The only way for most of us to possess land in Honolulu has unfortunate timing. Unless we can be ghosts… sobriety in the midst of inequality not necessarily tempting

The closest most Hawaii residents will get to becoming landowners is possession of the plot where we’re buried. If you purchase in advance is it possible to repurpose that bit of ground? I wonder if anyone has ever done that, bought a plot and then tried to erect, I don’t know, maybe a taco stand. Maybe there are zoning restrictions that limit its use to burial. Honolulu is so prohibitively pricey (half million dollars might allow you to purchase a modest studio apartment, no front/back yard), it takes thinking like this to make a go of it as a landowner on Oahu. Forget out of the box ideas and embrace off the wall creativity.

Unequal Wealth Distribution

It’s funny, I’ve lived in some of the world’s most exclusive places. Not only here but the Upper West Side of Manhattan, The Village, also in Manhattan. College, now that was elite. I’ve never been an owner, but I’ve never been shut out. I’ve been able to experience a bit, so that I can see and know how the other half (or should more accurately say top quarter of a million households that possess most of the wealth in the U.S.). So frustrating. I found a site, inequality.org, that said Ted Turner, #3 top landowners, in world or U.S. I don’t recall, by himself, owns more land than the entire black population of this country. Wow. And we are like 13% of the whole population.

Maybe if success, as defined by wealth acquisition, were more possible it’s be more tempting for the have nots to forgo bad habits. Give up illegal activities so you can work a low paying job and throw away the bulk of your income on rent–but you’ll feel really noble. Ok, I could lunch up the sales pitch but I’d have to not rely overly much in the truth to make sobriety in inequality truly tempting.