As I have said many times before, I'm as fired up to see Republicans take credit for turning Ohio around as much as the next guy, but let's actually make sure that we have something real that we can talk about before we start making claims like that. I've seen Republicans trying to make something of this bit as reported in the Columbus Dispatch (via istockanalyst.com):
In a welcome respite from bad economic news, Ohio has been named first in the nation for major business expansions for 2008 by Site Selection magazine.The problem with this "good news" is that it doesn't really reflect the economic conditions of business in our state. All you need do to confirm that is take a look around and see all of the empty store fronts that used to house businesses.
In its March issue, the publication tallied the number of projects, both new developments and expansions of existing operations, that each state recorded in the previous year.
Ohio's 503 projects bested Texas' 497 and Michigan's 296. This is the third year in a row the state has taken the top spot.
The projects had to involve at least $1 million in investment and the addition of at least 50 jobs and 20,000 square feet of work space. The state chose Cardinal Health's headquarters for the announcement because that company is expanding and bringing 700 jobs to Dublin.
Furthermore, Ohio continues to be plagued by an unemployment rate that is higher than the national average (Sandusky Register: "Ohio's unemployment rate in March was 9.7 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate in March was 8.5 percent."). Does that sound like we're #1 in anything that really matters to our economy?
We're #10!
Another number I keep hearing is that we're tenth in the nation for small business. This absurdity comes from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council which put out their Business Tax Index for 2009 and Ohio, it turns out, likes to hand out incentives.
Again, I ask you to take notice of all the empty storefronts that used to be the home of business. The problem here is that small business is still getting hammered by Ohio, particularly after the incentive money runs out.
Are we seriously going to allow ourselves to think that bribing business to build here and then screw them later is a good strategy for the long-term health of Ohio's economy?
We're #47!
The Tax Foundation has listed Ohio forty-seventh in Business Tax Climate and we've been down here for years. Let's take a look at surrounding states: Indiana (14th), Pennsylvania (28th), West Virginia (36th), Kentucky (34th) and Michigan (20th). Michigan is in pretty bad shape, and I haven't had a chance to look in on the numbers for Michigan to say why I think they rank so high when they are in similar situation as we are; but you can't dispute that the other states around us are doing significantly better than Ohio.
As John Kasich often says, Ohio is in a death spiral. If we are to pull out of this spin before we do permanent damage, Ohio absolutely has to do something about the business climate in this state. I'm not saying that Ohio should allow Big Business to run amok in the Buckeye State, but I do think it is well past time we acknowledge that without companies to employ Ohioans, we are in deep trouble.
4/30 UPDATE: More gasoline for the fire in the OHIO POLL (PDF) shows that 51% of Ohioans think that our state's economy is "poor" with another 42% rating it "fair." Only 7% say that the economy in the Buckeye State is "good" and less than 1% find it to be "excellent." Now, I'm not a statistician, but those numbers don't sound too good to me...
