Cost of Living

Your final charges probably will be higher than shown here because the most highly variable costs are not included: title insurance, title search, taxes, other government fees and escrow fees....

Businesses don't just look at their own costs when deciding where to set up shop. They also look at the costs for their employees....

a thick new blanket of North American oil cushioning the markets....

rising food and housing costs, a challenged public school system and few professional opportunities in a tourist-driven economy....

five states, on average, showed the smallest percentage premium increase by adding a teen driver to an existing auto policy: Hawaii — 18%, North Carolina — 59%....

Electricity demand in Hawaii is among the lowest in the country....

the policy statement on the DOH Website is causing the VA to balk at home loans and re-fi’s for thousands of homes with catchment systems....

Combined, the projects have committed to sell electricity to Hawaiian Electric at an average price of 15.9 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is ... the current cost of generating electricity from oil....

...the prevalence of traditional pensions appears to be a major reason Hawaii leads our study in replacement income....

At least half of seniors have incomes below 200 percent of poverty in 10 states and DC based on the supplemental measure: DC (59%); California (56%); Hawaii (55%)....

FACE continued claiming to represent residents through its support group OH-NO as late as the October 2012 Budget Cmte meeting, four months after the state administratively dissolved OH-NO....

Requires the assessment of impact fees prior to issuance of a water meter ....

...As part of the settlement, Hawaiian Electric Company agreed to write off $40 million in costs for two major projects: the 110-megawatt biofuel generating station at Campbell Industrial Park and the companies’ new customer information system.... 

In Hawaii, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,671.... 

The average wage when adding in tips for the front of the house is $24.24 per hour....

...we are one step closer to ensuring that the beverage tax is defeated for the third year in a row....

Do you think of teenagers flipping burgers? Or a single parent trying to feed several kids?

The Democratic Party has two reliable groups of adherents: the rich and the poor...Both groups have little use for the middle class....

If the minimum wage does rise, where do our elected officials think businesses will get the money to pay the higher wages?

Between 2011 and 2012 Hawaii jumped from 44th to 1st in “Work Environment” but fell from 4th to 14th  in “Basic Access"....

...higher minimum wage is unlikely to accomplish the stated goal of raising the living standards of the working poor....

...look at the issue from an economic and financial well-being stand point instead of the emotional and social welfare perspective....

The reduction in foreclosure sales helps sustain Hawaii sky high real estate prices, thus benefitting the large landowners' development schemes....

Ratepayers could be on the hook for as much as $3.5B of HECO's so-called "stranded costs" if SB120 becomes law....

AARP joins more than a dozen veterans’ groups in opposing adoption of the chained CPI, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and Disabled American Veterans....

The House Minority Caucus urged caution today as two bills to increase the minimum wage to 120 percent its current level passed the Labor & Public Employment and Economic Development & Business committees....

Comparison: Highest RETAIL electric rate on Mainland -- Connecticut at 19.5 cents per kwh

Even in Honolulu, housing affordability has deteriorated markedly, with the Median Multiple rising 0.6 points in just the last year. Honolulu was less affordable than all but Hong Kong and Vancouver...

In 2011, he had attempted to pass a soda tax under the Orwellian title “Sugary Beverage Healthy Hawaii Fee,” but the state legislature saw through the obfuscating rhetoric and defeated it.

The information is key because it is used by developers to set affordable homes sales prices and rents....

Our coalition has over 2,300 individual members, over 8,000 Facebook fans and more than 320 business members....

Pacific Gas & Electric, the state's biggest utility, will pass on about $700 million in annual costs to people without solar systems ....

...the estimated incremental cost spread among Hawaii Island and Oahu customers based on fuel price projections could be about 2/10th of one cent or from $0.84 to $1.00 per month for a residential bill of 500 to 600 kilowatt-hours....

...the Administration is doing what it can to promote closure—or discourage a buyer who does not meet the proper political criterion. Politically incorrect buyers can expect nothing but obstruction from the State....

HECO is attempting to stampede the Legislature into forking out even more money for Big Wind and the big undersea cables that go with it.

...the commission finds and concludes that the contract price for the AKP-produced biofuel, which the HECO Companies chose to file and retain under confidential seal, is excessive....

Neil Abercrombie says Hawaii can’t afford Micronesians.

All four members of Hawaii’s Congressional delegation say Micronesians are “unsustainable.”

Arkansas disagrees.

Tomorrow, look for a new editorial in Pacific Business News on problems with fiscal responsibility in our government.

He will pursue public-private partnerships to reconstruct, upgrade and manage public housing. An Aiona-Finnegan Administration will also extend to public housing residents the successful Homeownership Assistance Program launched by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which helps renters become successful homeowners.

Craig Dougall, former CEO of Waikoloa Workforce Housing, LLC, names names of County officials involved in the County’s alleged sabotage of the $40M-plus project.  Dougall describes the specific methods they allegedly used to ensure that no financing could be arranged so the project would collapse.

Puna is one of the very few places in Hawai`i where young local families can afford to buy their own home and begin life as a family.  But environmentalists are working hard to put a stop to the inflow of locals and replicate the success they have had in making Maui and Kaua`i into exclusive havens for rich mainland transplants.