Are celebrities and the wealthy profiting from the Maui devastation?
Are celebrities and the wealthy profiting from the Maui devastation?
Many people in Maui are concerned that Wall Street, resorts, and other wealthy individuals like Oprah will take advantage of the devastation to enrich themselves and further their business interests. The island of Maui is already having a cost of living crisis. This will probably be made worse from unsavory people buying up property and land at a discount to build resorts and expensive houses. The people that have lived their entire lives on the island may be forced out by the rising cost of living.
Oprah Winfrey currently owns about 2,000 acres of land on Maui. When most other cameras were turned away, Oprah and her crew were allowed access to community members. It would be one thing if Oprah showed up without a camera, but she brought an entire camera crew to film what she was doing.
What follows is a lot of speculation, but I think the past shows that some of this may materialize.
The wealth of someone like Oprah contrasts sharply with the challenges residents of Maui face. The State of Hawaii has lotteries for affordable housing which is the only way a lot of residents can get an affordable place to live.
Another concern regarding Oprah, is that she and other celebrities will use their status to appear like they are on the side of the average resident when they are in fact trying to enrich themselves from the misfortune of other people. Mark Zuckerberg acquired land in Hawaii with a reacquisition firm posing as families to purchase individual lots from sellers. These sellers thought they were selling to families, not a billionaire who was trying to aggregate land into a giant land plot.
Oprah has a questionable history. She was friends with, and was involved with, Harvey Weinstein. She also led to the rise of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. In addition, her African schools for girls have been accused of sex abuse and some people claim she played a part in covering things up.
In addition, homeowners’ insurance rates are sure to spike in Hawaii given the widespread devastation.
I would argue we are seeing celebrities and the wealthy gobble up land in Hawaii, often at the expense of people that are experiencing the worst events of their life. Hawaii should be a place that everyone can enjoy. I fear we are watching more and more land being purchased, consolidated, and controlled by billionaires. One of the largest issues is the use of deception and manipulation to acquire land and make billionaires even wealthier.
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