First Evergreen Solar, the vanguard of our “green jobs” future, bails for China. Now Fidelity, our largest private employer, has started shipping jobs out as well, this time from Marlborough.
The Bay State is in danger of turning an unhealthy shade of blue. And the stranglehold our Massachusetts brand of political correctness has placed on our state’s economy is squarely to blame.
Yes, we want jobs, jobs, and more jobs, as Gov. Deval Patrick made clear during his recent global trade jaunt. But they preferably should require a Ph.D., or, if we must talk manufacturing, involve the production of solar panels or wind turbines.
And we want publicly accountable state agencies directing the action. Those pushy developers and grasping billionaires need to be constantly kept in check, lest they profit at the public’s expense – or so the thinking goes.
With that intro, here are some of our blue-state hang ups/delusions that have turned Massachusetts, despite all its potential, into a world class loser when it comes to economic development:
We have a deep-seated distrust of business tycoons and wealthy institutions.
Let’s open up the state coffers for Harvard, stalled on its ground-breaking research complex in Allston. With its emphasis on stem cell research, that may very well be the next big thing for our economy. For that matter, let’s throw a few million at Robert Kraft, who wants to build a bridge over Route 1 to connect a planned corporate headquarters complex with Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium. Sadly it’s too late for Jay Doherty, whose Westwood Station mega project collapsed for want of support.
Of course, this is all heresy here in blue state Massachusetts, where the rich – whether we are talking institutions or individuals – are viewed with suspicion as profiteers, rather than valued for their ability to take money and multiply it.
We keep investing in environmentally trendy companies in hopes of making Massachusetts a green energy powerhouse.
OK, Governor Patrick, if you want votes from a blue state electorate, this is a winning strategy. I am sure many of your latte-sipping, Volvo-driving supporters are obsessed with reducing their carbon footprint.
But as an economic strategy for a state like Massachusetts, which has few natural resources and no energy industry to speak of, this is ultimately a jobs loser. Situated at the end of the pipeline, we are already socked with some of the highest energy costs in the nation. If we start rolling wind turbines and solar panels willy-nilly onto the grid, our already astronomical electricity costs will soar, as Cape Wind has shown.
Evergreen Solar perfectly demonstrated the inherent Catch-22 in Massachusetts: No manufacturer will be able to afford to build these miracle, energy-saving technologies here anyway, thanks – of course – to our high power costs.
State bureaucrats should set an economic agenda and businesses should follow.
If you could create jobs by fiat, Massachusetts would be a world leader. We have an array of often-competing independent state authorities, tripping over each other to promote everything from hospitals and colleges to development projects.
This does a couple of very bad things. First it endorses the foolish idea that government – in this case, lumbering state authorities – can take the lead in creating jobs, not the private sector. Secondly, these authorities tend to attract empire builders, building their prestige in competition with legitimate private sector firms – and on the public dime to boot.
We too often dismiss complaints about business costs as Republican propaganda, and focus on a few friendly growth industries.
This sums up the Patrick Administration’s approach to economic development, which has lavished support and subsidies on life sciences firms while paying lip service to some of the highest business costs in the country.
You name it, we’ve got it: Sky-high electric rates, high housing prices and backbreaking health insurance premiums. Maybe we will gain some biotech jobs. But financial services firms like Fidelity have clearly run the numbers and have figured out they can save money by expanding in lower-cost states. And that means trouble for us.
We should keep slot machines out of Massachusetts to protect the “vulnerable” from the evils of gambling.
It’s high time to send the nanny state packing. Under pressure from left-leaning, anti-gambling zealots, Patrick and other state leaders have played all sorts of specious games to gain the high ground in this debate.
The governor contends he’s for resort casinos because they create jobs, but against putting slots at racetracks. Supposedly those evil racinos prey on vulnerable gamblers, while casinos attract a better crowd. Given a resort casino typically has thousands of slot machines, and the kind of racinos being talked about here in Massachusetts would have a few hundred, you do the math on the potential for gambling addiction. My gut sense is that we are simply talking limousine liberal, blue state snobbery. And who’s paying for this? Well, labor leaders will tell you there are more than a few blue collar workers out there on the dole who could stand a little protection from the perils of long-term unemployment.
