Why Ga. has so little to show for being so ‘business friendly’
In November, Georgia was ranked 4th in the nation for its pro-business environment by Site Selection magazine, which specializes in corporate relocations. The Georgia Department of Economic Development was understandably quick to seize on that happy news, giving it prominent play on the department’s website.
Such rankings appear to validate a concerted, decade-long effort by Georgia’s leadership to make the state as business-friendly as possible. Our state and local business tax burden, for example, ranks eighth lowest in the country, according to a 2012 analysis by Ernst & Young. And as Site Selection noted approvingly, the 2012 Legislature continued that effort by eliminating the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing, enhancing tax incentives and “strengthening” open records laws by delaying public release of economic development deals.
When the 2013 Georgia Legislature convenes Monday, it will no doubt attempt to continue that crusade. For example, while state legislators are likely to approve using tax money to help finance a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, they could balk at renewing a much-needed hospital tax that will help keep tens of thousands of poor Georgians covered by Medicaid.
You see, using tax money to help the Falcons and the NFL, the most profitable sports league on the planet, is “economic development”, while helping poor families get medical coverage is considered welfare.
The larger question, however, is whether the state’s strategy is achieving its goals. And that in turn depends on what you choose to measure. For example, here is how Site Selection has ranked Georgia’s business climate each year from 2002-2012:
2002: 4th
2003: 7th
2004: 4th
2005: 3rd
2006: 4th
2007: 2nd
2008: 10th
2009: 8th
2010: 6th
2011: 2nd
2012: 4th
For more than a decade, in other words, Georgia has never ranked out of the top 10 for business climate, and over that period it has averaged in the top five. That tells us that year after year, for an extended amount of time, our leaders have succeeded in crafting government policy to produce exactly the kind of regulatory and tax environment that business leaders say they need to produce growth and prosperity. So by that measure it has been a great success.
But what do we have to show for it?
— We have an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, significantly higher than the 7.8 percent national average and the ninth highest rate in the country, tied with Mississippi. And it is not a short-term phenomenon. Our unemployment rate has exceeded the national average for each of the last 64 months.
— In 2001, Georgia had the 17th highest poverty rate in the country. By 2011 it had the nation’s sixth highest poverty rate. We are slipping and slipping fast.
— In 2001, the state ranked 25th in per capita income and was rising rapidly in that critically important category; today, it ranks 39th in per capita income. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, state per capita income has declined by 3.5 percent since 2001.
To make matters worse, while trying to create a diligently “pro-business” environment, state government has also attempted to shrink the social safety net substantially. In a piece headlined “Georgia’s Hunger Games,” Slate reported last month that thanks to aggressive government efforts to deny benefits, fewer than 7 percent of the 300,000 Georgia households in poverty collect benefits through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, more commonly known as welfare. Nationally, the comparable number is 27 percent.
Is that punitive approach working? Not so you’d notice. We also have the nation’s fifth highest rate of those without health insurance, and the fourth highest differential between rich and poor.
In other words, there is no sign that pursuit of a narrowly defined “business-friendly” climate has resulted in a more people-friendly climate. And isn’t that the real goal?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,198 comments Add your comment
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:07 am
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:01 am
Not remotely true…see prior post where I included worst states and corresponding unemployment…
Plus, what non-service industry is going to materialize?
Just Saying ...
January 9th, 2013
10:07 am
Honey Boo Boo and Real Housewives of Atlanta must be bringing in some tax revenue for Georgia
DebbieDoRight - When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.
January 9th, 2013
10:07 am
Jawja has little to show for being pimped out by Big Business because, like a common pros-tit-ute Jawja only gets the pennies the pimp daddy gives her; nothing more nothing less.
Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time… its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission. — Shirley Chisholm
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 9th, 2013
10:08 am
“0311 – You men it’s fine to kill guilty people. How guilty do they have to be. And guilty of what?”
jaywalkers, your day of reckoning has COME …
same for you, people who have 15 items in the 10-items-or-less aisle!!!
