We are just 15 days away from the beginning of the 2018 Legislative session.  Hawaii is often ranked as the worst state to live because of our high cost of living, low wages and low grades for work environment.

Here is a look at some of our most notable accomplishments of 2017:

#1 Worst State to Make a Living (Forbes)
#1 Most Expensive Place to Live (CNBC)
#1 Most Expensive Place to Raise a Family (HuffPost)
#1 U.S. City with the Worst Traffic – Honolulu (Forbes)
#1 Homeless Per Capita (KITV)
#2 Least Affordable Housing (Wallethub)
#5 Worst State to Start a Business (Wallethub)
Half of Hawaii Residents Live Paycheck to Paycheck (Hawaii News Now)

Dr. Akina of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii said, “if we want to put more money into the pockets of working men and women in Hawaii, we must embrace policies that will increase — not lower — our economic freedom ranking. This year, the Legislature should take this guide as a model and look for opportunities to lower taxes, increase employment and cut government spending.” (Aloha, Economic Freedom)

When the economy is bad and government shows no leadership-by-example, society falls apart at the seams. Hawaii has everything needed to be a leader of commerce, industry, and technology. Unfortunately, we routinely rank as the worst state to do business. Our greatest export continues to be our talented young people who go to the Mainland after graduating high school and college. We need to give our keiki the Hawaii they deserve. We cannot continue to fund every desire of government on the backs of small business owners and the middle class.

Let’s make Hawaii affordable again!