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» Failing grades » Estates and adoptions » Crazy like a (Fire)fox
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National indexes have their flaws,
but they offer insight on how
the state can improve
This is the season when assorted annual business climate and quality of life indexes start rolling out. Some are more widely read than others, but they all do the same thing: They build a criteria list and then score cities and/or states on how they rate on those criteria. It is rarely good news for Hawaii.
By definition, these indexes and rankings are an oversimplification. The perspectives they give us, however, are helpful in building a holistic approach to issues affecting the state of our economic, social and business vitality. The index by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, called the CFED Report Card, is reported annually in Hawaii and is one of the broadest indexes. The CFED study 68 different measures, broken down into three categories, then graded. Hawaii flunked all three categories last year. Why do we score so low?
Problems with rankings
Indexes love a low cost of living and room to grow. According to the Regional Financial Associates Cost of Living Study, businesses are interested in regional differences in the cost of doing business, and are more likely to expand to relatively low cost areas. Labor costs are generally attractive in regions where living costs for housing, electricity and other essentials are low. Obviously, Hawaii gets pounded when factoring in cost of living and space.Indexes such as the CFED Report Card like a high growth rate. The problem is high growth rates will not be found in urban areas, and massive growth rates aren't requisite for business endurance anyway. A 1 percent increase is significant for New York and California compared to 1 percent for Boise, Idaho, which is why New York City, Los Angeles and Hawaii score so poorly in these rankings.
Along with lagging real growth rates, metropolitan areas all suffer from the same urban problems: underperforming public schools, choking traffic congestion, maintaining a skilled workforce and physical infrastructure maintenance, all of which aggravate indexes.
Then there is high-tech, seen as the growth trajectory for the U.S. economy and over-represented on indexes. In fact, only 2 percent of high-growth small businesses are technology related, and having a high-tech economic base does not insulate a region from business cycles. A Milken Institute study found that among the top cities, San Jose would have the greatest exposure in a recession, even with its heavy tech industry.
Since indexes are created from the development perspective, they take the worker viewpoint lightly. Measures such as workers comp, minimum wage, unemployment benefits, whistle blower protection, health insurance and fair labor laws are usually overlooked. They also assume equal, identical resources. I would like to see a more efficient indexing that rated both population and resource diversity, as well as ability to function given the parameters of limited resources.
Hawaii
We know Hawaii lacks both a broad range of fast growing companies and an expansive base of competitive industries. After 10 years of a stagnant Hawaii economy, our state government is left trying to create an environment that cultivates businesses and job growth.Unfortunately, the rankings pressure state government to lower corporate taxes and increase subsidies. It is easy for the state to get hammered into thinking they will lose industries to a more permissive or generous state, or will be seen as complacent and ineffective unless they take action. Certainly Act 221 is in response to a demand for the state to do something about diversifying the economy. Unfortunately, not only are the effectiveness of tax incentives mixed (and often overstated), but a desperate business community can create an anti-workforce environment by pointing to unions and employee benefits as the culprits. They aren't.
Although indexes divulge the criteria considered important when executives assess expansion locations, choosing based on a ranking alone is unlikely. But we don't have to be flunking year after year. There is gold to be mined from these indexes if we view it more as insight than insult.
What are they telling us? What are high ranking cities doing that we do not, but could? How can businesses work with the governor to demonstrate that Hawaii is more than our failing index grades show?
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YOUR ESTATE MATTERS
Estate planning helps
make adoptions go smoothly
Adoption can be a magical time for both the adoptive parents and the adopted child. Hope has been transformed to anticipation and, finally, to the joyful realization of dreams.
Adoption has legal as well as personal and emotional consequences. First, in most states, adoption alters what happens if the biological parent, adoptive parent or child dies without estate planning documents. Prior to adoption, the child is part of the biological parent's line of "intestate succession" or line of those to take if there are no estate planning documents. After adoption, the child is part of the adoptive parent's line of intestate succession. Also, in most states, after adoption the child is no longer a part of the biological parent's line of intestate succession.
This can be an important consideration, especially for intrafamily adoptions. For example, Tom and Yoko have three children, Leilani, Keoni and Mai. Mai has a daughter, Peggy. For various reasons, Mai is unable to care for Peggy. Tom and Yoko raise Peggy and adopt her. In most states, if Mai were to die without estate planning documents, Peggy would be cut off as one of his heirs and would only inherit as a child of Mai's parents. In other words, Peggy would be treated as one of Mai's siblings and would only get a share identical to Leilani and Keoni.
