President's Message
Happy Lei Day!
We have had another successful month of Chamber events. I hope that you got to attend the Third General Membership Meeting featuring the Small Business Awards with Jane Sawyer of the Small Business Association. The very deserving 2008 Hawaii Island award winners are:
2008 Entrepreneurial Success Award for the State of Hawaii – Rex Matsuno, Suisan Company, Limited, 2008 Small Business Person of the Year for the County of Hawaii – John & Donna Rozett, Rozett’s Nursery, 2008 Small Business Exporter of the Year, State of Hawaii and Region IX- David Fell, Hawaii Sunshine Nursery, 2008 Family Owned Small Business for the County of Hawaii – Michael Tokunaga, S. Tokunaga Store, Inc., 2008 Women in Business Champion for the County of Hawaii – Roberta Chu, Bank of Hawaii.
Also, at the meeting Steven Oldfield gave an interesting overview on the two projects that he is planning for Hilo. One is a new hotel at the old Bay Clinic location off Kalanianaole Avenue and the other is an elderly housing/assisted care center. Both projects fill an important need for our community and Mayor Harry Kim was there to bestow his approval along with taking part in the awards ceremony.
Next up was the highly successful Office Professionals Day. Jan Higashi, Mele Spencer, and their committee did another fabulous OP Day. We were fortunate to have DC fill in for an ailing Kat. He did a stellar job as our MC and our thanks go out to him for filling in on such short notice. The crowd was wooed by the sweet sounds of Danny Couch who led us down memory lane to the days when he played the Crown Room in the early 1980’s.
Since my last article Hawaii has lost two airlines (Aloha and ATA) and witnessed the closure of Moloka’i’s largest employer, Moloka’i Ranch. Coupled with the reduction of Norwegian Cruise Lines’ operations to one ship, oil at over $115 per barrel and the ever increasing cost of food; Hawaii is indeed facing difficult times. However, it would be an oversimplification to blame all of these events upon the economy.
Recently, I was watching CNBC when Congress was grilling Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following the JP Morgan/FED buyout of Bear Sterns (the fifth largest financial institution in the US). One senator opined that the US economy was facing challenges like none other since the Great Depression. Mr. Bernanke, a self proclaimed student of the Great Depression, was quick to point out that while the current economic landscape is extremely challenging, and while we may be in a recession, the current status of the economy is not similar to the Great Depression. Additionally, he said that the Federal Reserve would not allow the contraction of credit that precipitated the Great Depression.
It is clear that the entire country is experiencing a dose of “stagflation”. While we, as individuals, can not have any effect upon the collapsing dollar and its offspring, soaring commodity prices; we can stay calm and plot a course through these troubled seas. When the abundance of negative news makes you question the future, just remember how lucky we are to be living in Hawaii and experiencing the culture of aloha.
Bob Williams