Rhode Island Economy
First, scroll down and read Monique’s postings on Rep. Spencer Dickinson. Then… The topics of hope and hopelessness pervaded this weekend’s readings, from absurd labor rules in schools, to the likely outcome of Make It Happen, to Spencer Dickinson’s insider view, and then to Sandra Fluke.
Having done little reading while participating in the RI Foundation’s Make It Happen RI conference, I used my end-of-day column for reflection.
A good example of the questionable utility of political debates arose during the Congressional district 1 primary debate on WPRO, last night. Only the most plugged in voters will have any inkling of what statements are true and which are spun to falsehood — let alone the context in which the facts were playing. Trying to…
In a Providence Journal Political Scene article about his speech to the Democrat National Convention, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee had this to say about his experience in office: Now I’m in a governor’s chair, trying to get the economy going, and it’s not, click, turn a switch. This is hard work and it takes time…
Against Incentivizing Cooperative Strategic Workarounds with Comprehensive Market-Driven Measurables
At the risk of repeating myself, I have to opine that one of Rhode Island’s core economic challenges is the frequency of sentences like this: To position Rhode Island to compete successfully for jobs and investments, a new public/private economic-development partnership should be designed to implement an integrated economic-development strategy that focuses on business retention…
Although with regret, I have to opine that former East Providence city councilman Robert Cusack misses the target in his op-ed, yesterday, suggesting a way for Rhode Island to rejuvenate its sputtering economy: We need to identify a job generator, make the changes needed to attract those jobs and then promote Rhode Island to execute…
UPDATE: The original report from NBC 10’s Bill Rappleye–upon which this post was based–has been pulled from the turnto10.com website. I’ve received clarification on a number of issues I originally brought up related to this item. Statement: Eimskip is welcome to bring any amount of cargo to the Port of Davisville, at any time, beginning…
I’ve been meaning to update the data that I collected for the first three months of 2012, based on single-family home sales data available through William Raveis Real Estate. Upon re-reviewing the information, it seemed to me that the three-month window is sure to be erratic on a running basis. Simply as a matter of…
The unemployment rate for Rhode Island fell by one tenth of a percent to 10.8%, but total employment dropped by 80 people. That’s not even a “mixed picture,” though. The only reason the unemployment rate moved in a seemingly positive direction is that 471 more Rhode Islanders just gave up looking for work. So if…
Jim Taricani invited me and RIFuture.org owner/editor Bob Plain to sit in for 10 News Conference, this morning. The topics leaned more toward politics than policy, but we bloggers did manage to pull the conversation toward political philosophy a bit. Specifically, we discussed economic development, the RI economy, the Congressional district 1 race, and the…
