Economy benefits from go! entry

I have recently read a letter to the editor that criticized the new carrier go! for offering low fares to it's customers. I am the owner and CEO of Mokulele Airlines, a local company flying five aircraft interisland. As we don't compete directly with the larger Hawaiian carriers, I think I can offer a fair and balanced view of go!'s entry.

New competition is good for Hawaii and I think we can all benefit. Fares have been too high for too long, resulting in less passenger travel and pent-up demand. I believe go!'s entry will unlock this demand and we will see many more people traveling between neighbor islands whether on business or visiting friends and relatives. The more affordable that inter-island travel becomes, the more traffic will be stimulated, resulting in more potential customers for Mokulele and other local carriers. I am confident in our product and welcome the competition.

While one recent letter writer suggests go!'s CEO, Jonathan Ornstein, believes there is not enough traffic for a third airline and one of the hometown airlines could fail as a result, I have heard Ornstein speak at a number of public events and that has not been his message. What he has said is that, given the already high load factors on interisland routes, these markets would appear to be under-served and, with the additional traffic stimulated by go!'s low fares, there should be more than enough traffic for the existing carriers.

We can all agree that the entry of go! already has led to lower fares and a greater number of people traveling interisland. Far from being disastrous for consumers, I believe go! will be great for the people of Hawaii. Last year, more than 5 million passengers traveled between the neighbor islands. If the average ticket paid as a result of go! drops from $100 to $50, passengers will save more than $250 million annually -- a large amount of money by anyone's calculations. Any money saved may well be plowed back into the economy by additional spending at restaurants, shops, taxis, hotels and other travel-related services many of us provide.

The interisland market is ready for some healthy competition and see nothing but advantages for the people of Hawaii as a result.

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Enron-style scandal could happen again

Enron executives were found guilty of manipulating the stock price by making up rosy shareholder reports of company revenue. When investors heard of the scandal, the price of the stock dropped and many lost their savings, and thousands of employees lost their retirements. As a result, Congress has passed the Sarbannes- Oxley Act, which mandates an accounting standard and procedures that would encourage independent and honest reporting of company revenue. But is this enough?

I know an accountant with a large local company. He says the company has hired four CPA firms to do such audits and will choose the one that reports the largest income for the company. He says that the variations of reported income are large and the new accounting standard could allow Enron accounting practices. Sarbannes-Oxley is that vague. So the system is still broken.

Will shareholders wait for another scandal for the act to be fixed? The bubble burst in the Far East when investors realized that companies were weak and poorly managed. Will we lose foreign investment?

Let Iraqis vote on whether U.S. stays

Now that the major political parties are agreed that we should leave Iraq and that only the date of that departure is in question, the time has come to find out how the Iraqis feel about the matter.

The U.N. has the machinery in place to supervise a vote of all adult Iraqi citizens currently living in that country. Let the vote be taken, and if the majority wants us to leave, that will settle the matter once and for all.

As President Bush has said, our mission was accomplished more than three years ago, and we are there now only because the Iraqi people want us there. If they tell us otherwise, then we'll leave.

It's as simple as that.

Eisenhower's fears are fully realized

The letter from Chuck Cohen (Star-Bulletin, June 7) was the best I have read about Iraq and the war. The reason we cannot have a debate about the war is because the right-wing war mongers who go back even to President Clinton's government finally won power.

President Eisenhower warned about the dangers of a military-industrial complex. Look around now and tell me this is not what we have.They are bankrupting this country daily. This complex is a bane on the whole world.

Akaka is tireless in pursuit of justice

Filipino veterans who fought bravely alongside Americans during World War II played an integral part in the United States winning the war in the Pacific. But their fate at the hands of the U.S. government, which cut their rightly earned VA benefits in a cost-saving measure, is shameful.

That's why it is important to have people like Sen. Dan Akaka in the U.S. Senate. He recognizes injustice and is working hard to reinstate full veterans benefits for those Filipino veterans who risked their lives for this country.

Akaka introduced a budget resolution earlier this year that would have provided $310 million for Filipino veterans of World War II. While initially unsuccessful, we know that he will continue to fight on behalf of these veterans' to correct the injustice.

Cheaper gas available if you don't mind a line

In a June 23 letter headlined "What Hawaii needs is a discount gas dealer," Ralph Pickett wrote: "What we need is a 'go!' gasoline station!"

Hey, Ralph ... it's called Costco, but I'll pay the extra so I don't have to wait in long lines. Go to the Kona Costco and you'll see what I mean.