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:08 am
Looks like the professional meterologists are still on their chicken little the Earth is going to melt kick. And they still think they’ve emphatically proven global warming is mostly man made. Jeez. I think Jay overfed them yesterday on the raw red meat.
Anyone denying climate change is doing so for one of two reasons.
1. They are too dumb to know any better.
2. Their politics so blind them that they cant see what is obvious to anyone objective.
The debate reminds me of the one we had about cigarettes causing cancer.
Im sure there were a lot of people who said they didn’t. The tobacco industry sure wasn’t going to say they did so they intentionally muddied the waters ( much like what is being done today with Climate Change )
The problem with that is eventually the truth will win out. You have to drag them kicking and screaming to the truth sometimes.
But eventually even the dimmest among us gets there.
A Simple Man
January 9th, 2013
10:10 am
Let’s raise everyone’s taxes. That will fix the problem.
Oh, and I think most republicans I know are against a taxpayer funded dome. Politicians may be for it, but that’s a whole nuther story. It’s not they’re really looking out for us anyway.
JamVet
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Forget hillbillies, I prefer the word cracker.
But so as to not offend any southern, white, Republican, “Christian”, “conservative” males, I will be politically correct and refer to them as the C word!
LOL…
RB from Gwinnett
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
““It’s the GOP way. Give corporations a free ride, then stick to the taxpaying citizens””
A major problem we have is with simple minded people such as this ^^^^ making foolish comments like that because they’re too lazy to look at the realities of what’s really going on. Does this poster really think the blue state legislatures are not making any tax incentive deals with companies? It’s only Republicans doing this? Seriously?
You probably also think all the democrat owned businesses are hiring a bunch of extra employees they don’t need, paying them more than the going rate, and only making 2x the lowest wage earner because they’re benevolent democrates who care about people, right? So why aren’t all the unemployed lined up at their doors signing up for a job?
Try thinking for a change….
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Here’s the data I’m looking at:
http://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-for-business
http://www.bls.gov/lau/
GB
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Adam
Re-read my original post. I did not, there or in any other comments, say anything was black people’s fault. I did not write it. I did not imply it.
You seem upset that I brought up race. I did so because Jay Bookman ignored a relevant factor. His analysis was incomplete. I said so.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
RESISTANCE !
“Weeks after the election, Republicans are as dogged as ever in their resistance to Obama, particularly in an unruly House.”
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/08/16414869-contrary-to-obamas-hopes-gop-fever-hasnt-broken?lite
bigbill
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Great column. Makes me think of George Carlin’s piece on why he does’t vote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk
TBS
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Jamvet
“Democratic plantation”….
Right out of the talk radio play book..
That one gets their rabid followers all giddy
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
Cheesy: Anyone denying climate change is doing so for one of two reasons.
1. They are too dumb to know any better.
2. Their politics so blind them that they cant see what is obvious to anyone objective.
In either case, they are children that need to sit at the kids’ table and shut up and let the grown ups deal with it. Make noise in a soundproof room for all I care, but they are not allowed to join in the conversation anymore. Pitting ideology against scientific evidence is not a “debate.” Time to stop calling it one and time to ignore the people who deny the problem exists and move on to crafting solutions that will work.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:12 am
See Stevie’s post at 9:50 or 9:58. According to him your link shows NJ Calif and three othe states as hainf the worst business climates. All industrilized states.
larry
January 9th, 2013
10:12 am
I know one job where it has been real business friendly since 2003 and that’s the governor’s office.
Need a tax break , you got it
Need to sell a bankrupt business , to the pawn and porn king of California no less, you got it.
Need to finance such sell of the bankrupt business, you got it
Among others
Maybe if we cleared up our eithics problem…………
Jay
January 9th, 2013
10:14 am
Personally, I come from a l-oooonnnggg line of hillbillies — as far back as hillbillies go in this country. The term doesn’t bother me a whit.
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:14 am
Brocephus,
Nope. GB did not “pull the race card”. He simply pointed out that in his opinion that demographics plays a role in this and he explained why. This is why we cannot rationally discuss race in this country. Someone makes a point that reflects economic realities and folks get bent out of shape over “the race card” because they don’t like what was said.
