"Jonathan Gullible's" Travels Continue by Jay McWilliams Click here to see the front and back of "Jonathan Gullible's" Book Cover Watch this month for the release of the 3rd revised English edition of The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey, by Ken Schoolland, Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science at Hawaii Pacific University. The book is now published in 23 languages - six new editions in the past twelve months - with an additional 13 translations in progress. Jonathan Gullible has been dramatized and broadcast on four radio stations in two states, has a CD and Web site, and has people working on animation and a screenplay.
"Straight commentary from an academic economist was dry and no one really paid much attention," he says. "Having just browsed through some of Gulliver's Travels and The Little Prince, I thought I'd spice up these 90 second radio spots with a fantasy dialogue. The station had no objection and friends were willing to perform with me, so Jonathan Gullible was born. Schoolland says that instantly, listener response to the commentaries improved all over town. The ideas were provocative and outlandish, yet they drove home the hard-core free market lessons of philosophers such as Bastiat, Hazlitt, Friedman, Rothbard, von Mises, Rand, and Thoreau in a humorous way. Later, living in Alaska, Schoolland enlisted a dozen friends as actors to produce the episodes as a dramatic series for KCAW and KABN. Again it was a hit in the community, but didn't go any further until Sam Slom, President of Small Business Hawaii, offered to publish it in 1988 as an educational project for local schools. Several private high schools and my university adopted the book for use in economics classes. The first edition, The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: Amidst Vultures, Beggars, Con Men, and Kings, was awarded two George Washington Honor Medals from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for public communication and economic education. "Predictably, Hawaii's local media reviewers and public education authorities showed no interest in the book, especially when they read Jonathan's criticism of government schools." "But I knew we were on to something good when we received such an enthusiastic response from very diverse interest groups - from conservatives in the Christian Coalition to liberals in Common Cause. They were buying up copies to hand to their friends or to use in classes because it was a clear message about the virtues of freedom - yet presented in a non-threatening manner. Most importantly, student response has been overwhelmingly positive in survey after survey, with many students exclaiming that it is much more interesting and relevant than some of the standard economics texts. While not a substitute for a good textbook, Jonathan Gullible has been very useful as a supplemental reading in generating classroom discussion and debate." Schoolland describes Jonathan Gullible as a young boy in a sailboat who is driven by a storm to a remote Pacific Island. While marooned, Jonathan encounters people who explain strange customs of the island concerning a multitude of issues: prohibiting innovation, protectionism, farm subsidies, the tragedy of the commons, property regulations and eminent domain, taxes, inflation, unions, political bribery, occupational licensing, government monopoly, market alternatives to government services, government funding of the arts, special interest lobbying, tax collection, efficiency of the market, government franchises, government education, property rights, varieties of government, forecasting, paying people not to produce, bureaucracy, elections and voting, educational hypocrisy, labor laws, social security, patents, liability, vice and drugs, responsibility and virtue, unemployment compensation, rent controls, building codes, zoning, majority rule, and self rule. While its reach has been limited in Hawaii, Schoolland says the book has provided global education by being published in large consumer markets such as Russian, Spanish, German, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. Translations into Swedish, French, Bengali, and Somali await publication. Serialization of Jonathan Gullible in Chinese by the Hong Kong Economic Journal, just after the turn over to China, inspired an agreement that has just begun serialization in Japanese by the Economic Seminar magazine of Nippon Hyoron Sha Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, beginning in April 2001. Jay McWilliams is a free-lance writer, working in Honolulu since 1986. CLICK HERE FOR ORDERING INFORMATION
by Dr. Drake Beil Do you have a "Healthy Workplace?" Do you like your work? How about your workplace? Don't you work better, more productively, when you are happy? Are you aware of the direct link between your employee's satisfaction and your company's success? With health, safety and security issues increasing in importance every year, SBH wants to promote the importance of a new award, coming in 2001, developed by the Hawaii Psychological Association, focusing on the overall psychological health in the workplace. Whether you realize it or not, your people spend half their waking hours on the job? Most spend more time with co-workers than they do with their own family members. The secret power of internal motivation is that when your employees are happy, when they truly want to try hard, their work products and customer service will improve, and your bottom line profits will soar! The research is clear that peak performing employees are the real keys to greater profitability. Long before the 1990 breakthrough book by Robert Karasek titled Healthy Work, there has been little argument about the important connection between worker satisfaction with the work environment and increased productivity. In this tight labor market, especially for skilled workers, research is also clear that retention improves when employees perceive their employer is concerned about their well-being. The opposite is also true. If your people are under duress and stress every day from lousy supervision and poor communication, you are ripe for litigation as well as for unhappy, soon-to-be-ex-customers. A truly healthy workplace has impact in five major areas including: o Health, Safety and Security o Employee Involvement o Training and Education o Family Support o Community Support and Corporate Citizenship. So how can you get an application for the HPA "Healthy Workplace" Award? Call Carole Parker, Executive Director of the HPA for an application at 808.521.8995, or log in to the HPA web site at www.hawaiipsych.org and download the application. Then fax it in to HPA at 808.394-0389.
