The Young Brothers inter-island shipping monopoly just won a 25 percent rate hike from the Public Utilities Commission. Parent company shareholders are made whole, while local consumers are stuck with ever-higher food prices.

Hawaiʻi makes history as the first state to enact a green fee. Worldwide, tourists usually don’t mind paying these fees to offset their impact. But those who profit from the industry have long claimed the sky will fall as a result.

Between President Trump’s tariff chaos, haphazard cuts to government functionality via Elon Musk’s rogue agency DOGE, and Congress advancing $5.1 trillion in tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the rest of us, it’s looking like the U.S. economy and the empire that supports it are headed for a painful, stupid end.