High Taxes Plus Burdensome Regulation Equal Lost Jobs for Snohomish County
By Elizabeth Scott | 11/04/09 | 05:03 AM EDT | 4 Comments
Boeing announced last week that they will be building their second 787 production line in South Carolina. Governor Gregoire's 'no more concessions for Boeing' strategy was the height of foolishness and conjures up images of the proverbial ostrich. While some of our elected representatives were holding pseudo-townhalls (ticketed only) on voter initiatives, South Carolina's governor called a special session and their legislature hammered out additional tax incentives to lure Boeing to their state. Why? That famous "three-letter word" that now-VP Joe Biden told us was the top issue: "J-O-B-S." In Snohomish County, 14% of the jobs are directly related to Boeing, another 2.5 jobs are created by each of those Boeing jobs, and 22% of the total salary in the county comes from Boeing. Snohomish County is struggling: 68,000 of us are out of work (U6 number), and 6000 more families are about to get their foreclosure notices.
Seems like our Governor and State Legislature would be doing everything possible to promote job-creation here. Boeing seems an obvious place to start, but apparently special interests control not only the pursestrings but the legislative process. The Republicans in the Washington State Legislature proposed bill after bill to try to answer Boeing's requests but these bills never got the chance to be voted on; they were buried in committee, by the Powers That Be.
It's not as though Boeing hasn't been patient. In the 1960s, Boeing told the state to lower taxes or they would leave. Warnings were given each decade and in 2003 Boeing asked for and was promised five things: workforce training, infrastructure improvement, reform of workers' compensation insurance, unemployment insurance reform, and less burdensome business regulation.
Workforce training means education; has it improved to acceptable levels? We have a high school graduation rate of 70.9% in Snohomish County; National Assessment of Educational Progress test results show 36% of Washington State 8th grade students score above proficiency in math. Do your own experiment: ask recent high school grads what the tax is on $200 at 8%. Most of them can't do it, as my husband found in 'mock interviews' he conducted with high school seniors through Rotary last week. Would you want to hire these kids to build an airplane?
Infrastructure improvement: are you spending less time in traffic than you did six years ago? Neither is Boeing--and shipping time is money. Reform of workers' comp: why does it take three times longer to recover from a leg injury here than in another state? Go figure. Let's ask the business owner who filmed one of his employees on workers comp carrying a bathtub into a house and putting a roof on a house. Labor and Industries threatened the employer with a lawsuit if he released the video. Your tax-dollars at work. Perhaps this begins to explain why Washington residents finally reached Tax Freedom Day on August 17 this year, a full month later than last year, according to Evergreen Freedom Foundation. Yes, that's the day you got to begin earning money for your budget...instead of government's budget for their wish list.
Unemployment insurance reform: ours is sixth-highest cost in U.S, over double the SC cost.
Less burdensome business regulation: home builders are not exactly rolling in the dough this year (a good friend of mine has been out of his construction work for over a year and is now headed overseas) but our state legislature saw fit to saddle builders with additional regulation this spring, which will raise the cost of production and result in even more layoffs.
It doesn't have to be this way. The majority party in our state legislature seems to be asking businesses and individuals, "How much money can we get from you?" They should be asking, "What can we do to help you be successful?" When your elected representatives' wish list doesn't bear any resemblance to yours, it's time for a change. If a job is at the top of your list, or a good education for Washington's kids, or lower health care costs, it's time to back legislative candidates who will make it happen. Do your State Representatives really represent you?
TAGS: Snohomish County, Boeing, taxes, regulation, education, transportation, health care
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4 Comments | Related Topics »Snohomish County (WA)
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Comments
Ms. Scott has hit it on the head: the economy does matter and unless the voters do something soon, we are going to lose way too many jobs in this state.
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|I want to welcome Elizabeth Scott to our Red County blog. She is one of the most knowledable people in Western Snohomish County concerning LOCAL issues and as a result knows what is happening in the most important part of the county's economy. She is also very tuned into the political environment on "the coast" as inland SNO County residents like to say.
AS for this piece, I could not have written it better myself. We have to face the music: we have elected politicians who are not the least bit concerned about the economy, if you follow them and their statements.
Welcome Elizabeth and good luck on your trip to Washington DC to let the morons in the Congress know what we think about the latest bill on Obama Deathcare. Elizabeth will join one of the largest demonstrations ever attempted on the Capitol steps on Thursday! I can't wait to read her blog on this adventure. You will find no coverage of this event in the moron infested Everett Herald, regardless of the fact that its parent company the Washington Post is right there in the city. Try the Washington Times on line for the real news.
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|Edmonds is starting to look like a deserted city with all the empty store fronts and for rent signs. Can this get any worse than it already is?
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|The loss of Boeing's additional assemblage line is certainly significant to the overall job market in Snohomish County. With the highest unemployment rate in the State, it is a big hit to this county; and I am sure it is not the end of losses to Boeing's presence. The Unions need to figure out how to work WITH a company also, not that company executives cannot be exploitive themselves.
Another source of, albiet smaller than the loss due to Boeing leaving but is significant given the state of the economy and employment, is failure of Snohomish County and other regulators to process permits in a timely manner. Permits issued are a relevant indicator of how well an economy is doing, without permits work does not get started. Without work-started there is no employment. Without employment, the economy continues to falter.
I know of numerous projects that would love to put people to work (and I am far from being alone), but they cannot get their permits issued.
One of the strategies for economic recovery was to fund "Shovel Ready" projects and put people to work. What happend to that concept, it appears to be totally ignored on the local level. Even at one lunch bag at a time, we need to get people back to work if there is to be any hope for the return of a healthy economy.
We need to fix the permit process; there are many little things that can be done to faciltate applicants getting their permits. Not getting permits in a timely manner is very disruptive to the progress of business.
While Boeing is a big loss, we need to stop crying over spilt milk and take care of our very local issues; things that we can have an impact in fixing. We need to demand of Aaron Reardon and the Snohomish County Council that we get the permit process fixed.
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