HOUSING AUTHORITY

ANOTHER LAYER OF OVERSIGHT NOT NEEDED

"Bill targets housing authority" (Feb. 16) reminded me of Dr. Seuss' "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" wherein a town hires a bee-watcher to make sure the lazy town bee works harder. When the bee fails to work harder, the town figures the bee-watcher isn't watching hard enough. It hires a bee-watcher-watcher, and so on to no effect.

If the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority's Executive Director Chad Taniguchi is not performing up to par, he should be replaced. If the problems addressing public housing are due to a lack of funding, as Mr. Taniguchi asserts, allocate sufficient funds for him and his staff to rehabilitate deteriorating properties.

Senate Bill 734 will add another layer of oversight, which will delay improvements and needlessly cost taxpayers money.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

IT'S TIME WE BAN CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING

As a pedestrian and moped driver in Hawai'i, I have almost been hit by vehicles countless times. Try walking to work or riding a bike for a day — it will shock you how careless drivers are. There's no reason that we should fear for our lives every time we want a bit of exercise or fresh air. Why is O'ahu so notoriously unfriendly to pedestrians, bike riders, etc.?

Countries around the world and states in the U.S. are banning cell phones while driving, and it's time that we join them. Why can't Hawai'i open its eyes and put into practice the aloha and care for fellow residents that is so often talked about?

Banning cell phones may not be the ultimate answer, but it's a significant step. Not every person on this island should have to be hit by a car or witness an accident to realize how dangerous the roads are; however, at the rate we are going, that might just be what happens.

STIMULUS

CONSUMER HAS BEEN BURNED ON MANY FRONTS

The problem with the current recession can be summed up in one word: trust or lack thereof.

The consumer trusted banks with our money. Instead, they financed dangerous subprime mortgages, qualifying people who had no business of having a mortgage. This led to the economic meltdown.

The consumer trusted investment firms with our retirement plans. Instead, they tied our 401k's and annuities into securities which were bundled with these dangerous sub prime mortgages. We watched our retirements disappear.

We trusted our government to watch over these financial institutions. Instead it passed legislation that deregulated the industry. Greedy bankers and lenders had a field day. It was like leaving a lit match in charge of dynamite. The government tried to clean up this mess with a $350 billion bailout. When asked where the money went, banks are reluctant to open up their books. In the meanwhile, top CEOs get obscenely large bonuses and perks.

Consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the driving force behind our economy, is down dramatically. This has led to companies going out of business and jobs lost. The consumer has been burned on many fronts. We are trying to hold onto what little we have left. Can you blame us? Our trust has been violated.

CUTTING TAXES, NOT ADDING TO DEBT, WORKS

Republicans favored tax relief to boost our economy and create new jobs, not slow-moving, wasteful government spending. The Republicans' plan (which was totally dismissed by Democrats) would have let families and small businesses keep more of what they earn, creating 6.2 million jobs according to the Congressional Budget Office, twice the number created under the Democrats' plan, at half the cost.

The Democrats' plan is too costly, too full of waste, includes pork projects, and is handing taxpayers a bill for $1.1 trillion. Their bill provides $1.10 per day in tax relief to workers, while saddling every American family with $6,500 in added debt. Their stimulus is in addition to our already skyrocketing deficit and the untold hundreds of billions to bailout the financial industry that Treasury Secretary Geithner is expected to request. And to make the matter worse, our own Sen. Daniel Inouye has stated that it probably won't be enough!

The Democrats' spending bill is not timely, targeted and temporary as originally promised. The CBO suggests that, over the long-term, this bill will result in an economy that either declines or remains flat.

President Obama and the Democrats should have looked at what President Reagan did when he inherited the sick Carter economy in 1981. Reagan cut taxes substantially and the country rocketed out of the mess, creating 20 million new jobs and doubling tax revenues.

DID ANYONE ACTUALLY READ THE 1,100 PAGES?

We all looked forward with great anticipation as President Obama assumed the Office of the President and his commitments to change Congress to bring transparency and accountability to the American taxpayer.

Well, this seems to be a significant work in progress with the passage of the recent stimulus bill. It boggles my mind that Congress can crank out $787 billion in spending, plaster it on nearly 1,100 pages of amended paper and then justify to us that they have our best interest at heart. That said, I was very impressed with the capability of the Democratic party leaders' and members' speed reading and retention skills. To be able to digest and analyze 1,100 pages from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. is a feat which puts Evelyn Wood's Reading Dynamics to shame.

Did your senators and representatives actually read the bill? I doubt it.

If Obama promised to eliminate pork, why did Sen. Reid propose a multibillion-dollar high speed rail system between Disneyland and Las Vegas?

When Cory Aquino replaced Marcos in the 1980s, a senior U.S. diplomat asked: Is this truly a new democratic opportunity or is it simply "Hey, Pig move over, it is my turn at the trough"?

The 2009 Congress' answer is clear: Oink! Oink!

HELMETS

LAWS PROTECT PEOPLE FROM THEMSELVES

Mopeds and other small vehicles are primary forms of transport in the most congested cities worldwide where there are no helmet laws. However, in their infinite, yet arbitrary, wisdom, our Hawai'i lawmakers know what is best for all of us. They have collectively determined them to be death machines and, therefore, helmets should be mandatory. Motorcycles, however, are safe (I'm driving my seventh).

Why not make laws hostile to all potential hazards? Let's face it, people have a death wish and must be protected from themselves. I suggest our lawmakers wear helmets, as they may have unpleasant things thrown at them.