Chafee says RI "best place to do business", Forbes says 49th. (Providence: 2013, high crime)

[Snowball7]

Forbes:
RI second-worst state to do business:
R.I. ranked 2nd worst state to do business - Providence Business News

Lincoln Chafee:
“We are the best place to do business"
630WPRO.COM | Rhode Island's News & Talk Station - Chafee: "We are the best place to do business"

[Rnrboy]

Who cares what Forbes says? Forbes is a *******, and pretty much wrong about everything, including what ails the US economy as a whole.

[DarkWolf]

Forbes is a junky source....

[wxjay]

RI is nowhere near the 'best place to do business'. The huge corruption on all levels of government, the out-of-control unions and their disintegration of the state's budget via outrageous pensions, the high taxes, chronically high unemployment, the high cost of living, the 'brain drain' on the state, huge numbers of regulations, the stagnating population growth, the aging infrastructure,...

One personal case-in-point - the factory that my dad worked for in Cranston petitioned the state to expand their factory (meaning more jobs and more revenue to the state). The state imposed so many fees and extra taxes on this expansion that the factory owner said '**** that' and moved his operations to Attleboro, MA. Luckily, my dad kept his job. But what happened to RI? They lost a good revenue stream and now MA can collect the business taxes and get credit for the jobs at the new factory site.

[Rnrboy]

We do not have "huge corruption". We're consistently ranked intermediately. This is no longer 1989. Our "out of control" Unions are about to have their pensions rearranged one way or another. It's only a matter of time. Our "high taxes" share a lot of company with the rest of the Northeast and other states. Rhode Island is not some bizarre outlier in this way. Perhaps you should take a look at low tax, high crime states with large amounts of people who are uneducated and lack health care. Stagnating population growth? We have over a million people packed into the second smallest state in the Union! You want more growth???

Aging infrastructure: Can't argue with you there. There have been incremental improvements, but there is much left to do.

P.S. I'm glad your old man kept his job.

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by Rnrboy

We do not have "huge corruption". We're consistently ranked intermediately.

Oh, well, 'intermediately high' corruption. Put that on the 'Welcome to RI' signs!

Second, we have a huge issue with 'one party rule' in this state. No one party has a monopoly on solutions to govern.

Our "out of control" Unions are about to have their pensions rearranged one way or another. It's only a matter of time.

We'll see about that. The union lobby is huge and powerful.

Our "high taxes" share a lot of company with the rest of the Northeast and other states. Rhode Island is not some bizarre outlier in this way.

True, to a point. But RI is an huge outlier in jobs. Look at a map of unemployment. RI has the second highest UE in the nation (10.4%). MA UE is 6.6%. NH 5.7%. CT 9%. That is a huge anomaly IMO.

Stagnating population growth? We have over a million people packed into the second smallest state in the Union! You want more growth???

You want more big businesses? Businesses don't move to an area that is static is future growth potential (economically and socially). That's a fact. The skill levels of RI workers is also far below many other areas. What RI excelled at in its history was manufacturing. Those days have long left the state. Other than Brown University, what large draws for education exist in the state? URI and RIC are sub-par in many areas (not saying they don't have good programs, but what would make an out-of-state student go there (or heck even in-state students) over going to another state/private school, money aside?).

P.S. I'm glad your old man kept his job.

Thanks.

[Hollytree]

Other surveys rank RI somewhat differently. I think we all agree the governor and the legislature need to work on improving the business climate. Probably many small changes could be implemented. Being such a tiny state, I'd hate to see too many things get unregulated- like pollution controls, sprawl, huge buildings, etc.

Who plans to move to any in the list of states that have good business climates...
South Dakota anyone????? 2013 State Business Tax Climate Index | Tax Foundation

Bottom line is that taxes will likely never be low here because the state is small. We'll probably always be higher than most states.

[wxjay]

In theory, a smaller state should have smaller expenses than a larger state. The problem is that the demographics of the state make it so that being skewed toward the older side + an 'unfriendly' business climate means less revenue to pay for the massive government machine in operation in the state.

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

Who plans to move to any in the list of states that have good business climates...
South Dakota anyone????? 2013 State Business Tax Climate Index | Tax Foundation

Utah, Texas, and Florida certainly are fast growing states. And NH has always been a state that sees big growth.

[rosco917]

We do not have "huge corruption". We're consistently ranked intermediately.

The problem with this stat is, its based on those that get caught participating in corruption, and not on those that succeed in not getting caught. If the so called corruption is standard operating procedure, and excepted, with a wink and a nod, it will never be counted as "corruption" on any scale.

Other surveys rank RI somewhat differently.

can you provide us with the surveys please, I like to see them.

Who plans to move to any in the list of states that have good business climates...
South Dakota anyone?????

What a thing to say...LOL

Now friends, why would Forbes simply lie, and make us 49th.
I was all ready to celebrate not being 57th.