Lahaina is a small part of Maui, and while the devastation and loss of life were epic and tragic, the remainder of Maui is open for business, but there’s a problem. No one is showing up, and the tourism-reliant economy is collapsing.
“…nearly three weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, the sharp drop-off in visitors is sowing a different kind of fear across an island where tourism dominates the economy. In recent days, officials and others have started to sound alarm bells, begging visitors to return to other parts of Maui.
“Maui update. South Maui resorts (Lahaina is West Maui) NEED visitors. Furloughs and layoffs starting because people think the whole island is closed. It is not,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted Thursday on the social media platform X. “If you are planning a trip to Wailea or Kihei, don’t cancel. If you want to come to Hawaii pls consider South Maui.”
While I’m sure there are loads of good-paying green jobs waiting to be created, the locals can’t rely on the island, the State, or the Feds to bail them out. They need something that could attract people now, and the observations in my last piece on Maui inspired me—introducing Incompetent Government Tours (IGT).
Tour the wreckage left by inept and bumbling bureaucrats, bungling oversight. Witness a reenactment of their poor planning, inadequate response, and the absence of follow-up. From bad policy to poor leadership, we’ve got it all, even a scapegoat – the power company your government oversees and regulates. It’s their fault they didn’t remind us to keep crawling all over them like ants on a pineapple.
Wait, sorry, not a pineapple. Maui’s pineapple business bailed in 2009, leading, in part, to the kinds of landscape responsible for the dry, invasive wild grass that burned so well when the climate gods’ power lines sparked the fire. Then, explore how Maui could sue them instead; when the government gets it wrong, the cure is always more government, and you need “revenue” to finance that.
I’m sure an anti-government approach would bring in planes or boatloads of MAGA supporters who are much better tippers than the Dems and progs who preach about little people, poverty, and the environment but leave little behind them but litter and waste. Maui IGT could also get free advertising from the Southen Poverty Law Center, which will gleefully add them to their Hate Map as agitators for rights and liberty.
And don’t limit yourself to Lahaina, which you may not even be able to access. The same incompetence responsible for that lurks across Maui and the Islands. You could employ a lot of folks all over with this plan an maybe – just maybe – encourage the locals to vote for new “management.” Preferably in something other than blue.
