Opening Our Doors To APEC

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Wednesday - November 09, 2011

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By now, I guess everyone in Hawaii has heard that the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is coming to Hawaii for a globally significant meeting hosted by the President Barrack Obama.

I’m not sure what’s on the agenda, but the impression is that everyone is supposed to be on their best behavior. Parks have been groomed, the homeless population has been relocated, potential protesters have been advised by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on how to legally protest, coconut trees have been planted on medial strips, and the airport has never looked so good. All we need now is the leaders and their people to arrive, and little Hawaii will be all over the global media 24 hours a day.

The word is this group of APEC leaders and their entourages will leave a considerable amount of their money in Hawaii, and if treated correctly may send many more of their countrymen to Hawaii.

This is going to be quite a challenge because there are a couple of possible thorns in the plan.

There are a couple of groups who think prostitution will increase dramatically once the delegates arrive. Problem is, some of the countries attending the conference allow prostitution. So do we arrest them or deport them? I’m sure we’ll have more undercover sting operations than necessary to quell any uprising.

There is also the question of an influx of illegal immigrant labor arising by people from less developed countries entering a more affluent country to seek employment. These illegal immigrants are likely to work for wages lower than those paid to citizens with in a country.

Additionally, these illegals are paid in cash, and therefore avoid paying taxes on their earned income. This raises the question of unfairness by those who play by the rules and pay taxes or who wait around for their turn to enter the country legally.

Problems occur when illegal immigrants are exploited by unscrupulous employers who may not provide safe working conditions or force them to work excessive hours beyond what is permitted in a host country.

Simply put, these people are easily taken advantage of.

It’s going to be interesting watching all the delegations arrive. It’s also going to be interesting watching them leave and what kind of problems they leave in their wake.

We shouldn’t have too many problems, afterall, we are a resort town that specializing in spreading our aloha spirit to tourists.

We’ve done it before, and every one should expect us to do it again.