Find a better way to create rural county jobs
Published July 18, 2013
Editorial from Fayetteville Observer, July 17, 2013.
There are few things that North Carolina needs more than jobs. With our unemployment rate seemingly immovable and one of the worst in the nation, something's got to give.
And if it's bad in our urban areas, it's downright dreadful in our rural counties - about 85 out of North Carolina's 100. The taxpayer-funded N.C. Rural Economic Development Center is charged with finding or creating those new jobs, and it wasn't long ago that most of us believed the center was doing its job, albeit not in particularly dramatic fashion.
But then came an investigative report by The News & Observer of Raleigh, which spotlighted the center's apparent bogus claims of job creation, its too-close relationships with some politicians, and its track record of creating mostly low-end, minimum-wage jobs.
That was followed this week by a report from State Auditor Beth Wood, whose staff found that the center fails to provide proper oversight for millions of dollars in grants. It also cites the $221,000 annual salary paid to president Billy Ray Hall, and a $241,000 severance fund he'll get when he leaves.
Given the list of shortcomings, we'd say it's time to shake up the center and its management, and do whatever is necessary to create rural jobs. People are hurting and they need more help than the Rural Center provides.
July 20, 2013 at 2:54 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Once again a "big government" intervention program that proves it's not doing what it's supposed to do. And at the same time it's spending a lot of money that actually does nothing to create jobs. Sounds an awful lot like the ABC boards throughout the state. The legislature had an opportunity to discard this piece of junk also, but the "big government" must be protected ex-governor would have nothing to do with it.
It's POSSIBLE that the Republicans currently in charge aren't doing exactly what's best for our state. But it is definitely provable that it's true the Democrat methods were NOT doing anything good for our state. The Democrats plan consisted of the same thing over and over and over ... . The state should take more money out of the private economy, spend more regardless of how it's spent or what good it actually does, and blame the rich for not paying "their fare share".
Funny how states/counties/cities all over the country that have been historically run by Democrats are falling apart, while many Republican-led areas are doing a better job of recovering from the economic downturn. Is it possible that NC needs to try some true leadership for a while before we declare it a failure? The welfare state has been tried for decades, it continues to fail, but the Democrat response is that we haven't tried it long enough OR we haven't sent enough money down the hole. At some point people need to wake up and realize Europe has tried most of the socialist ideas out there. No matter how many Democrats are in charge of socialism, it IS doomed to fail here as well. On the national level, on the state level, and even on the local level.
Let's give "the other side" a chance to try something new before declaring it a failure. Let's try actually reducing the size, scope, and cost of government, getting the budget under control before we say that it ruined our state.
How long is long enough to decide? How about we take the Democrats lead on determining success or failure. They want us to continue to let useless programs go on for decades and still say it's too early to tell. So we now let the Republican ideas be implemented, and give it 7-12 years before we declare it a failure. Much less time than Democrats demand. But sufficient time to prove any items' merit. When Democrats learn to let go of something, then perhaps their opposition will also let go. Remember all the temporary taxes that turned out not to be temporary. Because it was good for our state if we had the highest sales tax in the southeast. Remember the disaster that was predicted when the gas tax was temporarily NOT tied to the price of crude? The Democrats predicted our state would completely collapse, and maybe even slide into the Atlantic. The temporary tax freeze was just that, temporary. But the state survived. My back pocket felt better also, which is typically what happens when government is kept in check, their budget is kept in line just like mine has to be, and the rising tide actually does lift all boats.
