Wednesday, May 14, 2008
An economic model for an island: exploitation
I've mentioned before that other than tourism and serving the military, there doesn't seem to be any workable model for an economy in Hawaii.
Exploitation is the only model I see over time for any island (Singapore is different, it's not an isolated island).
Whether it's mining the guano and then abandoning the place or plundering any other natural resource, whether it's testing atomic bombs, or whether it's tourism and the military, it's all been exploitation. Outsiders come, chew up the local people, suck out the life force, and spit them out.
One can include development in this. We all pay dearly for their profit.
And now the isolated island of Niihau is meeting the same fate. Check out Joan Conrow's article posted today, Musings: Take, Take, Take.
