Prosperity now!
Oregon's governor, Tina Ko(hou)tek, held a media event the other day to unveil her economic blueprint for next year. You know, the year she'll be running for re-election. On a ballot that invites voters to reverse gas tax increases that will inevitably be tied to her.
The big news is that she's going to appoint a "prosperity council" and hire a "chief prosperity officer," and they will implement her "prosperity roadmap." The O, always good at regurgitating press releases, lays it out here:
The roadmap lays out three high-level goals: boost the state’s gross domestic product by 2.2%; improve Oregon’s placement by at least 13 spots in a prominent national ranking of state workforce indicators; and lift the state’s ranking into the top 10 for overall business indicators.
Kotek’s strategies to meet those goals include: establishing a program to streamline permitting management on major infrastructure projects; partnering with post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to increase workforce training and certification programs; and providing more loans for site development in industrial zones....
It's pretty lame, if you ask me. The state is hemorrhaging jobs. Businesses are balking at setting down roots here. And the problem is not slow permits, lack of educated workers, or scarcity of lenders. The problem is the open hostility of Oregon's politicians toward business. And specifically, the politicians in Portland, because as Oregon's largest city goes, so goes the state.
Look at the socialist-controlled Portland City Council, whose solution to every problem is new and higher taxes, and who utterly demonize landlords and anyone else with money. The arts tax. The leaf tax. Look at the Multnomah County commission, and the Metro government bobbleheads, slapping hideous local income taxes on upper-class earners left and right, and for what? To feed the coffers of feckless nonprofit cronies. And look at the voters, who can't get enough of the abuse. The guv can throw together all the task farc forces she wants, but the Oregon economy is not going to rebound until attitudes change, and that doesn't appear likely in the next 11 months, or maybe ever.
Some days I almost miss Kotek's ancient predecessor, the late Mr. Goldschmidt, who didn't have an island in the Caribbean but did do some terrible things up on a ridge. As soon as His Neilness became governor, I remember him getting on TV and telling industry, "Oregon is open for business." Of course, what he meant was, "Make me and my friends rich, and you'll get rich, too." But he more or less delivered, and some of it trickled down.
Today corporate America is looking at Jessica Vega Pederson, Angelita Morillo, Steve Novick, Lynn Peterson, Shannon Singleton, Sarah Iannarone, and so many other Portland face cards. And to business people, each one of these "leaders" looks like the big bad wolf with a bib around his neck, sitting at a set dinner table brandishing a knife and fork. None of the three little pigs volunteered to be pork chops.
And so don't expect this week's press conference to amount to anything. But at least I got a chuckle out of Kotek calling her window dressing a "roadmap." Given where she's heading, she might want to cool it with the transportation metaphors for a while.
The video of Columbia Sportswear's CEO talking about his company decamping from Oregon with GuvTina behind him, stone-faced, says it all. Tina doesn't react because she knows what's left of the Oregon business community is powerless, refuses to get organized, and is too tradiition-bound and polite to do the kind of two-fisted politics that will get the Machine's attention. Then there are people who can't look at the only organized opposition--like it or not, the Republican party--and can't get beyond Trump.
ReplyDeleteYep. Many would rather starve than be a Nazi. We must never "get beyond Trump" or the goons and fools in his sad, disgusting political party.
DeleteI voted for Kotek the first time but, after the road tax sideshow, not again. I hope the opposition comes up with someone that's not bat-shit crazy.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of Deadly Dudley?
DeleteWhy can't Oregon's simply vote for a candidate that isn't a republican or democrat? Why is politics the only faux binary narrative, Americans love to push?
Delete"What do you think of Deadly Dudley?"
DeleteI was new to the State (job transfer) his first time around in 2010. I didn't know much about Kitz either but voted for Kitz largely on his reputation as a previous Governor. That was a mistake...
Dudley came across to me as a smug know-it-all that seemed to be pretty content-/policy-free. The hot-mic moment where he was trashing restaurant servers or whatever it was seemed to confirm that. Since 2010, he's largely been absent from Oregon...building is venture capital street cred on Sand Hill Road and in San Diego.
Dudley is going to have to be a WHOLE LOT more specific about what he'll do and what he believes in than he was the last time around. If he gets in bed with the bat-shit crazy MAGAs to get the nom, that'll turn me off (ditto for Drazan).
I think the Legislature is the REAL problem in Salem. Until the Dem majority is broken there, there's just going to be more of the same (not that the dumbf sycophants in the ORP are any great prize either).
I wish someone would establish a movement of right-/left-of-center moderates. I'd vote for them. I had hopes for Betsy Johnson but it became real clear real fast she was in it just to be the spoiler for both Kotek & Drazan. She didn't have a clue what she was doing or what she was talking about.
Oregon's high income, property, and estate taxes are stifling its economy and motivating many high income people to move out of there. Washington has grown at a faster rate than Oregon over the past 20-30 years largely due to having a lower overall tax burden and a tax structure that does a better job of encouraging business employment and investment. KuckooTek's "strategies" for goosing economic growth are fine as far as they go, but they don't address the most important factors that are inhibiting Oregon's economy.
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