Rhode Island Economy
On the latest State of the State with John Carlevale, I discussed Rhode Island’s civic scene and how residents can begin to get involved and sort through the system along with Lisa Blais, of Ocean State Tea Party in Action, and Marina Peterson, of East Bay Patriots. Of particular note, related to my habitual role…
9:13 a.m. I was running just a hair late, but the early risers at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) had already jumped right in with the program for its summer meeting. Robert Flanders just finished speaking. Some notable comments were that he believes, essentially, that there is nowhere to go but up, although “we’ve…
After months of hearing from various sources, notably URI economist Len Lardaro, that official jobs reports for Rhode Island were inaccurately gloomy, I was thrilled, yesterday, to see Governor Chafee authorize the state Department of Labor and Training (DLT) to release new estimates. Basically, there is a substantial lag before the federal Bureau of Labor…
What makes politics and policy fun is that people of good will and honest intentions can disagree and strive to change each other’s mind. Starting from one’s essential worldview, myriad stages of decisions must be made without the possibility of complete information — that is, subjectively — so persuading and being persuaded are distinct possibilities.…
630AM/99.7FM WPRO has posted my appearance on the Dan Yorke show, Tuesday, in two segments. The first is the initial half hour introducing the research from the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity and touching on some conclusions. For the second hour, Economic Development Corp. board member and VIBCO President Karl Wadensten joined us in…
From a Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training press release titled, “Unemployment Rate Drops to 10.9 Percent”: The RI Department of Labor and Training announced today that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June 2012 dropped to 10.9 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the May 2012 rate. This represents the…
I’ve been following taxpayer migration data for years, but in a haphazard way. A new study that I’ve coauthored for the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity finally gave me the opportunity to review all fifteen years of available data from the IRS. The picture — from the 2003 beginning of what can only be…
In light of the recent CNBC report that ranks Rhode Island last, #50, in the U.S. for being “business friendly”, Bob Plain wrote this morning–under the heading of “Making Sense of the CNBC Report”–that we should “get ready for the conservative barrage that because Rhode Island ranked as the least business-friendly state we should adjust…
Ted Nesi posted an interesting graphic from the Tax Foundation that shows that: Rhode Island posted the 18th-fastest growth in high-income taxpayers between 1999 and 2009. While the total number of Rhode Island taxpayers grew by just 4% during that period, the number with adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 jumped 63%, for a net gain…
Last month I expressed my approval of progress being made to further develop the port of Davisville and Quonset Point. However, I also explained my philosophical opposition to paying for port improvements, ie; dredging, via a bond instead of from the general revenue. However, I subsequently learned that I was mistaken when I thought the…
