You know what? I’m glad Alabama pancaked Louisiana and won the mother of all steel mills.
I hope we lose another one. And another.
Not to Alabama, of course (I’m sick of those yahoos crowing about Lil’ Nicky Saban), but I’ve got no problems with Mississippi, Texas or any of the 46 other states taking an I-beam upside our economic development head.
Because maybe, just maybe, once this state suffers the indignity of losing some cockfighting breeding and training facility to West Virginia we’ll get serious about our problems and how to compete in a global economy.
Here’s the lesson from Thyssen-Krupp’s decision to locate a $4.2 billion steel mill just north of Mobile: Simply throwing money at something doesn’t solve your problems.
Think about this: Gov. Kathleen Blanco and LED Secretary Michael
Olivier worked their butts off to get this plant; the state tossed out a $1.7 billion incentive package, a remarkable 33% discount on ThyssenKrupp’s investment; Louisiana’s site was superior, not requiring cargo to be off-loaded to barges; and the company said its key connection point was a facility in Brazil, which is located in the same Central and South American corridor where we’ve been trying for decades to establish marine trade relations. On the surface, coming to Louisiana should have been a no-brainer for the company’s German executives.
And yet, some in this state are celebrating our close-but-no-steel-plant finish, while Alabama readies to add 7,000 permanent jobs and more than 30,000 construction jobs.
Louisiana lost this project because it continues to ignore its fundamental problems—the perception of questionable governmental ethics, substandard public education, a lack of investment in higher education, an anti-business attitude at the Capitol and a transportation network that’s crumbling and ill-conceived.
Which is why you should be outraged when people like Rep. Hunter Green try and jerk the teeth from ethics reform or when Blanco refuses to endorse long-term transportation funding bills or when officials, including the governor, think massive pay raises (which can’t be rescinded once granted) are a better use for one-time surplus cash than addressing this state’s foundational flaws.
But the real crime here is this state’s refusal to acknowledge the future is rooted in a knowledge-based economy.
I have zero issues with chasing a car plant or a steel mill (and congratulate Gov. Blanco for her willingness to cross the globe looking for business), but why don’t we work this hard at building a think-based economy?
The same week the Germans were saying nein to our $1.7 billion bounty, the governor of Massachusetts unveiled a $1.25 billion proposal to help that state remain the nation’s hot spot for biomedical and life sciences research.
They’re not alone. Among those investing in a think-based economy are California, which approved a $3 billion program; New York, where the governor is proposing $1 billion for stem cell research; and Florida, which dangled $800 million to get a branch of The Scripps Research Institute.
While that’s happening elsewhere, here in Louisiana we can’t come up with $25 million for the Pennington Biomedical Research Facility. Moreover, when Pennington officials have asked in the past for desperately needed funding increases, our legislators haven’t just told them no—but hell no.
If there’s any good news, it’s that Louisiana already has more than a dozen outstanding private and public research facilities, technology centers and academic institutions. That this state effectively ignores them financially and refuses to make the systemic changes necessary for them to flourish is an embarrassment. And with every passing day, our chances to be relevant in a world that demands a knowledge-based economy dim.
You can expect the governor and legislators to say all the right things. They always do. Yet nothing is ever done.
It’s time to put our money where our brain is.
Comments
Posted by fourx5 on May 22, 2007 at 2:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You want a science-based knowledge economy in a state as wildly conservative as Louisiana? Good luck with the stem cell initiative in a state that wastes effort and time in battles to issue "choose life" license plates.
Take a look at the political mindset in the states you mentioned - California, New York, Massachusetts and Florida all have relatively progressive liberal political climates where legislators actively push to advance the public's well-being. Whether they're corrupt or not, much of what I read about Louisiana's politicians seems focussed on making a name for said politicians, not getting the people's work done.
If the state truly had it's citizens' interests at heart, ICF would have been fired ten months ago. I-10 would be eight lanes for twenty miles on each side of Baton Rouge. Stoplights would all be intelligent and we'd have pedestrian-friendly streets and efficient mass transit. I could go on...
Simply put, the public in the aforementioned states are well-informed and they demand results from their state and local governments. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the biggest news stories in Albany and Sacramento aren't consistently about the local university's sports team/coaches/mascots.
Louisiana's in-your-face evangelists, who-you-know business climate and far-right leaning daily newspapers (not yours) are important factors in reinforcing public apathy that keeps the state behind others despite our copious natural benefits. You don't need to look much further than the vociferous resistance to any kind of change (Perkins road or downtown development anyone?) to understand that Louisiana's citizens aren't interested in changing or trying new concepts and won't demand change from their public servants.
When business leaders gauge the acceptability of a site, they examine these cultural and political factors closely. Louisiana's people must want to change - by pushing public servants to invest in more progressive programs and attitudes - before the state will attract the forward-looking businesses that are essential to the state's future.
Posted by mbertaut on May 25, 2007 at 3:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Explaining Louisiana’s disadvantage in economic development so even the simplest among us can understand it:
Imagine a farmer’s field. That’s Louisiana. In the field are big rocks (bad business climate, unfriendly tax code to business), huge weeds (bad politicians who take but never return a crop), and unplowed furrows (bad roads, bad schools, and infrastructure).
Now, imagine the field next door. That’s South Carolina. Or Utah. Or Tennessee, take your pick. This field is pristine, no rocks, no weeds, every furrow neatly plowed, it’s just waiting for seed. The earth is turned, fertilized and ready to go.
Now, imagine a large company looking to “plant” a business (like ThyssenKrupp). They see the South Carolina Field and think “all I’ll have to do is plant, and it looks awfully fertile, I’m sure I’ll get a huge crop”
Next door, they see the Louisiana Field. There’s a table out front manned by shills in Mardi Gras costumes. There’s shanky-shank music playing. The table is full of beer, crawfish, and beads, Everybody out front is dancing and screaming “AiiiYee!!!” The shills are waving stacks of bills at the prospective farmer. But he can see past the table. He can see the rocks, weeds, and unplowed land. He knows if he chooses this field, he has a TON of work ahead of him.
So, which field will he pick? Which one would YOU pick?
The moral of the story is, you can’t expect a crop, if you won’t do the work up front.
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