Halloween is over, but spooky creatures still haunt us

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President / CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, November 1, 2025

Halloween was yesterday, but we still have a lot of spooky creatures in Hawaii to worry about.

I’m thinking of the Jones Act goblin, the budget banshee and the grasping rail, among many others.

The Jones Act goblin’s purpose is to frighten people away from reforming or repealing the Jones Act, which restricts shipping competition between U.S. ports and causes higher prices throughout the U.S., especially in places such as Hawaii that are dependent on shipping for most of their imports.

This goblin constantly grunts that changing any part of this haggard old law from more than a hundred years ago will result in fewer American jobs. But as my colleagues at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii have explained many times, the Jones Act goblin essentially counts anything remotely connected to shipping as a Jones Act job.

It also ignores that the numbers of people employed directly in shipbuilding and as mariners have dropped precipitously in recent decades, so obviously the Jones Act hasn’t protected those jobs.

Moreover, freeing up America’s shipping lanes to greater competition could actually increase the number of maritime-related jobs, such as for stevedores and other port workers, since there would be more ships and cargo to service.

As for the budget banshee, her horrifying screams are what you hear whenever someone proposes cutting taxes to reduce the cost of living and ease the burden on local businesses. Her chilling cry of “But we need the revenue!” can constantly be heard in the halls of our Legislature and county councils.

Of course, it is well documented that lower taxes are associated with job growth, higher wages and increased economic productivity that can outweigh the loss of tax revenues. So there is no reason to be scared by the budget banshee.

And then there’s the grasping rail, which can’t keep its hands out of our pockets to pay for its many false promises. Its siren calls of “on time,” “under budget” and “I will solve your traffic woes” apparently have been only tricks to fool us into submitting to its endless oppressive demands.

It seems the only way we might be able to slay at last the grasping rail would be to put its future plans to another public vote. If that were to fail, it could be around to haunt us forever.

The Jones Act goblin, the budget banshee, the grasping rail — these are just a few of the bogeymen that have held Hawaii back from being a place where we can all thrive and prosper.

Unfortunately, it isn’t only during the Halloween season that these odious creatures bedevil us. That is why we at Grassroot work year round to shine the light of facts on them, with the goal of seeing that someday they will disappear.

E hana kākou! (Let's work together!)