Similarly, Tom and Yoko might be surprised with the outcome. If they were to die without estate planning documents, Peggy would get a share equal to their children. This may not be consistent with their wishes.
With proper estate planning documents, Mai can override the default intestate succession and can provide that all of his assets go to Peggy. Similarly, Tom and Yoko can override the default intestate succession.
Adoption can have other serious consequences. For example, adoption causes a legal obligation for the parents to support the child and, in some states, for the child to support the parents. Further, adoption can affect the public benefits that are available to the child. Adoption can also affect the availability of financial aid and other resources that might otherwise be available to the child.
The adoption of a new child can be a joyous occasion. Proper estate and financial planning can remove some of the unexpected consequences of the joyous event. A qualified estate planning attorney can help you plan for the adoption of your new child and meet your personal and financial goals.
Attorneys Judith Sterling and Michelle Tucker are certified public accountants and partners in the Honolulu Law Firm of Sterling & Tucker. Reach them through their Web site, www.sterlingandtucker.com. For a free copy of "Where There's a Will, There's Probate" call 531-5391, Ext. 0.
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ON TECHNOLOGY
Browser is crazy as a fox
about Internet security
A few columns ago, we discussed the open source software revolution. One of the up-and-coming stars of this phenomenon is the Firefox browser. We looked at its most recent version, 0.8, and were quite impressed.
Firefox is the browser component of the Mozilla application suite, which is a direct descendent of the very first Internet browser, Mosaic. When the Mosaic folks decided they wanted to make money, they left the academic world and formed their own company, Netscape Communications Corporation. Their new product, known on the market as Navigator, was given the internal name of Mozilla (Mosaic + Godzilla), probably after a few too many pizzas and Cokes. Internal names for software products are quite common. For example, Microsoft's next operating system is code-named Longhorn -- after a ski resort in Canada.
In an ironic twist, Netscape was bought by AOL and became the redheaded stepchild of Ted Turner. After being ignored by the stuffed shirts, the source code for Navigator was released into the open source community and voila! Mozilla was reborn, much more in line with its roots as an egalitarian product. Although Mosaic was never truly open source software, it was treated that way. In addition to the Firefox browser, Mozilla consists of a variety of applications, including an e-mail client, Web page editor and a chatting tool.
Firefox can be downloaded easily from www.mozilla.org. or you can purchase a CD for $5.95 at the same Web site.
We downloaded the Windows version and its installation was quick and painless. It also is available for Linux, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, and even OS/2.
The most recently released version of Firefox is 0.8. A 0.x designation usually implies that this version is not complete. Don't let this fool you -- Firefox is ready for prime-time. We tried it on a variety of Web sites, including those of our b2b partners, and found it to be compatible with all but a few. Most of these exceptions explicitly state they are only compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).
Firefox includes an impressive set of features, including its own pop-up blocker, built-in Google search and elimination of trick locations in the status bar (aka spoofing). Firefox also lets you control and examine your cookies a lot more closely. Major plug-ins, such as Flash, Javascript, and Quicktime, are all supported.
In our opinion, however, the best reason to use Firefox is the bugaboo we've all been dealing with the past few months. You got it, security.
Today, Firefox is inherently more secure than IE, for a variety of reasons. First, Firefox does not allow ActiveX controls. For non-geeks, ActiveX controls are basically programs that you download from the Web and run on your PC. Scary? You bet. While we've employed such controls in our own development efforts, we've always been leery about their use; especially by some anonymous developer out there on the World Wide Web. Theoretically, he (and they're almost always a "he") could launch a program to send him all of your financial information, for example.
Second, Firefox claims that spyware or adware cannot be automatically installed just by visiting a Web site. Since we are not a spyware development company, we could not prove this claim, but have no reason to believe it is untrue.
Finally, by default, Firefox is not as tightly integrated with Windows as is IE. This, in our opinion, is a double edged sword. From a security standpoint it's great. When your browser is cleanly separate from your operating system, you are intrinsically more secure. Despite Microsoft's protestations, it is clear that IE is tied to the operating system. The other side of the sword? Speed. Despite Mozilla's claims otherwise, in our un-scientific opinion, IE is slightly faster than Firefox.
Typically, the more popular a product becomes, the bigger a target it becomes for hackers and the like. This could change under open source. After all, the whole idea of open source is to encourage communication to improve software products.
Finally, keep in mind that open source software is not free. If you use the product, you really should consider contributing to its longevity.
John Agsalud is president of ISDI Technologies, Inc., a Honolulu-based IT consultancy, specializing in software development, systems integration, and outsourcing. He can be reached at jagsalud@isdi-hi.com or by calling 944-8742.
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