Jenga game illustrates how government budgets go wrong

from Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, August 25, 2021

The founder of Truth in Accounting showed her Maui audience how Hawaii’s state budgeting practices invite financial collapse

Everyone had a good time at the institute’s first in-person event on Maui since 2020, on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.

That’s because Sheila Weinberg, founder of national government watchdog group Truth in Accounting, engaged them in a game of Jenga, using giant, custom-made blocks to illustrate the shaky foundations on which Hawaii’s state and county budgets are based.

Especially hilarious was when Keli’i Akina, institute president and event moderator, was invited to pull the block from the pile that likely would cause the rest to topple.

“Go ahead and pull out a block,” Weinber urged.

“You mean the Grassroot Institute is going to have to do this?” Akina asked?

“Yes,” Weinberg said. “You are going to mess up Hawaii’s finances.”

A moment later, Akina pulled out a block labeled “Taxpayers’ money in the stock market,” and the pile collapsed.