Why Trump is so popular
Kudos to our paper for the recent incorporation of the Spending Well section from the New York Times in our Sunday edition. The more we can encourage people to save and prepare for retirement the better. Everyone needs to get that we can’t rely on government.
What is so disturbing on the other hand is the endless stream of news (two articles in Sunday’s paper alone) that makes people figure why even try to save and be self-reliant when our government so freely wastes our money? How do we ever get ahead? There’s never been a giveaway program they don’t love and all government programs are marked with fraud and waste. Our mayor is lauded for “generally” repaying the taxpayers for inappropriate expenditures on his pCard because he paid most of it back after he got caught.
The state’s admission of Netflix-binging employees to the tune of several hundred hours per week is bad enough in itself, but adding insult to injury is that the state has no plans to discipline workers involved and while employee access to Netflix and Hulu will be cut off, they will still have access to YouTube. Who’s running the asylum here?
Similarly, the article from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii recounting a state procurement process run amok allowing a $74,000 contract with no competing bids to morph into one amounting to more than $500,000 is yet another example of the state’s total disregard for the taxpayers. They could save by laying off the State Auditor since nobody listens to her anyway.
The bottom line is politicians and bureaucrats are not good with money and there is no inherent motivation or instinct toward responsible stewardship for “We the People” because it’s not their money.
This attitude is wearing thin and people are really sick of it. Please don’t anyone be surprised if we find ourselves with Donald Trump as our Republican nominee because he is not a politician and he at least knows the value of a dollar. More importantly, he is saying what most of us are screaming at our TVs every night.
Michelle “Mikie” Kerr
Waikoloa
Killing of fish no different from killing lion
Last week, we saw one mammoth marlin after another hanging by its tail on the dock. Next to these beautiful creatures are men and women celebrating their killing. Their only interest in the fish is the bragging rights that come with the catch. There isn’t even a prize beyond the bragging rights to the biggest fish. How is that any different from bagging and boasting about the killing of Cecil the lion?
What did these fish ever do to our ecosystem to deserve this fate?
Perhaps we could start capturing, killing and boasting about the capture of sharks instead?
Joyce O’Connor
Waimea