Unlike critics, mayor is solving problems

We might be in for some rough economic times, so I'm pleased that Mayor Mufi Hannemann is rolling up his sleeves and steering our city in the right direction (”;Mayor optimistic on isle economy,”; Star-Bulletin, Sept. 30).

It's so easy to mope, complain and do nothing when faced with a challenge, but that won't solve any problems or make life any better for anyone. I have watched Hannemann in action, and he is full of energy and ideas. His Job Focus Honolulu initiative shows that he is on the ball and working to solve problems, while certain others seem to do everything they can to create them.

Railroad to nowhere keeps chugging along

The courts have ruled that the public may not have a vote on whether to build a new railroad on Oahu. The City Council unanimously approved language for a November ballot question that will allow the voters to decide only whether the new railroad will be “;steel-on-steel”; or take some other form.

The mayor has already been spending our tax dollars to convince the public to support his preference, the “;steel-on-steel”; railroad. The city clerk says it is too late to change the language on printed ballots.

Money is already being committed to buy the property needed to build the railroad to nowhere as well as the stations along the way.

It has already been decided who will get rich from the estimated $6 billion in taxpayers' money that will be used to build the railroad, even though there are no studies to show that the proposed railroad will take any cars off the freeway, streets and highways.

No one has talked about how we'll support a new railroad that will lose money. Surveys show that even those who support building the new railroad to nowhere, say that they don't plan to use it.

One question remains: What color will we paint our new white elephant?

Train is best solution for Honolulu traffic

Financial markets rebound, but our traffic woes over decades have progressively gotten worse and will never recover the same way.

Dire situations require drastic methods of change, and Ann Kobayashi's flip-flop assertion that we simply cannot afford to build a mass rail transit at this time, is ludicrous. We simply can't afford not to build it.

Commuters have to learn to change their habits going to and from work, and fall out of love with their gas-guzzling vehicles that are literally jamming up the highways. And adding more buses to the melee will result in deadlock thrombosis.

Trains on whatever wheels work, worldwide, and people have to have the common sense to get on them.

Did finance CEOs fail on purpose?

I was contemplating why the major investment corporations were paying their CEOs huge golden parachute bonuses while seemingly leading the corporation into financial disasters, including bankruptcy, and at the same time asking for a $700 billion government rescue. It has become clear to me that failure was the objective of some of these major corporations, so they can file for bankruptcy and perhaps reincorporate later, free of the burdens of their huge debts and free of the obligation and responsibilities of providing retirement and medical benefits to their former employees.

These CEOs are raping and plundering America no differently than an invasion of foreign mercenaries.

Rape: any outrageous assault or flagrant violation.

Plundering: goods taken by force or fraud.

Regulation created nation's financial mess

The bailout is wrong and the last thing we need is more regulation. For years, banks lent money to unqualified people. Real estate has been overvalued. Behind these trends is government intervention; namely the Federal Reserve's expansion of the money supply and manipulation of interest rates. By expanding the money supply and setting low rates, the Fed drove banks to lend large quantities of money to low-income earners. Banks did not hesitate because in the case of a bad loan, the Fed could supply more funds. Consequently, the government created greater demand for real estate, allowing artificially high prices for housing. Now the bubble has burst.

Clearly, banking firms should be shouldering a lot of the blame. Greed led to malinvestment and risky lending practices. However, this wouldn't have been possible in the first place if the government wasn't giving them the means to do so. Without a steady flow of cash from the Federal Reserve, the banks would have acted more cautiously.

What we are now experiencing is not the failure of free markets. The housing bubble is one of the worst examples of supply and demand. Instead, the government facilitated Wall Street firms with its hazardous monetary policy and encouraged reckless behavior at the individual level through cheap credit.

We should be appalled that the same bureaucrats who got us into this mess want us to foot the bill of the bailout.