1,893.
That's the "running for re-election" way of explaining the tax cut. Here's a more realistic way of figuring it. The money amounts to a savings of $9.85 per month, per person -- after four years.
When Neiman Marcus finds out the state will be increasing the buying power of the middle class by 32 cents a day, do you think it will build two or three new stores?
Economists, such as the Bank of Hawaii's Paul Brewbaker, say any income-tax cut is good, because it increases the rewards for making money. In other words, when government lowers income taxes it says, "make more money and we'll let you keep more of it."
But even Brewbaker admits that one "shouldn't expect a short-term economic stimulus."
The tax cut over four years is expected to return $752 million to taxpayers, which presumably means it will cost the state an equal amount.
Where did that money come from? Early reports have it coming from "recalculations on state workers' pension costs, reimbursements from overpayments to the state's public employees health fund, raids on several special funds surpluses and increases in state fees," according to Rep. Calvin Say, the veteran House Finance chairman.
Basically that means next year, barring a dramatic economic revival, the state will have to find more money and the Legislature will be charged with again cutting the budget.
THE Rev. Frank Chong, executive director of the Waikiki Health Center, says the budget for helping the poor has already been cut. The new state budget keeps the cuts but doesn't slice any deeper.
The problem he figures will be for the newly unemployed. The folks who were working in retail, for the city or state or in the tour industry will feel the pain first..
Soon they will be asking for help and soon they will find that state services are shrinking.
That is when the haunting picture of raggedy men moving like ghosts at sunset will become just a little bit sharper.
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@pixi.com