Which Way to Economic Health?
Perhaps some wishful thinking is involved, but it has seemed as if the various help wanted sections have seen a slight up-tick in ads. Could be seasonal; could be my imagination. At any rate, viewed from a different direction, the economic news continues to be discouraging:
Rhode Island’s recession continues to deepen, as payrolls shrink and the ranks of residents unable to find work grows.
The state unemployment rate last month climbed to 7.5 percent, two percentage points above the national average, and payroll jobs fell for the sixth straight month, according to a report to be released today by the state Department of Labor and Training.
So far this year, Rhode Island has shed 8,600 payroll jobs and the ranks of unemployed residents have swelled to 42,600 — the largest in 15 years, the state reported.
Yet, just over the border, in Massachusetts, payroll jobs last month rose by 2,800 following a 1,900-job gain in May, according to a report yesterday by Massachusetts’ Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Let’s be honest …who amongst us, if we were getting ready to launch a business, would establish it in RI vs a few miles away in MA? The RI General Assembly, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Unions, has created such an unsustainable gov’t cost structure, requiring outrageous taxes and fees, that you’d be a fool to open up shop in RI. Our bloated cost structure is, primariliy, the result of three insidious and incestuous factors: 1) It starts with Entitlement minded Unions that believe they are entitled to a level of pay and benefits that have no correlation to the customer’s ability to pay (i.e. unsustainable). PFD Union Pwesident, Lazy-Ass Pauly “No Show” Doughty, high-lighted this Entitlement attitude when he wrote a letter to the editor telling us his Union members deserved to be paid what other big North-Eastern cities pay, as opposed to what Providence could afford. 2) Out of control and irresponsible Social Welfare. RI has become a magnet for people that can not afford to take care of themselves, thus attaching themselves to the public-tit. The poverty pimps (e.g. Henry Shelton) complain and demand that the rest of us subsidize people that can’t afford to heat their homes. Never does he tell his flock to be responsible and turn down their heat. Nor does he advise his flock NOT to move to a geographic location in which they can not afford heat. Instead, he wags his finger at the rest of us for not doing enough. And as the ProJo pointed out, the Unions have created an unholy alliance with the Social Welfare leeches. 3) A General Assembly lacking the courage and intelligence to say NO to the above leeches. Instead, they join in the tit-sucking by taking free health-care. Enabling all of this is an… Read more »
Very true, but scapegoating the poor, the sick, and immigrants without papers, is not going to solve our underlying economic and infrastructure problems.
citizen,
i have no problem helping the poor and sick… but ri is so good to them, its become a mecca. there is an imbalance of those contributing and those receiving. its not about trying to hurt people. there is just n money left.
and how many poor people have you invited into your home for dinner this week? ever?? i mean people off he street you dont even know… wel those are the same eopel that my tax dollars are helping… i dont see them or know them.
as for immigrants.. there is a worlswide problem of poor people. maybe you should focus on making conditions better where these people came from so they have a better sociiety where they were born and can take care of themselves.
maybe we should ust open the doors to everyone on the world and ri can just go broke..
as is the case with most progressive causes…union labor, etc, when does it all end? when is enough , enough???
the response to date is that there is never enough for them….
maybe we should just open the doors to everyone on the world and ri can just go broke..
Posted by johnpaycheck
Hmmmmm…..isn’t that more or less what has alreasy happened?
Justin,
Look on the brighter side. RI is just entering the recession and although it will be a long one (3 years or more), at least RI is not as bad off as Michigan.
Michigan unemployment in June 2008 was 8.5% and RI was 7.5%.
In Michigan, subprime mortgage-related foreclosures will cost $3,081,807,231 in lost property value and $39,643,339 in lost property taxes over the second half of 2007 through the end of 2009.
Currently Rhode Island subprime foreclosures are estimated to now only cost the state over $1.7 billion in lost property tax on state and city and town levels.