From your posts it doesn’t look like you hold the same indignation over cheesy grits “hillbilly” statements. The silence of you and other liberals is deafening.
As to your other points its true that there are more poor whites, especially in rural Georgia, than there are of any other race. But there are also about 6 1/2 times more whites than there are of any other race. As a math major you should be able to readily understand how misapplied your statement is in regards to statistical analysis.
And also your assertion that black unemployment has always been higher than white unemployment is simply wrong. Its a common fallacy to believe that but there were times when black unemployment was lower than white unemployment. And ironically enough those times were when blacks were historically much more visciously discriminated against.
As a matter of fact do you know when the big and permanent separation between black and white employment began? It began with minimum wage laws which disproportionately affected blacks.
“The last year in which the black unemployment rate was lower than the white unemployment rate was 1930. That was also the last year in which there was no federal minimum wage law.”
And its also a well known historical fact that labor unions were responsible for much of the discrimination and damage done to black employment levels. Have you ever noticed that to this day that black representation in construction labor unions is still low?
“The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 was in part a result of a series of incidents in which non-union black construction labor enabled various contractors from the South to underbid Northern contractors who used white, unionized construction labor.
The Davis-Bacon Act required that “prevailing wages” be paid on government construction projects— “prevailing wages” almost always meaning in practice union wages. Since blacks were kept out of construction unions then, and for decades thereafter, many black construction workers lost their jobs.
Minimum wages were required more broadly under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, with negative consequences for black employment across a much wider range of industries.”
http://www.creators.com/opinion/thomas-sowell/race-and-economics.html
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
January 9th, 2013
10:14 am
UK:
“0311 – You men it’s fine to kill guilty people. How guilty do they have to be. And guilty of what?”
Yes.
Beyond a reasonable doubt.
Murder.
Next.
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:15 am
You are helping me make my point. Black unemployment is higher than white unemployment. Ga has a higher % of blacks than the US as a whole. These facts are relevant to Ga’s overall unemployment rate. Re read my initial post. All I said was that any analysis ignoring demographics is incomplete.
Go look at the US Census figures. The latest they have on business ownership is 2007. National percentage of Black owned businesses is 7.1% while Georgia’s is 20.4%. Georgia’s Blacks aren’t the lazy creatures you’re trying to paint them to be.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13000.html
Now, if you really want to look at why Georgia’s employment is where it’s at, then it trancends RACE and is more likely due to lack of education. Almost 45% of Georgians have a high school (or equivalent) education or less.
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_5YR/DP02/0400000US13
It ain’t race, as much as you want to make it out to be. Blacks, in Georgia, are much more likely to be business owners than in other states. You wouldn’t have all the drama with the airport contracts and such if it were not for Black owned businesses.
Plain and simple, you played the race card when it was not necessary. You should have played the education card.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:15 am
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:08 am
Climate change is only denied by the stupid?
Sounds like the scientific concept of skepticism does not apply to this 20-30 year old science with questionable motives, suspect data going back in time, and making predictions that are supposed to ring true 50-100 years from now….
If I were you, I’d not rush to judgement simply because you want to be accepted in certain circles..
indigo
January 9th, 2013
10:15 am
Doggone/GA – 10:06
Still on the job, giving your official approval as to what can and cannot be posted here.
Thomas Heyward Jr
January 9th, 2013
10:15 am
Although the Greatest paper in the South……the AJC……..can’t escape to another State(wouldn’t be prudent)…….it CAN escape Democrats.
And DID.
.
lol
.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will relocate its headquarters next year from its longtime home downtown to smaller, leased offices near Perimeter Mall, parent company Cox Enterprises announced Monday.
The move is another cost-cutting measure by the AJC, which has 850 employees at 72 Marietta St. The company occupies less than 30 percent of the downtown location after consolidating printing operations last year in Gwinnett County.
“The decision was made to benefit our customers, employees and business,” AJC Publisher Michael Joseph said.
