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Not sure of the stats, but we can also say that lots of people are moving into the state to take high paying jobs that are moving in, while current residents who aren't qualified for positions (read: conservative educational policy and philosophies) get stuck unemployed. Also, a lot of those high paying jobs move people in with them - when some HQ's move down, they bring their employees who are willing to relocate, rather than hiring Georgians. Georgia isn't creating the workforce for the jobs its bringing in - rather, those jobs are going to the people moving into the state. People moving in is NOT a bad thing, but creating a workforce who is only qualified for low wage jobs, due to our educational policy, IS a bad thing.
I would agree. I also think too much emphasis is placed on the unemployment rate overall. Technically, if wages were cut across the board by a third, in all professions, those savings could be used to hire extra workers...thus reaching theoretical full employment (Taking into account, transitional and cyclical and structural unemployment), which is probably around 4.5%. Thus....employment levels can be raised, theoretically, by lowering wage levels....which would create a false impression of economic health if one just focused on the unemployment rate.
(CCATL) "People moving in is NOT a bad thing, but creating a workforce who is only qualified for low wage jobs, due to our educational policy, IS a bad thing..."
Not sure of the stats, but we can also say that lots of people are moving into the state to take high paying jobs that are moving in, while current residents who aren't qualified for positions (read: conservative educational policy and philosophies) get stuck unemployed. Also, a lot of those high paying jobs move people in with them - when some HQ's move down, they bring their employees who are willing to relocate, rather than hiring Georgians. Georgia isn't creating the workforce for the jobs its bringing in - rather, those jobs are going to the people moving into the state. People moving in is NOT a bad thing, but creating a workforce who is only qualified for low wage jobs, due to our educational policy, IS a bad thing.[/quote]
Two things to keep in mind, though. 1.) Most of the new jobs created do not require any formal education. In fact, a greater percentage of the jobs being created, over the last 5 years, does not require formal education than the percentage of jobs that existed in the economy 5 years ago. Hence, the trend is towards uneducated labor. Uneducated labor is CHEAP labor....these days. 2.) Companies covet low wage workers. China did not boom because of its educated workforce, but rather, its large pool of cheap labor, which capital is attracted to in order to increase profit margins.
In light of this, the uneducated workforce could be whats making Georgia so attractive to companies.
....And don't forget that the state reduced unemployment benefits for the unemployed (Reduced Ga. Unemployment Benefits « CBS Atlanta). So is the state going to increase the benefits now that we have proof that our economy is in the gutter? Jason Carter are you LISTENING????? Nathan Deal is inept and cannot even reduce the jobless rate. We have the worst unemployment in the country.....worse than Michigan, worse than Nevada and even worse than Mississippi. WOW!!!!!!!
I cannot wait to get these Repubs out of office. They only know how to destroy economies, that's it!
Vote for Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn. We need some major change in this state!
When Democrats ran this state, our economy was great (Think about the 90's where you could quit a job and land a new one the same day). Now that we have Repubs in the office the state has been going downhill drastically.
Nathan No Deal!!!!! I will definitely be at the ballots to vote him out!!!!!!
If politicians controlled economies you might do something by voting Deal out... The fact that Georgia's economy (and others like here in N.C.) is still pretty bad has nothing to do with what party the Governor belongs to. Economic market forces devastated Georgia and the U.S. America has been spinning it's wheels economically for over a decade. After the 2001 terrorist attacks we went into a tailspin that we have not gotten out of yet. It had nothing to do with who was sitting in that White House. People in the U.S. actually believe that presidents and governors have levers they pull to start and stop recessions and business cycles. Even supposedly educated people fall for this. America has had booms and busts under Democrats and Republicans. McKinley (R) saw the U.S. become the #1 industrial power, Hoover (R) saw the stock market plummet, Roosevelt (D) had the depression, Truman (D) had a recession and fell to 22% in polls and lost Democrat seats in Congress, Eisenhower (R) saw growth rates of 6% or 7% a year, Kennedy (D) saw growth continue at high rates, Johnson (D) saw continued growth and declared a War on Poverty, Carter (D) saw the economy stagnate under stagflation, Reagan (R) saw the second longest boom of all time at 8 years, Bush 1 (R) saw his approval rate plummet from 91% to 30% after recession struck and he raised taxes, Clinton (D) overtook Reagan's record in the 1990's and became the longest boom ever, Bush 2 (R) saw overall lower growth, Obama (D) has had lower growth still and a very weak recovery. I am a Republican but I know that they don't have magic economy dust either. And I give Democrats their just due...
Last edited by AtlantaIsHot; 09-19-2014 at 02:28 PM..
Governors don't have a great deal of control over their economies, but they can shape policies that can help or hurt it. So yes, Deal does bear some responsibility for our high unemployment.
Two things to keep in mind, though. 1.) Most of the new jobs created do not require any formal education. In fact, a greater percentage of the jobs being created, over the last 5 years, does not require formal education than the percentage of jobs that existed in the economy 5 years ago. Hence, the trend is towards uneducated labor. Uneducated labor is CHEAP labor....these days. 2.) Companies covet low wage workers. China did not boom because of its educated workforce, but rather, its large pool of cheap labor, which capital is attracted to in order to increase profit margins.