Inflation is up 1.1% and gross wages are down. Everything cost more but oil prices are dropping so gasoline should drop in price. Oil for heat and hot water, natural gas will stay high maybe hitting $5 a gallon by winter. Electric will cost more.
However as of 19 July, there is a tropical depression with greater than 50% chance of developing into a tropical storm and hurricane moving through the Caribbean towards the Gulf of Mexico on course for the oil rigs and Texas refineries. If they shut down that will only drive gasoline up to $5/gal a little sooner.
First Fed is bailing out Wall Street investors and the banks but indicate at least over 850 banks should fail. This is the 10th straight quarter nationally small business bankruptcies fillings have increased. Between 60,000 and 90,000 small business have gone out of business.
RI highest unemployment during a recession was a little over 9%. RI has a long way to go in beating Michigan. Feel happy about that!
Besides, you’re healthy, working, roof over your head, and food on the table for your family.
.
Hey Ken,
I wonder what MI has that is so helpful to its economy?
Hmmm …oh that’s right. MI is Union central!
Toyota, Honda, etc. are just dying to put mfg. plants (and jobs) in MI ..NOT!
Citizen,
It is not a matter of scapegoating the poor, the sick, and immigrants without papers.
Rather, it is about being responsible and being realistic about what we can afford.
I’m happy to help those in need that have fallen on hard times. But I’ve been to too many “low income” homes in the winter only to find these folks walking around barefoot in shorts, windows open to hang out and smoke from, with the heat on full blast, compliments of fools like me who run around with sweaters and blankets in order to conserve heat.
And I don’t like having to subsidize people that move here from warm climates when they can’t afford the heat.
In summary, I don’t like having to subsidize people that come to our nanny-state due to bad choices / decisions on their part.
It’s not scapegoating. It’s calling a spade a spade.
We can NO longer afford the madness.
Interesting that a neighboring state with a much more liberal governor (and just as Dem-dominated a legislature) is faring much better economically and doing a much better job of keeping its young people in-state than Rhode Island (and has also built a state where even conservatives would rather be than here).
Interesting that a neighboring state with a much more liberal governor (and just as Dem-dominated a legislature) is faring much better economically and doing a much better job of keeping its young people in-state than Rhode Island (and has also built a state where even conservatives would rather be than here).
Posted by rhody at July 19, 2008 11:59 PM
the sheer fooilishness of this post….
deval patrick has been governow for 2 years and he is the reason why the mass economy does better than ri???
cant you say anything more intelligent than that.
Besides, you’re healthy, working, roof over your head, and food on the table for your family…
sounds like a communist country.
i want more than that and i dont apologize for it
Mass, knowing how destructive over-taxation can be, has Prop Two-and-a-half, which puts limits on property tax increases.
RI waited too long to implement property tax caps via S-3050.
Unfortunately, the Bob Walsh’s of the world had already wrought their destruction by the time S-3050 was implemented.
With regard to Devil Patrick, relax. He’s doing his best to unwind any progress that MA has made over the past decade.
From Economics 101:
The LAFFER CURVE:
“The curve is most understandable at both extremes of income taxation—zero percent and one-hundred percent—where the government collects no revenue. At one extreme, a 0% tax rate means the government’s revenue is, of course, zero. At the other extreme, where there is a 100% tax rate, the government theoretically collects zero revenue because (in a “rational” economic model) taxpayers presumably change their behavior in response to the tax rate: either they have no incentive to work or they avoid paying taxes, so the government collects 100% of nothing. (In actual fact the government will collect some minimal amount in either case, because not all taxpayers are “economically rational”.) Somewhere between 0% and 100%, therefore, lies a tax rate that will maximize revenue.
The point at which the curve achieves its maximum will vary from one economy to another and depends on elasticities of demand and supply and is subject to much theoretical speculation. Complexities arise when taking into account possible differences in incentive to work for different income groups and when introducing progressive taxation.”
RI is over taxed. It is a socialist state and it is falling apart at the seams.