“We hold corporations and government officials accountable for fiscal responsibility, and we must do the same for ourselves. This move will reduce controllable costs and help the company remain viable and focused on our core mission of journalism, while continuing to serve the community and provide advertising solutions.”
The AJC will maintain its Capitol bureau and also plans to have an intown bureau, although its location and staffing levels haven’t been determined, Joseph said. News and production will also be located at a large AJC facility in Gwinnett County. That facility recently underwent a $30 million enhancement of presses and distribution systems
.
lol
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:16 am
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:15 am
Couldn’t agree more..
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
January 9th, 2013
10:17 am
Now this is something that could save thousands of lives. It will be interesting to see how this ruling might compare with guns rulings. Do we REALLY want to save lives ?
“Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission (DUI’s)”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/08/16416051-supreme-court-to-decide-whether-police-can-take-your-blood-without-your-permission?lite
P.S. Is it the alcohol’s fault or the drinkers fault ??
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:18 am
Agreed Adam
But dumb people vote too. And you see them here every day.
It will take the light going on for some of them before we can really get something done.
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:18 am
Looks like the echo chamber of know it all Bookman blog perfessers of meterology have concluded that well that they know it all.
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:18 am
TBS @ 10:00
I don’t even think they are aware of it. Let somebody mention something about Bush, and they will go ape shiite crazy about the blame game. They’ll even do it in this same thread where they are blaming everybody BUT Republicans for the state of things here in Georgia.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:19 am
0311 – have to go with life without parole instead of deth sentence in georgi. Countynbudgets can’t fford capital trials. And for other resons. For one, too many innocent people are convicted.
tiredofIT
January 9th, 2013
10:19 am
You want jobs in the USA, implement tariffs.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:20 am
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:11 am
IMO opinion, anyone who has made a final conclusion about this issue doesn’t belong at the growup table. Freshly minted science projecting doom and gloom 50 years from now? Maybe there is something there maybe not…I lean to the latter since there is no consensus on credibility of metrics…continued skepticism is absolutely necessary to the process of vetting this. If you are convinced either way at this point, I’m not sure what to tell you..
Thomas Heyward Jr
January 9th, 2013
10:21 am
Jay
January 9th, 2013
10:14 am
Personally, I come from a l-oooonnnggg line of hillbillies — as far back as hillbillies go in this country. The term doesn’t bother me a whit.
————————————————–
.
The n-word doesn’t bother my black friends either…………..but that don’t mean you should use it.
.
Not that I’m a PC soccer watching metro/federo-sexual .
I only like to point out the double standards.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:21 am
Climate change is only denied by the stupid?
Thats right.
Or those blinded by their politics as I stated earlier.
Inside the scientific community there is very little debate whether its real or not.
curious
January 9th, 2013
10:22 am
GB
You are correct. What’s your solution?
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:22 am
Brocephus,
The education systems in the deep south are also part of the problem and that does transcend race as you stated. But I think I already mentioned education systems here as being part of the problem and that of course affects whites as well as blacks.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:23 am
I don’t have aany probleem with the term hillbillie when used properly.
TBS
January 9th, 2013
10:24 am
Bro
Some of those bloggers on this morning… That’s what makes it so humorous and sad at the same time..
randy
January 9th, 2013
10:24 am
Critical pro-biz policy we DON’T have:
1) First rate public education
2) Useful public transit. I personally know dozens of super-sharp 20-something tech guys complaining about this, and about one dozen have already left for San Francisco, New York, Austin, and Europe. These are the EXACT GUYS Georgia does not want to lose!
3) Real internet access competition. (Georgia caves to Comcast & AT&T)
4) Locally generated power purchase policy, like Germany. Instead, Southern Company does whatever they want.
5) Voters who demand reduction in rampant political corruption
the cat
January 9th, 2013
10:24 am
Why does Thulsa Doom write with an imaginary plantation owner accent?
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:24 am
If you are convinced either way at this point, I’m not sure what to tell you..
Are you convinced of gravity ? Or do we need more studies ?
