Forbes was right, so let's fix the problem

Like it or not, Forbes magazine makes relevant points in its recent slam against Honolulu as one of the country's worst cities to do business in ("Trouble in Paradise: Why Doing Business in Honolulu has Become Nearly Equivalent to Suicide," Forbes, May 27). Forbes keeps after us year after year for good reason.

This state is tax hell. Our small businesses -- our backbone -- are crushed by rules, regulations and unbelievable taxes.

Former kamaaina and businessman Scott McCormack nailed it in the Forbes article when he asked, "Why didn't Hawaii participate in the last 10 years of economic expansion?"

This was the biggest financial boom this country may ever see, and Hawaii missed it.

Yet we continue to vote for people who are incapable of governing with accountability.

Should we continue to stick our heads in the sand and allow our leaders to buy expensive mainland ad campaigns promoting Hawaii as a good place to do business when it's obviously not? Any good advertising person will tell you: If your product is no good, don't advertise. Fix the product first, because once the consumer has tried it and found it inferior, he never comes back. And he tells all his friends.

We can blame the messenger, but the message is clear. Hawaii needs a severe change of leadership. We deserve better.

Anne Murata
Guest Informant
(Visitor publications)

Isle leaders' response to criticism is typical

Once again we have seen the predictable, knee-jerk reaction by our powers-that-be to anything negative about Hawaii or its business climate. Instead of evaluating the criticism with a view toward fixing the problems, our governor and other state and city moguls trot out the usual self-serving platitudes.

As one who spent 20 years as a small businessman in Hawaii, I can testify that anything positive in business here is achieved in spite of, not because of, our local governments and the nightmare of controls and regulations they have generated. In addition, the various bureaucracies continually display a disdainful attitude toward the people they are paid to support.

It would be interesting to have the local news media conduct a poll of people in various levels of business regarding their experiences. But don't hold your breath -- the media appear to be as much "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" as any politician or bureaucrat.

R. W. Parkinson

Making animals fight is not a human right

In the article "Ban may raise isle gamebird breeding," written by Treena Shapiro (Star-Bulletin, May 15), one breeder predicts a federal law prohibiting breeders from transporting roosters for cockfighting would increase the breeding of these birds in Hawaii.

What surprised me was the breeder's words about gamecocks: "You don't force them to fight; it's in them, it's in their genes."

As a volunteer with the Hawaiian Humane Society, I have seen many fights between animals. Yes, it's in their genes to fight. Chickens will fight other chickens to establish the "pecking order." In this kind of fight, animals rarely are injured.

However, cockfighting forces the birds to fight each other as an entertainment. Gamebirds often wear spurs and are given drugs to enhance their aggressiveness and make them fight harder. As a result, many chickens get injured or die during cockfighting tournaments.

Animals' rights tend to be infringed on easily by humans. Human beings do not have a right to exploit and harm animals for entertainment.

Yuki Tanaka

Oil companies won't compete unless forced

An earlier letter writer who predicted a drop in local gas prices followed by the oil industry's campaign for free trade is half right so far. I did a double take the other day when I saw $1.42 per gallon posted at a big-name gas station.

I, too, anticipate the industry will drop prices in the months ahead and actively campaign for free trade vs. state-sponsored price controls. And we all know from Economics 101 the virtues of free trade in an open and competitive market. However, we also know that the gasoline market in Hawaii is far from open and competitive, with the oil industry reluctantly admitting the same.

Having significantly contributed to the very creation of this noncompetitive market environment, the industry has had its way with Hawaii consumers for all these years, gouging us for our dollars with greed and arrogance.

With Linda Lingle and her fellow Republicans supporting the oil industry against the consumer's interest, it will be a no-brainer for me as to how I will cast my votes in the fall election. With the recent passage of the price-cap bilI, it seems it takes a majority of Democrats after all to look after the interests of the consumer.

Larry T. Hayashida
Wahiawa

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