In light of this, the uneducated workforce could be whats making Georgia so attractive to companies.
Georgia is not the least educated state. Other states fare much worse. The facts of Georgia's education levels have to do with the fact that the state is rapidly approaching 50% minority. Most of these minorities are Hispanics and Blacks. Blacks and Hispanics have VERY HIGH school drop-out rates and very low school performance. Over 50% of Black men fail to graduate from high school. Hispanics lag woefully behind in graduation rates and school performance. The Black and Hispanic populations show an incredible amount of disdain for education and schooling. Hispanics don't go to school in their own countries and they don't seem to want to here either...
No matter how much money is thrown at public schools and no matter how much testing is done, these facts will always drag down the test scores and education levels. Los Angeles is now one of the poorest big city in the nation. It used to be one of the richest. Orange County (the second largest county in the state) has seen it's households in poverty skyrocket over the last 30 years. California's economic fortunes are turning sour fast. The same fate awaits Georgia if these facts don't change. It is not the fault of "conservatives" and "Republicans" that Blacks and Hispanics don't wanna go to school...
Last edited by AtlantaIsHot; 09-19-2014 at 03:13 PM..
If politicians controlled economies you might do something by voting Deal out... The fact that Georgia's economy (and others like here in N.C.) is still pretty bad has nothing to do with what party the Governor belongs to. Economic market forces devastated Georgia and the U.S. America has been spinning it's wheels economically for over a decade. After the 2001 terrorist attacks we went into a tailspin that we have not gotten out of yet. It had nothing to do with who was sitting in that White House. People in the U.S. actually believe that presidents and governors have levers they pull to start and stop recessions and business cycles. Even supposedly educated people fall for this. America has had booms and busts under Democrats and Republicans. McKinley (R) saw the U.S. become the #1 industrial power, Hoover (R) saw the stock market plummet, Roosevelt (D) had the depression, Truman (D) had a recession and fell to 22% in polls and lost Democrat seats in Congress, Eisenhower (R) saw growth rates of 6% or 7% a year, Kennedy (D) saw growth continue at high rates, Johnson (D) saw continued growth and declared a War on Poverty, Carter (D) saw the economy stagnate under stagflation, Reagan (R) saw the second longest boom of all time at 8 years, Bush 1 (R) saw his approval rate plummet from 91% to 30% after recession struck and he raised taxes, Clinton (D) overtook Reagan's record in the 1990's and became the longest boom ever, Bush 2 (R) saw overall lower growth, Obama (D) has had lower growth still and a very weak recovery. I am a Republican but I know that they don't have magic economy dust either. And I give Democrats their just due...
History lesson aside, Deal (and Perdue before him from '05 on) has had a super majority in the Legislature throughout his tenure which means carte blanche to do all the fiscal conservatism that's supposedly the cornerstone of Republican economic policy. We already have the lowest taxes collected per capita so that's not working. We are big on massive tax giveaways to corporations (NCR, Kia, FirstData, Rubbermaid, etc) and have effectively unlimited tax breaks to film low budget craptastic movies (Three Stooges, What to Expect...). When it comes to incentives, we're running to these companies w/ suitcases of cash but that doesn't seem to work either since companies like Toyota would rather move to Plano, TX (that treeless hellscape over NC) for far less $$$ than we offered up for winners like NCR.
Our HOPE scholarship largely targets upper middle class kids that can well afford in-state tuition and a solid 50% of GT grads leave the state upon graduation...where's that NCR cash register R&D lab when you need it. We spend a ton (although a shrinking percentage) on educating kids and keeping up standards on our flagship schools but then provide nothing to actually get top tier companies here beyond cash to move some admin positions over.
Georgia's economy has long been overly dependent on real estate/construction which has proven itself unsustainable given there are no natural boundaries that raise the cost of new construction. We don't have Texas oil money to make them look like fiscal geniuses (despite some of the highest poverty in the country) and we don't have Florida's retiree business.
Democrats won't have all the answers either but being BFFs with every corporation in the world hasn't helped very much and we're losing all our top students to employers in other states. Building freeways into corn fields and expecting people to buy homes out there has reached its limits.
If politicians controlled economies you might do something by voting Deal out... The fact that Georgia's economy (and others like here in N.C.) is still pretty bad has nothing to do with what party the Governor belongs to. Economic market forces devastated Georgia and the U.S. America has been spinning it's wheels economically for over a decade. After the 2001 terrorist attacks we went into a tailspin that we have not gotten out of yet. It had nothing to do with who was sitting in that White House. People in the U.S. actually believe that presidents and governors have levers they pull to start and stop recessions and business cycles. Even supposedly educated people fall for this. America has had booms and busts under Democrats and Republicans. McKinley (R) saw the U.S. become the #1 industrial power, Hoover (R) saw the stock market plummet, Roosevelt (D) had the depression, Truman (D) had a recession and fell to 22% in polls and lost Democrat seats in Congress, Eisenhower (R) saw growth rates of 6% or 7% a year, Kennedy (D) saw growth continue at high rates, Johnson (D) saw continued growth and declared a War on Poverty, Carter (D) saw the economy stagnate under stagflation, Reagan (R) saw the second longest boom of all time at 8 years, Bush 1 (R) saw his approval rate plummet from 91% to 30% after recession struck and he raised taxes, Clinton (D) overtook Reagan's record in the 1990's and became the longest boom ever, Bush 2 (R) saw overall lower growth, Obama (D) has had lower growth still and a very weak recovery. I am a Republican but I know that they don't have magic economy dust either. And I give Democrats their just due...
