Hilo Living Blog

Readers-You must check out the "Hilo Living" Blog. It's one my favorite "Internet Addiction" places. This is such a fantastic blog, totally Hilo centric but in the context of the broader Global scenario. The bloggers are recent transplants from Silicon Valley but have a deep love for the aina and the culture. I have a feeling they are making lots of friends around here. I sure want to meet them. I expect I will, real soon.
Living so isolated from the rest of the planet, THE remotest archipelago on the planet, we Big Islanders can be somewhat untouched by geo-politcal events. This was certainly the case after the events of September 11, 2001. The overwhelming consensus among Big Islanders was that we were in the safest place we could possibly be. Everyone I met would talk about it, in absolute reverence and appreciation. We all felt so utterly graced to be able to live and prosper in this unique paradise. After that cataclysmic event, only a few were compelled to fly "Old Glory", unlike the enmasse flag flying that instantaneously appeared out of everyone's homes by September 12, 2001. Some may even recall that the State of Hawaii was sharply criticized for the tasteless lack of patriotism. There are many reasons Hawaiians lack the patriotic spirit, that is a subject for an entire blog all by itself, and I will not get into it now. If you are wondering why this place is not to smitten about the US Gov. then listen to the group,Sudden Rush, these Hilo based Hawaiian Rappers (often heard on the popular A&E series, "Dog the Bounty Hunter") says it best, in the song Ea "I ain't ever had an uncle named Sam!" Download that song and you will understand everything you need to know about why this place is not into flying the US flag.
So, the folks at "Hilo Living" posted a very insightful, sensitive, and spiritually based posting about the upside of the coming economic depression. One interesting fact about GD 1.0 is that Hawaii was untouched by that one. Back then, of course, Hawaii was still a territory, and the major economic engine was sugar cane.
I believe the east side of the Big Island will go through the GD 2.0, okay. After all, we had only about 2 years of a frenzied RE boom, and then one day around July 2006, poof, no more. Before that, it was already a severely depressed economy with the demise of the last of the sugar cane. Hilo has never recovered from that. We still have empty spaces in Hilo town, that have not been occupied for almost 20 years now. So for us in Hilo, it is just back to the way it was before 2005, unless you were one of those that took advantage of the equity bubble in your home. Ugh.
I think that the people of East Hawaii will find ways to take advantage of the rich aina and develop an even more diverse agriculture economy. We have so much untapped wealth around here with my biggest hope being that we will continue on a path towards food and energy sustainability. We have a lot to be hopeful for, and now more than ever is our chance to be a model society and show the rest of the world how to live well in a small, efficient "footprint".
So read this blog, "Hilo Living" and then read my response, below. A hui hou!

My hopes are exactly the same as yours but like "Anonymous" , we have a LOT of work to do when it comes to the images that constantly bombard us from MSM. Shows such as "The Hills" and "Real Housewives of OC" are huge impenetrable wall in front of our collective spirits. California is so in the forefront of everything that is wrong with our relationship with money. My biggest wish, much like yours, is that folks like ourselves, living within or below our means will be the new status symbols. Hardly a day goes by that I myself do not struggle with the state of my living conditions-small mortgage free house in dire need of a makeover. Why do I feel like such a loser when my true net worth may be vastly more than some of these "Posers" who have massive 6 figure revolving debts? My true wealth is my clear conscious, and highly functioning creativity, not to mention sound sleep every night. I guess, I was never one that could handle financial stress and have chosen a more humble, austere path in life.
The upside of an economic depression can be a huge windfall for folks who avoided the wealth effect. We will wait and see if Hilo prices will come down, so far not enough. (A Foreclosed McMansion in Sunrise Ridge going for nearly $800K is still out of reach and is likely to simmer for many years. What a shame. Boohoohoo.)
A new show "Momma's Boy's" (a new twist on the Bachelor) has this bimbo clown vying for one of the guys. She is 25 years old and has had numerous boob jobs and various plastic surgeries. She is $136K in cc debt. At least the show portrays her for what she is:massively stupid and phony! the intended guy's mom hates her enormously as she has raised her son to be averse to debt. At least its a beginning of a new positive status. We will get there, this is what the collective consciousness desperately wants, IMO.
Our spirits are starving from the debt load stress, the competition for image status, and this vacant toxic culture. The emotional devastation of Joblessness and poverty will cleanse our collective souls and transform this nation back to the qualities that once made us the envy of the world. Perhaps we will cleanse our spirits to a point where our imaginations and creativity can fluorish once again. How can anyone think with all facilities when bombarded by angry debt collector phone calls at all hours and piles of exponentially rising cc balances with 35% interest rates? It may take all year, just like it took for TPTB to call a recession, but by Dec. 2009 everyone will be facing the reality of "Yes, folks, we are in an Economic Depression and we have a long painful road to navigate". Obama maybe about "Change" but it may not look like the kind of change we were all thinking.