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Tax rates, though not everything, are a significant part of the problem in this state. A certain govenor of a southern state recently made the remark that he was closing his states foreign economic office, charged with the responsibility of bringing manufacturing plants to his state, because its much easier and more cost effective to raid the remaining facilities in the North East.
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Cutting taxes does not get you into a deficit - spending more than what you take in does. Dr. Art Laffer has yet to be proven wrong. Reduced taxes creates more wealth which creates more tax revenue. Presidents Taft, Kennedy, Reagan and Bush understand this basic economic philosphy and the growth in revenue that followed is evidence enough to dismiss any doubt. Deficits occur when our political class spends more than it accumulates in an effort to buy constituencies. As for capital gains - thats why the wealthy move their assets and themselves to FL. Remember - capital, whether human or financial, will flow the the area with the least taxation, regulation and the best chance to grow. On the upside, Gov. Carcieri has pinpointed the sacred cow of spending for fiscal reuction - pare the welfare rolls. If he was smarter he would announce a gradual end to the state income tax, lower the sales tax and reinstitute the death penalty for corrupt political bosses.
If I continue to debate you at this point, we are going to be getting into purely economical/political conjecture - which I don't believe is the purpose of this forum.
Suffice to say that the economic conventional wisdom of the right is wrong, and has been proven thus time and time again. If you read anything besides right-wing echo chamber intelligensia you will be well aware of this fact.
I'll give you one example and then I really am dropping the subject. But one seemingly "conventional" fact parlayed by the Right in this state is that RI has some of the highest taxes in the Nation. However, this is not so. Morgan Quitno's independent and extremely relied upon studies indicate that Rhody is actually intermediate, smack dab in the middle at #25.
Even though the refutations of the Right-wing "conventional wisdom" certainly don't end there, I am not going to debate this anymore because I think we would be going way off topic.
Feel free to private message me if you like, but trust me - you're wrong.
Sorry Mikey but the traffic light thing is nonsense. Try getting on Plainfield Pike in Cranston and taking it out to Foster. You won't hit a traffic light for like 30 miles!
There are a lot of other parts of RI like this too. The lights are obviously more concentrated in urban areas, but no moreso than anywhere else. Congestion can get difficult at times (mainly around Providence) - but what Rhode Islanders consider a tough rush hour would be considered a walk in the park in some cities.
Try driving through Tampa, FL at rush hour and then tell me Providence is "congested".
Everything is relative my friend!
No kidding. I feel like I spent half my day on I-275. I lived in New Tampa for a year and worked over by the Westshore Mall, and it took an hour each way. And it's the same city!!!
Anyway, the OP is pretty spot on with the post and I need to give rep points now.
Wavehunter, I get what your point is about all the factual data....but
That said, your "factual analysis" is also not supported by "common sense".
Talk randomly with 100 people and see what they tell you.
The travel business is well supported by people trying to escape the dismal, frigid winters.
I you like the winters there, by all means stay.... I wish there were more people who did to buy my house.
Mikey
I do agree there are places in the USA that are obviously much warmer and nicer from November through March than Rhode Island. However, those are places like Arizona (southern), South Carolina, Southern California, the Gulf Coast, Florida…etc….not North Carolina.
I went to school in North Carolina (Raleigh) for two years, and found the winter weather not much better than Rhode Island’s. The temp in Raleigh is only about 15 F warmer at any give time - than Providence. Also, since I live near the coast (along RI – CT line), being near the beach always seems nicer in the winter – although It’s cold - the blue sky and blue ocean just seem more uplifting in winter. In Raleigh and inland North Carolina - the leafless trees, brown little hills, and no ocean in sight was even more depressing for me. I felt like I was going through a cold winter in the middle of nowhere.
I guess I just can’t move away from the ocean…all that blue gets to me (see photo).
Originally Posted by Rnrboy View Post
Sorry Mikey but the traffic light thing is nonsense. Try getting on Plainfield Pike in Cranston and taking it out to Foster. You won't hit a traffic light for like 30 miles!
There are a lot of other parts of RI like this too. The lights are obviously more concentrated in urban areas, but no moreso than anywhere else. Congestion can get difficult at times (mainly around Providence) - but what Rhode Islanders consider a tough rush hour would be considered a walk in the park in some cities.
Try driving through Tampa, FL at rush hour and then tell me Providence is "congested".
Everything is relative my friend!
Your example of going from Plainfield Pike to Foster is a bad one and not at all representative of driving in R.I.
Hell, I've lived in R.I. over 50 years and probably had occasion to go to Foster only a handful of times.
That example would be misleading to someone thinking about relocating here but knows nothing about the state.
Your second example was Tampa.
When I started researching where I'd like to live in Florida I drove from well north of Tampa down to Marco Island and looked critically at every area in between.
When it came to the Tampa area (Wesley Chapel, etc.) I said to my wife..."Ah, this is too congested...let's look elsewhere, I've been dealing with daily traffic for over 20 years".
I don't see how my example is misleading, or how anything in your post contradicts my point. You made a blanket statement about RI being 'congested', and I simply pointed out this doesn't always hold true, and then gave an example of a place even more congested which you didn't seem to disagree with.
If you live in an urban area, it's going to be congested. But there are also rural parts of RI, and beaches too. Not the entire state is the same. That was the point I was making.
Cutting taxes does not get you into a deficit - spending more than what you take in does. Dr. Art Laffer has yet to be proven wrong. Reduced taxes creates more wealth which creates more tax revenue. Presidents Taft, Kennedy, Reagan and Bush understand this basic economic philosphy and the growth in revenue that followed is evidence enough to dismiss any doubt.
So, the recent threat of recession and housing and credit crises are evidence of a booming economy under Bush economics? I'm confused.
Quote:
Deficits occur when our political class spends more than it accumulates in an effort to buy constituencies.
Very true. However, the question becomes how is the money spent. No doubt that corruption at the state and federal levels leads to some senseless spending. But, when monies are cut from education and healthcare in order to facilitate lower taxation for folks, that becomes a major issue. The key area to target is the pork-spending, not defunding the education system, as has been practiced many times in many states.
Quote:
If he was smarter he would announce a gradual end to the state income tax, lower the sales tax and reinstitute the death penalty for corrupt political bosses.
Ah, just looking for your chance to insert a pro-death penalty argument here, huh? And killing corrupt people? This is your right-wing solution to economic prosperity? If so, that's truly sad.
The left detests debate. I can tell your more of a "feeeeeeling" type of fellow. BUt your right - perhaps a little of topic.
I love how "the left" (i.e., an entire half of our country) all get lumped into a single generalization. That's not very open-minded and American, Mr. Melchiori.
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Tampa rush hour