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By Richard O. Rowland The tobacco lawsuit settlement that our fair state participated in has done nothing to reduce tobacco use by youngsters but it has enriched our State Treasury. Additionally, it has made many lawyers a great deal of money. I have one picture in my mind, from TV, of a mainland attorney being interviewed in front of the clubhouse of the golf course he has just purchased with his portion of his tobacco settlement money. As he occasionally takes a puff from a cigarette he says something about the money must be spent somewhere and since he likes golf he thought he would just buy a nice golf course. Please note that we have an unholy alliance here: State governments get paid when people smoke, some lawyers get rich and contribute to selected politicians, tobacco companies get almost guaranteed profits, a black market develops for bootleg cigarettes (a brand spanking new crime) giving law enforcement and legislators a new reason to increase government expenditures on enforcement. Try to guess who gets hurt. Ever wonder what happened to all the developing "public interest" lawsuit that were taking on the "gun" industry? Kinda disappeared didn't they? Do you wonder why? Here's the answer: Greed and money. The lawyers discovered that the gun industry has not much money. Now they are eyeing the fast "fat" food industry, as well as others. They will have help from do-good, feel good, well financed politicians. I hope one of our enterprising cartoonists like John Pritchett will take the following concept and build a dynamic cartoon series: A new "public interest" law firm has appeared. The distinguished senior partners; Any Howe, Always Kanh, Piggy Wee, Goody Fleesom, and Altoo Ah Funn have named their firm, as lawyers do, "Howe Kanh Wee Fleesom and Ah Funn Unlimited." The firm is very efficiently organized with each partner responsible for specific critical functions to maximizing profits and minimizing partner work loads. Any Howe is responsible for studying and identifying business to target for lawsuits. Always Kanh manages the firm, assigns and supervises associates in the preparation for trial of cases. Piggy Wee is responsible for local government and legislative relations; making sure that political leaders and bureaucrats are on the "team." Goody Fleesom is the distinguished handsome, well spoken, well dressed, smooth and urbane spokesman for the firm. He keeps up with national trends in other states and is the liaison with the national plaintiffs bar association. Goody makes lots of speeches and travels a good bit. Altoo Ah Funn is the master tactical planner, negotiator and litigator. He has a consuming desire to win at any cost (except losing money for the firm.) Purpose of the firm is to identify possible businesses, demonize them, rally the newspapers and government to damn them, then sue them and settle for exorbitant amounts. If possible, they want to give the target businesses some sort of monopoly as a part of the settlement so that money will continue to flow to the "public interest." Minimum fee is 25% plus expenses. The establishment of Howe Kanh Wee Fleesom, and Ah Funn Unlimited gives "Obscene profits" a whole new and more robust meaning.
By Marie Okamura, State Tax Director Now you can e-file (electronically file) a dozen Hawaii tax forms right from your computer via the State's Internet portal at www.eHawaiiGov.org! The cost for using this on-line service? Only $2.50 for each transaction involving a payment; no payment . . . no fee! Currently available for e-filing are estimated income tax forms N-1, N-3, and N-5, extension forms N-100, N-101A, N-301, G-39, TA--8, and RV-7, monthly/quarterly withholding tax return Form HW-14, tax clearance application Form A-6, and one-time event GE application Form G-5. Just follow the 5 simple steps below. Step 1 - Registration/Sign In. At the eHawaiiGov.org website, select "File Your Taxes Online with E-Filing," read the requirements, and click "I Have Read the Requirements." Select "Individual/Sole Proprietor" or "Business Entity" to register. Enter the basic information requested, a password of your choice, and your e-mail address. In subsequent visits, simply sign in with your user ID (your social security number or federal employers identification number) and password. Step 2 - Select and Complete Form. Select the form you want to e-file and fill in the applicable data fields. Some of the data are pre-filled based on your registration information and should be checked for accuracy. Return to the registration screen to correct pre-filled fields. NOTE: If you are a tax professional, you currently cannot file your clients' tax forms under your registration. Each client must separately register and provide you with the necessary information (and power of attorney) to submit forms on their behalf. Step 3 - Verify Information. Review and verify all entries and then click "Submit." If any errors are detected (e.g., missing entries, an alphabet in a field that should contain only numbers, etc.) a list of those errors will appear. Click "Submit" after making any corrections. Step 4 - Authorize Payment. Payments are made through an electronic check process called "VirtualPay." The maximum amount payable through VirtualPay, including the $2.50 transaction fee, is $25,000. For your security, only the amount paid, not your account information, is saved. If a payment is to be made, a payment screen will appear and must be completed so that your bank account can be debited. After entering your payment information, you will be asked to review the information before clicking "Authorize Payment." Step 5 - Receipt/Confirmation. After the payment has been authorized, a receipt will appear and should be printed. Confirmation also will be e-mailed to you. The receipt and e-mailed confirmation both contain important information should a question or problem arise later on. If you later want to see what you have filed, simply sign in and click "History" on the forms page to access your record and to view the forms that you have e-filed. Work on the next phase of this project has already begun, and we hope that you will find this a useful service. For more information, click "F.A.Q." at the bottom of the Registration/Sign In page (see Step 1 above), call us at 587-4242 (toll-free at 1-800-222-3229), or e-mail our electronic filing unit at efile@tax.state.hi.us.
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Most importantly, it has been very effective in teaching free-market principles to young people in classrooms, contests, and theatrical presentations all around the world," Schoolland says. Jonathan Gullible started as radio theater in 1980, when Schoolland was doing weekly radio commentaries on the Honolulu news station, KHVH.