Hawaii State Procurement squanders cash and delays services

For most people, government is simply the sum of the services it provides: security and safety, for example, in the form of police and fire departments; education, in the form of schools and libraries; and transportation, in the form of roads, harbors and airports. Citizens can measure their government by how effectively it provides those services.

Businesses, though, often see another side of government. That’s because the state government relies on private contractors and consultants to provide many of these services. Contractors design and build the state’s schools and highways; consultants manage everything from state hospitals to social services. Indeed, government is the largest single customer of Hawaii businesses, spending more than a quarter of the state’s $7 billion budget on contracted goods and services. With billions at stake, clearly another measure of government is how efficiently and fairly it procures those services. And yet, by almost any measure, the state’s procurement process is broken.

The easiest way to gauge how dysfunctional the system has become is to glance through reports from the state auditor’s office. In department after department, report after report, procurement practices are found wanting. Indeed, many of the most prominent controversies faced by the state government in recent years have been procurement failures at heart: Two 2009 audits criticize the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism for flouting procurement laws by awarding a contract to a firm with ties to the department’s director rather than higher-ranking competitors. The latter DBEDT audit goes so far as to recommend the director’s removal.

Full article [Hawaii Business]

by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)

Last week, the House approved another increase in the national debt ceiling. This means the government can borrow $1.9 trillion more to stay afloat and avoid default. It has been little more than a year since the last debt limit increase, and graphs showing the debt limit over time show a steep, almost vertical trend. It is not likely to be very long before this new ceiling is met and the government is back on the brink between default and borrowing us further into oblivion. Congressional leaders and the administration acknowledge that the debt limit will need to be increased again next year. They are crossing their fingers that the forecasts are correct and they will not need another increase sooner, even before the 2010 midterm elections.

Continually increasing the debt is one of the logical outcomes of Keynesianism, since more government spending is always their answer. It is claimed that government must not stop spending when the economy is so fragile. Government must act. Yet, when times are good, government also increases in size and scope, because we can afford it, it is claimed. There is never a good time to rein in government spending according to Keynesian economists and the proponents of big government.

Free market Austrian economists on the other hand know that times are bad because of the size and scope of government. The economy is fragile because of the overwhelming stranglehold of bureaucracy and taxation of Washington. Any jobs Washington might create through these endless spending programs are paid for through more taxation and debt put on the productive sectors of the economy. Just as insidious is the hidden tax of inflation caused by the Fed and its ever-expanding credit bubble. When the Fed steps in with its solutions, it only devalues the dollars in everyone’s pocket while encouraging more reckless waste on Wall Street. All of this leads to a worsening economy, not an improved one.

And so the downward spiral continues. The worse things get, the more politicians want to spend. The more they spend, the heavier the debt load becomes and the more we have to spend just to maintain our interest payments. As our debt load becomes unsustainable, the alarm of our creditors increases. It is becoming so serious that our credit rating, as a nation, could be downgraded. If this happens, interest on the national debt will increase even more, leading to even higher taxes on Americans and inevitably, price inflation.

Still, Washington is full of talk of more regulation, more taxation and more spending. The Senate is still struggling to pass a massive regulatory increase on the financial sector, even as the stock market suffers more shockwaves. Pay-as-you-go rules give the appearance of fiscal responsibility, but in truth these rules are only used as a justification to raise taxes. Spending programs like healthcare reform, increased military spending, and a recent doubling of destructive foreign aid are viewed by Washington as necessary and reasonable, instead of foolishness we absolutely cannot afford.

The people understand this, which is why there is so much anger directed at politicians. Washington needs to change its thinking and adopt some common sense priorities. The Constitution gives some excellent limitations that would get us back on the right path if we would simply abide by them. The framers of the Constitution understood that only the ingenuity of the American people, free from government interference, could get us through hard times, yet Washington seems bent only on prolonging the agony.

Hawaii Political Info does not endorse any candidate and seeks to provide nonpartisan information.

For information on other 2010 candidates, see the top two blocks to the right.

Democrat  

Running for Hawaii state house of representatives, District 28 - Palama, Downtown, Chinatown, Sheridan

Campaign website

Rep. Rhoads on the Issues [Honolulu Weekly] May 27, 2009

Karl Rhoads House of Representatives Web page

Karl Rhoads profile [Project Vote Smart]

House to hear bills on prostitution laws, and prohibition against urinating in public [The Hawaii Independent] Feb 1, 2010

Rep. Karl Rhoads Commentary on "Shared Sacrifice"[Hawaii House Blog] Jul 30, 2009

Hawaii jobless surge may end payroll tax break [Pacific Business News] Jan 16, 2009

Karl Rhoads & Beach Weddings [Hawaii House Blog] Dec 1, 2008

Hawaii Political Info's main mission is to provide easy access to candidate and issue information for the state's voters.

