The latest plant in LA to close its doors will mean another 540 LA citizens have lost their jobs. See story here.

What are our public officials doing? Chasing pie-in-the-sky steel mills while our existing businesses and their jobs are lost daily. Since our public officials decided to focus on the German steel mill, we have lost at leastthe same number of jobs that the mill would have provided because of the closing or layoffs of existing businesses in LA.

Apparently, in LA a public official does have to be a “rocket scientist” to recognize the obvious. None seem smart enough to address the growing problem of the loss of existing businesses.

Governor Blanco’s answer to our economic demise is to spend $23 on government for every dollar on the private sector. Our leges’ answer to our state’s economic woes is to figure out how to bust the “spending cap” in order to further seal the fate of our dismal future. The leges are not happy about merely mortgaging our future, theylike Congress, are mortgaging our grandchildren’s future.

Continued focus on businesses that aren’t in LA and on increasing the size of government instead of the private sector is a zero sum game, at best.

Perhaps someone smarter than me can explain simple economics to our public officials. Please start with Governor Blanco and our economic development guru Mike Olivier who go around the state telling us that “down” is actually “up.” We may not be as smart as them, but we damn sure aren’t as dumb as they think we are.

Meanwhile 550 jobs just opened up in Monroe at a new call center. That should take care of the 540 jobs lost at the paper mill. Or perhaps these newly-laid off folks can get one of the new 1,000-plus state jobs just created. Job creation in LA is, a best, a zero sum game. But for out-migration, unemployment in LA would be huge.

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 8:00 am