Hawaii economist Paul Brewbaker expressed his wry humor today at the Kauai Board of Realtors event to explain a rather dismal economic outlook. We have a trifecta of financial down-trends in government spending, tourism and construction. (All of this supports the vision we need to grow our own food and build resilience as is the political vision of myself and a few others.) Paul gave a comic display of data manipulation to show how seemingly encouraging trends are really inaccurate. Our unemployment is down to 5%, but because 1500 discouraged workers have left the island. Our First Quarter 2014 Gross Domestic Product in Hawaii shows a significant retraction of growth to -2.9%. What does this mean? Buckle up for another interesting financial ride. This is his statewide presentation, but he had a Kaua`i one that was more specific. Basically, we are fairing worse than Oahu; all neighbor islands are. Guess what? I am still happy. :) hawaiieconomicassociation/uploads/4/6/1/7/4617149/brewbaker_hea_february_2014.pdf
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:20:31 +0000