In the absence of light, darkness prevails.
Why businesses relocate to Utah rather than Idaho
Submitted by d2 on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 6:29am.
As the clown-car that is Idaho's governmental leaders rule any reexamination of 2006 'off the table' and race Idaho around the tent, not every conservative is buying the schtick.
The Twin Falls Times-News editorializes that Utah's educated workforce is a key deciding factor. At 28% of residents having a college degree, Utahns rank at the top in the west. Idaho's lower than all neighbors at 21%. And this stat is a doozy:
Sixty-three percent of the 104 members of the Utah Legislature hold four-year degrees from a college in their state. In the Idaho Legislature, it's 28%.
All in all, the editorial is a good read. I'd contest a few issues (The quiet lie of ignoring college funding via BYU and the LDS church vs the claim that Utah spends less on education than any other state, most importantly)
(h/t Mike Kennedy. AintItCool to have CdA guiding me to Utah stats in a Twin Falls paper.)
Reexamination of 2006?
Bit too elliptical for me, although the clown car metaphor is a champ.
Reexamine 2006 => Risch's special session / tax shift
When Risch and the Republicans in charge of Idaho's financial ship of state capitalized on the go-go housing bubble, they shorted us $30 million a year and arguably took us from an economically stable foundation (stickiness of real estate prices) to one based on sales taxes.
That's worked out horrifically, but the first words out of Otter's and others' mouths this year were that we were well and truly f***ed, but that all things that smelled like taxation changes were off the table.
Step 1 should have been to reexamine Risch's almost-4-year-old debacle. Yeah, it'd sting those of us with property a bit. But this mess is so much worse.
Sorry for the late reply...
oh wait, I've got it
That's when the Democrats took over both houses of Congress, isn't it? "How soon they forget."
A serious coverup about Idaho's true dropout rate
To wit:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/04/25/1167023/dropouts-may-be-double-state-numbers.html
When HP & Micon leave (joining just about everyone else who pays more than $40K a year) the dumb shits in Idaho will realize who actually impoverished them....ya think?
nope.
The ignorant never see anything at all. If they are dumb enough to drop out of school, they won't ever realize what put 'em in the rental trailer out back. We are well on our way to becoming the Alabama of the North.
Alabama may not be the right comparison
Those folks down there have done yeoman's work to turn things around. They took "Heart of Dixie" off their license tags years ago, and are attempting a home-rule constitutional reform that even Idaho lacks. (see www.constitutionalreform.org). Unlike the last 30 years in Idaho, their statehouse has always had a strong, progressive, & determined Democrat faction.
Recently, Alabama has become a magnet for foreign auto & aircraft manufacturers because of its highly developed community college & technical institute system, and the Huntsville area is now a tech mecca that Boise can't hold a candle to.
Yeah, they still got a ways to go, but Idaho should be so well-governed.
Thanks, Tom
I picked Alabama out of the air without knowing much about what's going on there.
I should have known better. A good friend and rock-ribbed liberal came from Mississippi, and he has often told me about the changes in the Deep South. Considering what you said, it sounds like Alabama is indeed a better governed state.