---

Income levels rise, but
many still do without

THE ISSUE A Census report shows Hawaii's median income rising and poverty levels dropping.

INCOME growth in Hawaii runs counter to national trends that find more Americans living in poverty and median income at its lowest level since 1997, according to a Census Bureau report.

Though people in the islands saw household incomes rise 6.6 percent through 2003-2004, the cost of living also increased 5.6 percent, negating most of the gains.

Because Hawaii's tourism economy so relies on how people elsewhere are faring, residents and businesses cannot afford to be sanguine. Moreover, we all have a societal stake in the financial well-being of the nation as a whole.

The bureau reported that in 2004, 37 million American households -- 1.1 million more than in the previous year -- fell below the poverty line. In Hawaii, the percentage of people living in poverty was 8.9 percent, down from 10.3 percent in 2002-2003, while nationwide, the rate increased from 12.5 percent in 2003 to 12.7 percent last year.

The report shows that a few are doing better than most. While the average household's income remained flat at $44,400, those in the top 20 percent gained 50.1 percent of income growth. In other words, the rich are getting richer, while poor and middle-income households are just hanging on.

While the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress cheer the nation's economic expansion, the inequality in income continues to widen. Yet, political leaders seem doggedly devoted to providing more for the wealthiest Americans, pushing to extend tax cuts for investment income even as profit-taking has risen to the highest levels in 40 years, and for repeal of the estate tax, which would benefit those in the top 2 percent income bracket.

---

BACK TO TOP
|

Proposed changes will
undermine nation’s parks

THE ISSUE The Bush administration wants to revise the National Park Service's mission.

IMAGINE off-road vehicles zipping across Halemaumau Crater at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and skydivers dropping from low-flying aircraft onto the Sliding Sands trail at Haleakala.

These scenarios would all be possible if the Bush administration prevails in revising National Park Service policies to its liking.

The changes would subvert a long-standing objective of setting aside the nation's natural treasures and preserving them unimpaired for future generations. Americans who value the serenity and beauty of their parks should not permit toppling those aims.

Revisions also would accept grazing and mining and other extractive practices as legitimate "park purposes" and open protected areas to motorized vehicles as long as it cannot be proven that the activities will cause "irreversible" damage to landscapes, plants and wildlife.

They were drafted by Paul Hoffmann, an Interior Department deputy assistant secretary and a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, who once headed a Wyoming Chamber of Commerce. He has no park service experience and drew up the revisions without consulting with professionals.

The draft was held secret until park employees and officials, alarmed by the proposal, publicly rejected it. The administration, sensing a public relations problem, then characterized the document as "initial suggestions" made by a "devil's advocate" merely challenging the park service to justify operations.

Shaking up a government agency can result in improved performances, but if past efforts are any indication, the revisions are clearly in line with the administration's strategies to loosen environmental safeguards and further boost business ventures.

They also bow to the president's conservative constituents by requiring park service documents to remove references to the theory of evolution and plainly state that religious products and materials be allowed for sale in its park shops.

During his campaigns, the president promised he would protect and provide more funds for parks. The revisions flout that covenant.

---

---

---