I agree more data is better but when its ALL POINTING IN ONE SINGLE DIRECTION AND ALMOST EVERY SINGLE SCIENTIST ON THE PLANET LOOKS AT THAT DATA AND COMES TO THE SAME EXACT CONCLUSION.
Well then you start thinking there might be something to it.
And at that point to deny it really really makes you look stupid.
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:25 am
I did not, there or in any other comments, say anything was black people’s fault. I did not write it. I did not imply it.
GB
January 9th, 2013
8:09 am
The poor rankings are largely a reflection of Georgia’s demographics. Our population is about 30% black, close to three times the % of the nation as a whole. Blacks everywhere in the US have higher rates of unemployment and lower income. Any analysis that does not take demographics into account is incomplete.
Just wow…. Pointing out Georgia’s Black demographics and then stating that not taking THAT into account is incomplete is not blaming Blacks. You’re not pointing the finger at those with a high school diploma or less there, bro. Why not be proud of what you stated instead of trying to deflect it. Unless Jay pulls that post, it’s there for everybody to see. You said nothing about the poor or uneducated in regards to demographics, only Blacks.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:25 am
tiredofIT
January 9th, 2013
10:19 am
You got something there..especially in select industries..tough balance with special interests and US companies competing overseas…perhaps we match the tarrifs of other countries (China for example)…..
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:25 am
GB: I did so because Jay Bookman ignored a relevant factor. His analysis was incomplete. I said so.
What you did was bring up an issue you knew people would call you on, all so you could claim they were “crying wolf.” And from what I can tell, you did it with malice aforethought.
Drop the subject.
BobDawg
January 9th, 2013
10:26 am
JAY, I’m spending about half my time in Chattanooga on Biz… What a bright shining star of growth and stability with tourism; manufacturing jobs (Volkswagen) and Retail…. They are building homes and not skipping a beat up there….
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:26 am
Why does Thulsa Doom write with an imaginary plantation owner accent?
She thinks its funny I guess.
BobDawg
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
… also the Fastest internet for any City now…..
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
Doom
You mentioned education. GB did not. His sole criteria was R-A-C-E. That’s why he’s guilty of playing the race card. You know that had some liberal made such a comment, your boxers would be so tight up your @ss in calling them out that Jay would be pulling posts by now.
will-o-the-wisp
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
NO!!! that is not the real goal; the real goal is to exploit your resources , infrastructure and low wage peasant population, while receiving tax exemptions, and favorable legislation to maximize taxpayer obligations. Just like they would do in any other fourth world feces pit.
Paul
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
Since some seem bound and determined to make every thread about gun control, okay.
““Mr. LaPierre is correct, guns don’t kill people and even people don’t kill people; men kill people and, inexplicable to us, tiny children along with spouses, brothers-in-law, their own mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, co-workers, people who are the wrong color, or someone wearing the wrong color or someone wearing the wrong headgear or not meeting the social or religious standards of the shooter.
“These shootings take place in intimate settings, family holidays, backyard barbecues and neighborhood get-togethers, wedding receptions, in bars and clubs, outside of stores, in workplaces, and in public places such as malls, movie theaters and again inexplicably, in schools and even churches.
” I wonder why no one has suggested that a gun license be accompanied by estrogen injections, maybe monthly. When was the last time a woman went postal? How about a curfew on this dangerous cohort? If the shooters were all of a minority, there would be calls for some kind of medical exams or quarantining and much money would be spent on finding out just why ‘they’ go awry. That this murdering cohort sees itself as dominant means that it does not see itself in appropriate isolation. There is talk of how ‘we’ are a violent nation, ‘we’ have violent entertainment, that ‘people’ don’t kill people.
“Men kill people with guns when feeling insufficiently respected, in desperation, depression, rage and anger. Putting more guns in the hands of more men is a terrifying prospect.”
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/herman-men-and-guns-and-mass-murder/nTmJT/
Take heart, 0311
Estrogen’ shots are covered under your federal government retiree health care program!
TBS
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
Thomas
I didn’t see it but did you hear about your boy Alex Jones whacky CNN appearance..
