This makes sense. Sure, it might make Hawaii public policymaking less of an adventure, but maybe we've flown by the seats of our pants long enough?
Johnson's proposal brought to mind the link between lease-fee conversion and Hawaii's current economic stagnation.
Letting homeowners buy the land under their houses and condos was a great idea, but the timing couldn't have been worse. It happened just as land values skyrocketed, driven up by speculation and foreign investment.
Even record-low mortgage interest rates couldn't completely dampen the economic impact of fee conversion. After thousands of savings accounts were cleaned out for down payments, a big chunk of the disposable income needed to fuel economic growth became bigger mortgage installments as homeowners refinanced and snapped up their fees.
In Hawaii, that giant sucking sound has nothing to do with NAFTA. It's dollars being vacuumed up by monthly loan payments.
Predicting the economic impact of land reform wouldn't have been easy at the time. But clearly, if the downside could have been foreseen, it would have been worth the effort.
