This is from yesterday’s mini-rant by Ed Howard in the email I get daily from Nebraska’s StatePaper.com:
Low taxes aren’t everything when it comes to attracting good employers and good jobs. Toyota has rejected bids from several southern states — offering the usual millions and millions in tax advantages and other giveaways — and will instead put a new plant in Canada.
Some acknowledged reasons:
The educational level of southern workers has been found wanting.
Alabama was among the states bidding for the Toyota plant. Alabamans not long ago voted down a proposal from the governor to raise taxes on high-end incomes.
The money would have gone to Alabama’s less-than-stellar public education program.
The irony is that those who successfully fought the proposed Alabama tax increase for education argued that it would cost the state jobs.Toyota also cited the Canadian national health service. National health care will save Toyota big money in Canada, where it won’t need to provide health insurance benefits.
It seems that his story from Nebraska’s StatePaper.com illustrates a common problem that exists all across the US. Following the lead of the Bush Administration, companies that are able to harvest huge profits for themselves and return very little to the communities are rewarded again and again.
How much more damage will the Bush Administration do to this economy and the “average” citizens?
This is an important story, as it exposes a problem that is not a matter of right versus left. But Alabama doesn’t care.