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Also don't know if its still true but my friend who used to live in Hawaii (Kauai and Maui) said that there are very few Walmart Supercenters in the state because for some reasons the unions are dead set against Walmart being able to have a grocery section like all Walmarts here do. Every Walmart I've been to in West Virginia is a Supercenter with the full grocery store, as is every Walmart in Maryland except one in a particularly liberal county. I can see why unions would want to keep grocery stores with artificially inflated wages beyond what true market conditions set. Things like this contribute to the high cost of living, like when someone can get bananas for 59 cents a pound at Walmart but it costs 89 cents somewhere else or a gallon of milk at Walmart for $3.19 while another supermarket charges $4.05. My friend told me many Hawaiians want Walmart to be able to sell groceries as it will make things a lot more affordable.
Also don't know if its still true but my friend who used to live in Hawaii (Kauai and Maui) said that there are very few Walmart Supercenters in the state because for some reasons the unions are dead set against Walmart being able to have a grocery section like all Walmarts here do. Every Walmart I've been to in West Virginia is a Supercenter with the full grocery store, as is every Walmart in Maryland except one in a particularly liberal county. I can see why unions would want to keep grocery stores with artificially inflated wages beyond what true market conditions set. Things like this contribute to the high cost of living, like when someone can get bananas for 59 cents a pound at Walmart but it costs 89 cents somewhere else or a gallon of milk at Walmart for $3.19 while another supermarket charges $4.05. My friend told me many Hawaiians want Walmart to be able to sell groceries as it will make things a lot more affordable.
The flip side of that story is that union members get paid livable wages, which is why Walmart is so strongly opposed to unions... to the point of breaking the law to interfere with union organization of their members. I have been a member of three different unions over my lifetime, and in every case my lot in life was better as a result. When you are a single employee dealing with a massive corporation, you simply have no power. Collective bargaining agreements, the heart of union organizing, seek to restore some balance to that relationship.
Hawai'i is generally said to be the third strongest union state in the country, and that is directly attributable to how badly labor was treated in the pre-union days. So in that regard, the whole state is more progressive than most of the rest of the country.
If I look at the word "leftwing" in that question I think of radicals, and on that score I think Maui is the leader, because of the bitter battle some activists are in to ban GMO crops from the island. It's a bitter fight, and there is a lot of money being spent on the campaign to be decided in the next election.
For the ban, there is a great deal of mainland money flowing in from the "Natural Foods" industry. Opposing the ban, naturally are the seed companies to be directly affected by the ban, chemical companies who supply pesticides and fertilizers, and farmers who fear for their livelihoods. Seeds, GMO or not, including grass seeds for lawns, are currently the largest agricultural segment, so a lot of money is at stake.
On that scale I think Kauai is second, and Hawai'i County is third.
Also this year, Hawaii did raise the minimum wage to $10.10 which is at the Obama dictated level far higher than the federal which is $7.25. Here in West Virginia its being raised to $8.25 over the course of 2-3 years and many people are against it since we know the cost will be passed down to consumers and it will make us less competitive than our neighbors in Virginia and Kentucky which is still $7.25.
I think any minimum wage above the federal level is liberal, and anything above $9 an hour is extremely liberal. The article does say the only other states following Obama's dictates and raising it to $10.10 are Connecticut and Maryland, which are dominated by expensive urban areas though this will be devastating for businesses and consumers in the rural counties. Having said this I do think its reasonable for Hawaii to be above the national average since the cost of living is above the national average, but in rural areas I think $7.25 is sufficient if not already too high.
How much do you make an hour? In my general experience, people who make way more than minimum wage advocate that it should remain low.
I've worked on both sides, when I was younger I lived on minimum wage which was $3.35 back in the 1980s. Paychecks ranged around $100/week after taxes. I definitely couldn't do much, and any car problem set me back in a very serious way. Did that for six years, mostly in Michigan factories.
Now, I'm on the other end. I get paid to go to conferences, sometimes to go to dinners. I'm very low level compared to the multitudes of others on large expense accounts. I don't have an expense account, but sometimes there are events where I can be covered under one. Granted, this is a different time frame, but it's possible I can average $100/week just on 'amenities' on top of my salary. Whereas 20 years ago, that was my salary.
What I generally notice is that companies spend unbelievably enormous amounts of money flying an enormous amount of people around the world, around the country, on expense accounts. Free cars, free taxis, free airplanes, free hotels, free dinners, free entertaining, etc. They spend an enormous amount in those areas. Even myself, not under an expense account, I get to do a ton of things I could never even imagine spending money on, that I never would have dreamed possible back when I was doing grunt work minimum wage jobs.
My personal feeling is that companies should give a little more to their low-wage earners, and give a few less fringe benefits to their already well-paid.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 10-30-2014 at 10:34 PM..
My personal feeling is that companies should give a little more to their low-wage earners, and give a few less fringe benefits to their already well-paid.
On top of that, lots of recent studies have shown that Executive Compensation bears virtually no relationship to productivity, or to their actual value to the corporation. It's all just a shell game by people in position to grab as much as they can carry.
On the contrary, which parts of Hawaii are known for being conservative in the traditional Americana kind of way? Either the rural, small town type or the white picket fence suburbia type. Anywhere that resembles the look, feel, or lifestyle of a small town or mid-sized city in the South or the heartland where church, high school football, hunting, fishing, 4 wheeling, town parades, county fairs etc are a big deal?
Physically from picture, Honolulu does resemble a modern, Sunbelt city with its skyscrapers and Waikiki especially reminds me Miami and also Cancun which of course isn't in America but is heavily American-influenced and always filled with Americans.
Are the rural area and suburbs much more conservative than the major cities like is often the case on the mainland?
Do you mean which Hawaiian Island is the most liberal?
Keep in mind that Democrats are liberals, and the Progressives were Republicans.
Don't be fooled by the Dems attempt to rebrand themselves as "progressives".
Aren't you smarter than that, or are you a typical low information Democrat voter?
Aren't you smarter than that?
Keep in mind that Republicans have changed, and have now become the ultra conservative obstructionist party of NO! And in fact No progress is possible with them shutting down government the way they have the last six years.
If I say any more about that, the mods will probably move this thread to the Politics and Other Controversies forum.
The plastic and paper (if it meets the requirements) are a reality on Kauai. Oahu is getting ready as I understand at some time in 2015 it will be enforced. On Oahu, I already take my own bags.
Hawaii is one of the bluest states in the union IMO.
Hawaii is one of the bluest states in the union IMO.
Yes, most of the government offices are filled with Democrats, and the state has long been considered a stronghold of the Democratic Party. I'd say Hawai'i is as blue as Texas is red.
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