Recently, local business owner and self professed “numbers guy” Al Pettit presented Coos County poverty and unemployment figures. He says the local Chamber of Commerce Legislative Action Team is trying to educate lawmakers about “good business practices” and how to make Oregon more business friendly to improve these statistics.
Pettit cites a poll amongst major corporate executives that shows Oregon ranking a low 33 for friendliness towards business and says Oregon should try to reach the top ten. The numbers, unfortunately, don’t show any correlation between a friendliness ranking and any improvement in unemployment and poverty rates.
For example, Texas ranked number one but has a higher poverty rate, 16.9% than Oregon at 13.5% ranked at 33. Comparing Oregon to the top ten business friendly states shows Oregon with a lower unemployment rate than Nevada, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina, five of which have double digit unemployment.
Oregon trails Texas by 33 points in the friendliness ranking but only 2.3% separate the state 9.5% unemployment from Texas’ 7.7% rate and Oregon is tied with number two ranked North Carolina, also at 9.5%. North Dakota at 21 and Vermont at 40 for business friendliness have lower unemployment rates at 3.2% and 5.9% respectively than number one ranked Texas and poverty rates below the national average.
Even the least business friendly California has a below average poverty rate and poverty stricken West Virginia has a lower unemployment rate than number two business friendly, North Carolina. Of the top ten business friendly states, seven have higher than average poverty rates and five exceed the national unemployment rate. Clearly, what all this means is attempts to reduce the very complex problems facing our nation and our region down to simplistic cause and effect is childish, ill thought and irresponsible. Serious critical thinking is required with much more than a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude to make this community self sufficient.
Whatever picture the Mr Numbers Guy is trying to paint, I hope it finds good use somewhere.
It would be great if Mr. Petit did his homework before he spoke. His rant at a recent Port meeting showed just how out of touch he was with the facts. Our legislators don’t do their homework either, but then they are paid by their election funders to not do so. By following all the ignorance and greed we end up with more of the same.
Time for these guys to wake up, get the facts and stop following all the rhetoric they have been spoon fed by the Chamber and other misguided individuals in our community. While the rest of the world moves into the 21st century we stay stuck in the past mainly because our leaders are too afraid to move forward. That is more than apparent with the continued ban on wind turbines in Coos Bay. You don’t see the Chamber or any of their henchmen doing a thing about that one. Talk about not being business friendly and creating an atmosphere of poverty! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree now does it?
I suggest they get started with this piece done by the Environmental Defense Center.
Blowing Smoke: Correcting Anti-Wind Myths in Ontario – http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/blowing-smoke-correcting-anti-wind-myths-in-ontario
Coos County must be more involved in the benefits, development and management of renewable energy, including wind power projects. A $2.3 trillion dollar race is unfolding around the world over the next decade to see who will gain the investment and jobs from the global clean energy shift now underway.