Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 36, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2019 — Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

LEO ELELE TRUSTEE MESSSAGES

A

nd I just wanted to also say "MAHALO NUI LOA" for your support and faith

in me in the Election of ^2018. Mahalo! Mahalo!

Mahalo! This article is dated January, 2069. . . 50 years from now.(OHA: Future Strong) Some thoughts about how OHA must stay strong Onipa'a as we head into this new Horizon of change. The prophets of an "information economy" will have forgotten basic economics. When something becomes abundant, it also becomes

eheap. A world awash in information will be a world in whieh information has very little market value, With Apps sites being developed every day, and information instantly at our finger tips, it is now "free"! In general when the economy becomes extremely good at doing something, that activity becomes less rather than more important. The eeonomie trends that observers in the late 1990s should have expected, but didn't: • Soaring land and resource prices. The 1990s, an era of low land and home prices. It is hard to see why anyone thought this situation would continue. The Earth is a finite planet. As 2 hillion Asians began to aspire to Western levels of consumption, it set off a scramble for limited supplies of minerals, fossil fuels, and food. China has most of their manufacturing plants in America and 3rd world countries. When America started alternative energy projects it became clear that natural resources were important for us to protect. • The environment as property. Our envi-

ronment is our 'kuleana.' The limited carrying capacity of the environment has become the single most

important constraint on the average standard of living. The 19th century's great fortunes were made in industry; the late 20th made in technology. Today's super-rich are those who own prime land or mineral rights. The Rebirth of the Big City. Modern telecommunications had eliminated mueh of the need for close physical proximity between routine office workers. Today the roads belong mainly

to hordes of share-a-ride minivans, driverless autos, efficiently routed by a web of intercommunicating computers. Suburban door-to-door transportation still takes eonsiderably longer than it did when ordinary commuters and shoppers could afford to drive their own cars. The jobs that flourished in the suburbs were eliminated in vast numbers beginning in the mid-90s. Some white-collar jobs migrated to low-wage countries; others taken over by computers. Jobs that could not be shipped abroad or handled by machines were jobs best done in the middle of dense urban areas served by what is still the most effective mass-transit system yet devised: the elevator. Vertical is the 'word' of today as far as work plaee buildings are concerned." True innovation needs to be built at the edge of the organization. Where will OHA be in 2069? Now in 2069, how is the Hawaiian Culture and where are her people? Fiscal Sustainability will be a Priority this year as well as Transparency. Onipa'a! A hui hou, Mālama Pono, Trustee Leina'ala ■

Leina'ala Ahu lsa, Ph.D. TrustEE, At-laryE