Mr. Kuhl,
I can anticipate the response to your post from Comrade Crowley: “You’re just greedy and don’t want to pay your fair share!”
😉
Ragin RI,
If Comrade Pat “I don’t understand basic math” Crowley says “You’re just greedy and don’t want to pay your fair share!”, I would assume he is referring to Bob Walsh’s flock of “Do it For the Children” Union-hack “teachers”, along with the staff of his wholly owned subsidiary (i.e. the General Assembly and it’s members), all of whom refuse to pay their fair share of the cost of their health care.
Or perhaps he would be referring to all those folks that relocate to RI from warm weather climates, but who expect the taxpayers to pay their heat.
I just love this article. I also like the one earlier this year which analyzed Tiverton municipal and school median salaries to show that in the East Bay, only Little Compton’s were lower. I think we all know the likely owner of the $3 million plus home described in the article below- isn’t it Republican former top corporate laywer, tax whiner and honest fighter for the little guy Cynthia Nebergall? Gosh I feel terrible she has come up with $35,000 in taxes this year for her $3 million+ Sakonnet mansion (6,600 sq feet, 6 bedrooms, river vue… You know, Robert’s Rules Cynthia? Gee, she and Scott might have to postpone buying another luxury car until next year. That’ll be a blow to the German or Swedish economy. The people in Tiverton who DESERVE property tax relief are the retired people who live in CountryView Estates. Anyone in Tiverton whose house is under $225,000 in value, and whose total income is under $70,000 ought to get a real break. The town’s budget ought to come partly from the state, and from income & sales & use taxes, not from most people with houses below the $385K median. The folks with those big houses and big bank accounts ought to kick in. Too bad that’s not in Robert’s Rules. More later. article———— Tiverton tax bill trend is paid in full By Marcia Pobzeznik Daily News correspondent The number of complaints about tax bills is about the same as always, with the main one being the bills are too high, although more people are opting to pay their entire tax bill in one lump sum this year compared to years past. They’re worried about the fuel bills they could face this winter. “A lot of people are making payments in full because they’re… Read more »
OK, brace yourself: Wealthy Tiverton condo residents cheat town– pay only 20% of property taxes to the town budget– for 20 years! Why? because the incompetent Republican anti-tax, pro-mall-business Tiverton Town Council led by Claudia Linhares and Lori Doyle in 2004 voted 4-2 back then (before they were thrown out in a landslide) for something called a TIF Bond. A TIF Bond is just like a School Bond, or any Bond but unlike the School Bond, which was approved by Tiverton’s voters, after years of thorough review, a TIF Bond can be voted on by the Town Council- AND NEEDS NO VOTER APPROVAL. So thanks to Tiverton’s Republican voters, in 2004 we were saddled with a $20 million dollar bond. The Bond was a gift to the $8.4 billion dollar Starwood Corporation from our oh-so eager Linharians. It was negotiated by former Tiverton Town Administrator Jim Towers (sadly, a pseudo-Democrat). Towers, Linhares & Doyle said to Starwood: Golly you guys must be unable to build a three mile sewer hook up to Fall River by yourself, so with this TIF Bond, your futue condo residents– and mainly the residents and taxpayers of Tiverton will build your sewer line for you. Would you know it? Starwood said “great!” Now, this tax year, The Mount Hope Bay Condo sweethearts owe the town about $1,000,000 in property tax on their darling luxury digs. How much is the Tiverton town treasury getting? About $200,000. The other $800,000 that we should get, to offset and reduce propety taxes at CountryView Estate and Justin Katz’s house, is going to pay the debt service on the TIF Bond. And 80% of the property tax from Mount Hope Bay condos will continue to be siphoned off EVERY YEAR THROUGH 2024. That’s $15-$20 million in lost tax revenue– given… Read more »
Its good to know that a state unemployment rate as increased,due to this job opportunities have increased in Rhode Island.
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meshil
Addiction Recovery Rhode Island