I agree. Governors are in competition with other governors for companies and investments. Its kind of like a race to the bottom, for workers, as governors try to cater to companies appetite for low taxes, low wages and low regulations. States like Georgia and North Carolina once had big advantages over Northern states and as a result many Northern companies relocated South to take advantage of lower cost. However, many Northern states were forced to become more competitive to keep and or attract businesses. Thus, they have sought to become more like the South in many respects. Hence, the push factor out of the North is not as big as it used to be and thus I do not see much Georgia can do to return to its previous levels of job growth....short of bringing back slavery to the State.
Georgia is not the least educated state. Other states fare much worse. The facts of Georgia's education levels have to do with the fact that the state is rapidly approaching 50% minority. Most of these minorities are Hispanics and Blacks. Blacks and Hispanics have VERY HIGH school drop-out rates and very low school performance. Over 50% of Black men fail to graduate from high school. Hispanics lag woefully behind in graduation rates and school performance. The Black and Hispanic populations show an incredible amount of disdain for education and schooling. Hispanics don't go to school in their own countries and they don't seem to want to here either...
No matter how much money is thrown at public schools and no matter how much testing is done, these facts will always drag down the test scores and education levels. Los Angeles is now one of the poorest big city in the nation. It used to be one of the richest. Orange County (the second largest county in the state) has seen it's households in poverty skyrocket over the last 30 years. California's economic fortunes are turning sour fast. The same fate awaits Georgia if these facts don't change. It is not the fault of "conservatives" and "Republicans" that Blacks and Hispanics don't wanna go to school...
First off, black and brown are America's low wage workforce (to preserve the legacy of white privilege), and hence it sees no need to educate them and hence does not really invest in educating them. What is the need to educate 75% of the labor pool when the economy only has need for 25% of them to be educated? You see, that is America's dirty little secret. Education is NOT the key, because there is not economic demand for a totally educated labor force. Its like a game of musical chairs. When the music starts playing there are 15 people and 12 chairs (our current economy) 3 of the chairs are good paying chairs that come from a college degree, 5 chairs pay ok wages and 4 chairs are for the working poor. Now, when the music stops, regardless of what society does to educated the 15 people, only 3 people will get to sit in good paying chairs, 5 people will get ok chair and 4 people will be the working poor chairs....and 3 will not sit at all and will be the un-chaired.....notwithstanding 100% of the 15 being "educated".
In light of that, society is making no real effort to change the ratio of educated people and the EDUCATED people work to keep it that way via politics and their votes. Why? The reason being is that the higher earnings they enjoy is the result of the premium given to educated people from the relative scarcity of educated people. Anyone with an econ 101 course knows that when supply is increased relative to demand, that the market value of what is being supplied is reduced. Hence, in terms of wages, if more educated people were supplied than the economy has demand for, then the wages of educated people would fall because workers would underbid other workers so not to be unemployed. In other words, if engineers median salary were 85k and the market became flooded with engineers and there were not enough engineer jobs to go around, applicants would offer to do the job for 75,000 rather than face unemployment or under employment and companies would start letting engineers go and rehiring engineers at lower cost. Thus, by keeping people uneducated.....it preserves higher wages for the educated.
There is an old adage that says " if you give a person a fish they can eat for a day, but if you teach them to fish they can eat for a lifetime". What this adage ignores is scarcity, greed and status. Say the fish come from a lake and the number of fish are finite, in that the population of fish can only be replenished at a certain rate. Well, the few people that are educated on how to fish have a high value for their ability to catch fish when others cannot and hence they gain wealth and status from knowing what others do not. If those educated few then taught everyone to fish, then the fish will be caught faster than they can replenish themselves and the the original educated fishers will then struggle to catch fish at their previous rate and hence will lose wealth and status. Thus, greed prevents the few educated from really wanting the masses in the village to be educated because its a THREAT to their wealth and status.
Hence, its best to give the masses a fish or two every now and then and keep them uneducated lest they become educated and take away the wealth and status of the few....keep in mind that status is relative. In other words, in order to have status you have to be OVER other people in some way....have something that they do not have. The great Carthaginian General, Hannibal, was quoted as saying; "It's not that I must succeed...its that others must fail". The upper half can stay on top by ensuring the failure of the bottom half....and that is what they work to do.
Last edited by Indentured Servant; 09-19-2014 at 04:22 PM..
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