We hope you've noticed the links to the candidate information pages at the top right-hand corner of every page on this site. There are two links. One is within the block, "Congressional Special Election," which covers the candidates for Neil Abercrombie's Congressional District 1 seat. Neil has announced that he will resign as of February 28. The date for this special election has not been set, but is projected for as early as May 1. The second block with link, "2010 Election," covers the candidates running for the November general election.

Hawaii Political Info does not endorse any candidate and seeks to provide nonpartisan information.

David Chang's page has just posted. We reproduce it here.

The West Point graduate and war veteran is running for the state house.

Republican

Running for Hawaii state house of representatives, District 28 - Palama, Downtown, Chinatown, Sheridan

Campaign website
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David Chang profile, Wealth Bridge

War veteran launches HD 28 campaign in Chinatown Sat, Feb 6, 2010

Honolulu Hale

The Honolulu Advertiser has a special section on former Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi, who passed away of natural causes on February 3 at the age of 89. He is survived by his second wife Joyce and 11 children. The Hartford, Connecticut native was Honolulu’s longest serving mayor and a perennial candidate, running as recently as 2004 for Honolulu mayor. He lost to the present mayor, Mufi Hannemann. After the loss the then-84-year-old Fasi made a public decision not to run for office again.

Frank Fasi [Honolulu Advertiser special section]

Will Espero

State Sen. Will Espero (Senate District 20 - 'Ewa Beach, 'Ewa by Gentry, Ocean Pointe, 'Ewa Villages, West Loch, Honouliuli, Lower Waipahu) announced on Friday that he has decided not to seek the Congressional District 1 seat being vacated on February 28 by Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D). Rep. Abercrombie is vacating his seat early to concentrate on his Hawaii gubernatorial campaign.

Espero cited the short time left before the election, which could be held as early as May 1, leaving little time for an effective campaign. His decision was also influenced by Democratic party leaders who expressed concern that his candidacy would split the vote among three Democrats — Ed Case, Colleen Hanabusa and him — giving lone Republican Charles Djou an even better shot at winning the seat.

Link:

Third Hawaii Democrat won't run for Congress [KPUA.net]

by Paul Craig Roberts

Mr. Roberts was the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury during the Ronald Reagan administration, becoming known as “the father of Reaganomics.” He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and a syndicated columnist for creators.com. A Republican, he has gone public in his criticism of the Republican Bush administration and now, the Democratic Obama administration.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan answered that he had placed his trust in a flawed theory when he was called before Congress to explain why he, Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, prevented Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation, a government regulatory agency, from doing her job of regulating over-the-counter derivatives.

The efficient markets theory is that unregulated markets are efficient and rational. According to this theory in which Greenspan placed his trust, unregulated markets produce the best possible result. Any regulatory interference worsens the outcome.

Full article [VDare.com]

Ken Lewis

Ben Bernanke

Hank Paulson

Thursday, February 4, 2010

To defend himself against today’s civil fraud charges, former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis plans to call Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke to the stand

In defending former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis against charges that he misled investors, his lawyers will call as witnesses former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to people close to the matter. The defense team, led by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, hopes to get Paulson and Bernanke to reveal that Lewis did not mislead the government about BofA's deteriorating financial condition in the aftermath of its Merrill Lynch deal. Those losses prompted a massive government bailout.

Full article [The Daily Beast]
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Links:

Bank Chairman Describes Fed's Strong-Arm Tactics [HPI]

Fed and Treasury Threatened BoA’s Management [HPI]

Ronald Charles of Haiti, who is presently studying at the University of Toronto, is interviewed by Paul Jay of the Real News Network. Mr. Charles says that the Haitians want freedom to choose for themselves, not decisions imposed from outside the country. He mentions that even their domestic rice and domestic chickens have been replaced by foreign products that aren't as tasty. He says they now get Miami rice (Miami rice?!), and chicken from abroad that doesn't taste as good.

HPI readers may have noticed the article a while back notifying us that American chicken now get ammonia baths to cut down on food-borne illnesses. We can see where that wouldn't do much for the flavor. American chickens these days are raised in filth, walking around or resting in their own feces, necessitating ammonia or chlorine treatment of the meat.

THE scientist at the centre of the “climategate” email scandal has revealed that he was so traumatised by the global backlash against him that he contemplated suicide.

Professor Phil Jones said in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times that he had thought about killing himself “several times”. He acknowledged similarities to Dr David Kelly, the scientist who committed suicide after being exposed as the source for a BBC report that alleged the government had “sexed up” evidence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Full article [TimesOnLine] (U.K.)