Carl Campagna is right: government is not like a business.  In business you have to make a profit or you close your doors.  Governments can run deficits year after year with impunity.   In business if you don't do your job you get fired.  Working for the government you can goof off for 30 years then enjoy another 30 years of retirement paradise with a generous pension and great health care benefits.  In business the owner or the boss provides leadership and makes decisions.  In Hawaii's government the public workers' unions and construction industry make all the major decisions and dictate what the elected officials do.  This is what is known as "the inmates running the asylum."  It also helps explain why we are spending billions on a useless rail system but can't keep the Pali Highway paved.