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Very pleased to see Senator @GlennWakai in the news, advocating for diversifying #Hawaii's economic mix in light of the strategic vulnerability exposed by #COVID19. We went from full employment and wage competition to projected 35% unemployment overnight. https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/lawmakers-looking-to-diversify-hawaiis-economy-away-from-tourism/
I agree with @GlennWakai advocating to pivot Hawaii towards high tech, but I don't 100% agree w/ his examples. Sen Wakai discusses manufacturing, but I think the answer is intellectual property and internet tech--stuff that doesn't rely on boats or planes. https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/lawmakers-looking-to-diversify-hawaiis-economy-away-from-tourism/
Hawaii has been here before. Act 221 was meant to attract high-tech and IP industry to Hawaii...and it succeeded! Did you know @SquareEnix and @Konami used to have offices in Honolulu? I'm only in tech now because of seeds Act 221 planted. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2010/07/18/hawaii-news/data-cast-some-doubt-on-act-221s-benefits/
So what happened to Act 221? Apparently it was mismanaged, but instead of fixing it and installing proper checks, Hawaii shut it down. Incentives gone, the companies disappeared. It was heartbreaking watching the talent 221 attracted reluctantly leave. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2010/07/18/hawaii-news/data-cast-some-doubt-on-act-221s-benefits/
Say what you want about Act 221 and its mismanagement, you can't argue it didn't work to entice companies, they just quit too early. Considering the animation, tech and games industry have largely escaped the pandemic would be nice if they were here now. https://www.theinformation.com/articles/animation-escapes-the-pandemic
Would it cost taxpayers money to seed these industries? Yeah. But taxpayers also pay for farmers to not farm and for shipyard to stay in business. Why? To have these assets when shit hits the fan. Act 221 would have been an investment for the bad times. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4736044
What do I mean that Act 221 would have been an investment for the bad times? The tax break "cost" $100m-$200m per in foregone tax revenue, setting aside employees paying taxes and stimulating the economy by hiring & spending locally. 30% unemployment will cost >$200m *per month.*
I hope the pain caused by #COVID19 will motivate lawmakers to prevent this from happening again. I hope it gives @GlennWakai the ability to be an effective advocate for economic diversification.
So what should @GlennWakai and allies do? IMHO, revisit Act 221 and make a version 2.0 with lessons learned, and use it to attract companies that deal with anything that can be exported via the internet--apps, games, cloud SaaS, etc. Stuff that won't shut down w/ boats and planes
Another initiative @GlennWakai and allies might want to consider pursuing is some sort of incentive related to the burgeoning remote work trend, which is probably set to boom because of COVID. Living in Hawaii is already a "digital nomad" rite of passage--let's keep them here!
Epidemiologists are already saying that this won't be the last bad pandemic, as we push into earth's last wild spaces. We were lucky w/ SARS and MERS, our luck just happened to run out with COVID. I hope with that in mind @GlennWakai will succeed in economically insulating Hawaii
