The Abercrombie-Ige Agenda Isn't Working: The Cost Of Living In Hawaii
News Release from Hawaii Republican Party
HONOLULU (September 9, 2014) - After four years of the Abercrombie-Ige policy agenda, families in Hawaii are finding it harder than ever to pay the bills and save for the future. Numerous studies and statistics put the Aloha State in last place in terms of the cost of living in the wake of Senator Ige's broken policies.
"Senator Ige had four years to implement the Abercrombie-Ige policy agenda and it has left Hawaii with the highest cost of living in the nation. Local families are struggling more than ever by having to get by with less, and are clearly not looking for four more years of the same policies." --Ted Kwong, Hawaii Republican Party Communications Advisor
BACKGROUND:
A MoneyRates.com Report Ranked Hawaii As The Worst Place To Make A Living In 2014. “To determine the Best And Worst States to Make a Living, personal finance site MoneyRates.com used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, C2ER, and the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index to examine average salary, cost of living, employment rate, and workplace conditions for each state and generate the ranking.” (Kathryn Dill, “The Best And Worst States To Make A Living In 2014,” Forbes, 6/9/14)
- “At the other end of the spectrum–and a different corner of the map–Hawaii ranks as the worst place to make a living in 2014, due to a cost of living that stands at 157% the national average and a poor work environment score.” (Kathryn Dill, “The Best And Worst States To Make A Living In 2014,”Forbes, 6/9/14)
The Tax Foundation Found That $100 Buys The Least In Hawaii In 2014. “One-hundred dollars can buy anywhere from $81 worth of goods and services to nearly $126, depending on your metropolitan area. The accompanying map produced by the Tax Foundation uses first-ever government data released this year to show how the real value of $100 varies by state. A variety of factors conspire to make Hawaii the state where $100 buys you the least ($85.32) and Mississippi the state where it can buy the most ($115.74). Another Tax Foundation maps looks at the relative value of $100 by metropolitan area, at least for the more than 380 areas where data were available. Naturally, the variation is greater: $100 is only worth about $81.37 in urban Honolulu, but it can buy you roughly $125.94 in goods and services in Danville, Ill.” (Niraj Chokshi, “How much is $100 really worth in hundreds of metropolitan areas?” The Washington Post, 8/20/14)
MarketWatch Found The Income Needed To Achieve "Daily Happiness" Was $122,175 In Hawaii, Far More Than Any Other State In 2014. (Shawn Langlois, “The price of happiness, by state,” MarketWatch, 7/15/14)
The U.S. Commerce Department Most Recently Found Hawaii Has The Highest Cost Of Living In 2013: “Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the nation, according to a U.S. Commerce Department Bureau of Economic Analysis report in June. The cost of living is 16 percent higher than the national average. (Second place goes to New York.)” (Kery Murakami, “Living Hawaii: Why Is the Price of Paradise So High?” Honolulu Civil Beat, 9/4/13)
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