Did he really say Bloomberg might have him killed?
Bwhahahahahah
DannyX
January 9th, 2013
10:27 am
Well at least one person in Georgia got a good paying job.
HELP WANTED: Director of Nothing. Must be willing to hate the government while working for the government. Successful businessmen need not apply. Must have no experience in public television. Must hate PBS. Gambling background a plus. Applicant should believe in crazy government conspiracies. Democrats need not apply. Starting pay $102,000 + liberal benefits. Applicant must be willing to quit his elected office immediately. No Blahs, women or gays.
Paul
January 9th, 2013
10:28 am
but back on topic, anyone care to suggest some metrics that would indicate success in the program of tax giveaways to corporations?
RGB
January 9th, 2013
10:29 am
Your implied prescription for attracting business is ensuring that more families are on welfare (boosting the number from 7% to 27%) and raising taxes.
Would you explain how raising the breakeven point for businesses would attract more of them?
Thanks in advance.
Doggone/GA
January 9th, 2013
10:29 am
“Still on the job, giving your official approval as to what can and cannot be posted here”
Reading comprehension is not your stong suit, is it? Where did I say ANYTHING couldn’t be posted? As I recall it, it was the poster to whom I addressed my reply that was trying to control what could or could not be posted here.
Try reading the next time…you might actually learn something.
Michelle
January 9th, 2013
10:29 am
So raising taxes will help the unemployment rate? raising taxes will help families get off welfare? On another note… How many folks will be employed… with benefits… by building and working at the new Falcons Stadium? How many jobs would be lost if we didn’t build the stadium, and the team moved to a different state? Just some questions we should ask ourselves…
TaxPayer
January 9th, 2013
10:30 am
Cons cannot help the fact that they do not do math or science. It’s their teacher’s faults for not whacking them more frequently with the ruler during class.
Elections Have Consequences
January 9th, 2013
10:30 am
“The larger question, however, is whether the state’s strategy is achieving its goals.“
For starters, Caterpillar, Porsche, Microsoft, Voestalpine, Hyundai, Talenti…Sounds like a ‘Yes’ to me.
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:31 am
Stevie Ray: Freshly minted science projecting doom and gloom 50 years from now?
I am not talking about predictions. People who deny that global warming is real OR that deny that humans have anything to do with it are doing so because they want to avoid taking any responsibility for crafting a solution. That’s childish. I do not care HOW LONG it’s going to take for the earth to warm up to the point where humans have to mass migrate to survive, nor do I care about other possible doomsday scenarios happening tomorrow or happening in 100 years. What I care about is that we have enough evidence to show the following:
1) Global warming IS happening
2) Humans ARE mostly the cause
3) Historically, when the earth warms like this, certain things follow that cause and become effect.
If you have “made up your mind” that these three things are true, it’s because of EVIDENCE. “Made up your mind” is merely projection of the closed mindedness and belief that comes from the people that keep insisting the problem doesn’t even exist. It is clear to objective observers who the children are: The people who deny the entire problem.
FORGET about doomsday scenarios and focus for a few minutes on those three things. Just the first two if all three make your head explode. Otherwise, with this subject, sit at the kids’ table and let the adults talk.
stands for decibels
January 9th, 2013
10:32 am
But so as to not offend any southern, white, Republican, “Christian”, “conservative” males, I will be politically correct and refer to them as the C word!
I do that all the time. But it ain’t the same “C” word. (much to mrs. sfd’s understandable consternation.)
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
January 9th, 2013
10:32 am
Uh, would them estrogen shots mess with my weekend get-togethers up at Billy Bob’s?
RGB
January 9th, 2013
10:32 am
“…anyone care to suggest some metrics that would indicate success in the program of tax giveaways to corporations?”
I could use the Obama phraseology that 4.8 trillion jobs would have been lost were it not for X, Y, and Z, so we’ve “created or saved” gazillions of jobs.
How does that work for you statists? Or it is another one of those one-way deals for you guys?
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:32 am
“Bringing up Bush when speaking of Obama is an excuse.
