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Hello from Pago Pago, American Samoa

Posted Mon, 06/08/2009 - 16:57 by John Newton

This website has just been converted to a Drupal site. We are working on much more content and improved functionality.

Right now you can find the Telephone Directory for download, wonderful pictures from the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts, some links to interesting sites and information about the site and the author. Just click on the buttons at the top or on links in the sidebar.

We are starting now to build our blog sections. The front page will be the simple blog created by the site administrators. This blog will contain a little news and opinion.

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MINIMUM WAGE BARRIER

June 22, 2009 ---   MINIMUM WAGE BARRIER

An open letter to Congressman Faleomavaega and the people of American Samoa:
 
Before the announcement by COS of their departure from the territory, I sent numerous letters to the editor about the impact of the minimum wage increases including the possible closure of the canneries. 
 
Furthermore, about a year and a half ago, in a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, I made comments in detail of how the canneries left California when the minimum wages reached $5.25 and how the same happened in Puerto Rico when their wages also reached $5.25. Now with the new world economy, the wage proximity to the $5.00 level did it here for American Samoa. During the last two months or so, a group of people have been working aggressively to try and attract investors that are and have been in this industry to come and fill the void after COSI leaves. What do we find?   
John's picture

FALEOMAVAEGA RESPONDS TO STARKIST’S THREATS REGARDING MINIMUM WAGE

Posted Thu, 06/25/2009 - 21:54 by John Newton

This is something I hadn't seen before.  It clearly demonstrates how out of touch with the economy our Congressman is.  Of course we all want higher wages but not at the expense of our entire economy.  Basically, a low wage is better than no wage at all.  The Congressman should have used a little deplomacy and not the bitter language of this letter.  On this site is an excellent response from Carlos Sanchez.  We want to hear from more of you.

 May 11, 2007
Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he has responded to Del Monte’s threats to place production on hold, return to loin usage or move StarKist elsewhere. Del Monte owns StarKist and, on May 1, 2007, Del Monte’s Vice President, Nils Lommerin, wrote to Faleomavaega and threatened action in response to minimum wage legislation pending before Congress. Mr. Lommerin copied his letter to Governor Togiola and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

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John's picture

Regional Hub Port

Posted Thu, 06/25/2009 - 15:00 by John Newton

The South Pacific Island Countries are looking at the feasibility of developing a regional hub port. There is apparently a study currently underway by the South Pacific Communities. When I saw a brief article on this subject it reminded me of some conversations on a similar subject I had in Hawaii in the late 70s. It also brought to mind that American Samoa has the best port in the South Pacific, we are centrally located and we might very well have tons of empty port space as the canneries pull out. So, what better place to use as a regional hub?

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John's picture

Technology Park

Posted Thu, 06/25/2009 - 14:26 by John Newton

I made a suggestion concerning the Stumulus Program back in April 2009.  The suggestion was to use money from the Stimulus to fund the building of a High-Tech Park where new technology skills could be learned and used.  I have since prepared a comprehensive business plan for the project.  

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American Samoa - Economic Development

Posted Wed, 06/24/2009 - 16:26 by John Newton

During the past 40 years American Samoa has done very little to create economic development. We have a few very nice fast food restaurants, thousands of cell phones and many fancy cars. Conversely though, if you look around you will find that, in general, the quality of products offered in stores and the quality of services offered have changed very little, if at all.

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