State Journal Excerpt:Have they been reading my blog? Are they catching on to this? This same "free market" concept should not be held captive at the state level, but be applied locally to the Janesville economy. Unfortunately, we have a city administration and council who have bought into a facade of economic development built on nothing more than a legalized bribe and blackmail. As a result, Janesville’s business environment identity has been wiped out. What strengths do we have to build on? Chain restaurants and retail stores? What do we stand for and what do we build?
But Wisconsin should pursue its own priorities. Automotive industry research is one example. The biomedical and biofuels industries -- both growing in Dane County -- are two more. Let other states compete in bidding wars for factories. Wisconsin should devote its resources to the building blocks -- from education to investment incentives to transportation -- that will yield long-term growth from within.
Friday, April 17, 2009
You Can't Buy Sustainable Economic Growth
In a newspaper editorial, came a bizarre position I would never suspect coming from the “club for growth” Wisconsin State Journal, was a plea to state officials to stop bribing companies and others with tax collected subsidies and other capital hand-outs to compete for their business.
12 comments:
Nothing!
Ditto!
Of course you also could'nt forget the sprawl residential housing that sprang up like weeds on the east side of town. Pity the cheap labor big box retail and chain restaurant jobs can't provide the required income to pay for the housing, especially since the market for liar loans has dried up. That's what we get for 30 years of reactionary ideology dictating we can get something for nothing and health care and financials can eat up 40 percent of GDP without destroying the rest of the economy.
Individual incentives (bribes if you prefer the term) are not the ticket to economic growth in Wisconsin. If our state had a competitive business climate (tax, regulation, etc.)we would be in a better position than fighting and then losing a battle at a time. Jim Doyle & Co. demonize business and then wonder why they leave. I have problems with the sustainability movement which often seems more like modern day luddites. If their philosophy had prevailed 200 years ago we would still be using the outhouse.
The outhouse is unsustainable for progress - it pollutes the aquifer. The unsustainability movement has prevailed for over 200 years - it's high time to start considering sustainability right up there with profitability as the top motivators for all business ventures and economic developments.
Who decides when development must stop and we therefore must declare the status quo as the holy grail of sustainability? We suffer from a form of chauvinism when we believe we are at the epitome of wisdom and modernity. Throughout history people are always interpreting the bible and declaring themselves to be living in the end times. The rest of us must follow them to obtain salvation and avoid the apocolypse. Now we have Al Gore and others interpreting science and declaring themselves to be living in the ecological end time. We must follow them to obtain salvation and avoid the apocolypse.
Interesting photo/blog about Chernobyl from 2004. Lest we forget. http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
But what decides development must happen? Greed for the dollar? I think we are at a time in history now where growth (population, development, intelligence, resources) elements have reach a balance point where one can't continue unless at the detriment of the others. I don't take my cue from Gore or the Bible to sense this, but I think as intelligent beings, we should be able to pause and take notice and inventory and adjust accordingly instead foolishly marching on into some unknown abyss. At the same time, I don't believe we are even close to our limits (chronological or intellectual). If some folks can't make a good enough case for sustainable economic development and our own survival (including myself), we might not get a second chance. Why should I care, right? Why should anyone care if it's all in God's hands anyways?
As a community, Why are we making hockey players when we could be manufacturing solar panels?
Priorities......ask the city council.
Might as well ask God since neither will respond to a direct question.
Humans are operating a linear system on a finite planet - and you cannot operate a linear system on a finite planet - indefinitely. Extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. richE, watch the story of stuff - at Http://www.thestoryofstuff.com
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