Bringing up Democrats in GA who haven’t been in charge for a decade is merely presenting the facts.”
Now I have to help out TBS since he seems to be perspective challenged as usual. W was potus for 8 years. Dems pretty much had absolute control of the South for 150-200 years or so. If your mind can’t understand the difference then there’s no helping you sonny. And as you noted the Rs only took over the governorship here 10 years or so if you are correct about that. Hard to undo 150-200 years of Dem screwups in 1 decade.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:33 am
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 9th, 2013
10:21 am
I guess I’m stupid since I’m still from Missouri on the whole thing..not a proven science by any stretch. Buying this or denying this in toto at this point is premature. Calling someone stupid who wants more data validated and challenged is a popular LIB response….they want so bad to sweep any challenges under the carpet I understand not..
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:33 am
Say no to the new stadium. If the Falcons fly away, so be it. We can get another team. or better yet,do without one.
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:34 am
Stevie Ray: Climate change is only denied by the stupid?
Actually, it is denied by those ignorant of the facts of the case. Either deliberately or not. That doesn’t make them stupid across the board, just on this subject.
Paul
January 9th, 2013
10:34 am
So in other words, RGB, you don’t.
TaxPayer
January 9th, 2013
10:35 am
Adam,
Cons do not do math or science so why waste your time trying to use either on them. You gotta use the faith in order to get through. Tell them what they want to hear and support your claims with unskewed data. Karl Rove has shown repeatedly that this is the only way to get through to them.
TBS
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
Bro
Just like I said, they are on this morning….. The guilty dog barks the loaudest
Welcome to the Occupation
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
“In other words, there is no sign that pursuit of a narrowly defined “business-friendly” climate has resulted in a more people-friendly climate”
Oh it’s been friendly for some people. And let’s face it, the vampire business-crony leaders of the state have never really been anything but upfront about their intentions. They’ve never really made any bones about this, have they?
In other words, if their objective was to set out to make a climate of life that’s friendly to business leaders and their various hanger-on cronies, then you could hardly do better than the state of Georgia could you?
Smells like success to me..
stands for decibels
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
Back to climate change, are we?
As posted downstairs:
The evidence is sufficient. We should move toward the most effective steps to reduce carbon loading in the atmosphere, and do it urgently.
TaxPayer
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
Damn. Now we’re up to 200 years of “it’s the Dems that done done us in.”
GT
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
GB look at one state in the union with the same diversity as Georgia, North Carolina and you can get an object study on what we could have been.
First of all the state of North Carolina figured out that a statewide banking system was far better than the county system for their citizens. While South Georgia was trying to protect their fiefdoms North Carolina was emerging as the banking capital of the south.
Duke Power and the state of NC have pledged to have 20% of their energy source off grid in 10 years, and are contracting alternative energy sources for periods long enough for them to get bank financing; Georgia Power refuses to do anything like this.
Education, North Carolina has one of the best in the nation Georgia one of the worse. On and on. One of the secrets of North Carolina was a balanced government with two strong parties. What we have loss in this state North Carolina has gained.
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:36 am
the cat
January 9th, 2013
10:24 am
Why does Thulsa Doom write with an imaginary plantation owner accent?
Why does the cat just make up stupid shyte?
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:37 am
Redneck – those shots could elp you get a lot more attention.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 9th, 2013
10:37 am
“Yes.
Beyond a reasonable doubt.
Murder.
Next.”
so much for the “sanctity of life”
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:38 am
TaxPayer: You’re right that I am wasting my time. I would also be wasting my time by just agreeing with them. A few posts should be all I need to show that I do not consent to their fact-less contentions. “He who is silent is understood to consent.”
Brosephus™
January 9th, 2013
10:38 am
TBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZzTpjh-NsQ
TaxPayer
January 9th, 2013
10:39 am
That doesn’t make them stupid across the board, just on this subject.
Yep! They’re quite well versed on such things as football and Bible verses. Bless their hearts. They just don’t do math or science.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:39 am
There is a 90 per cent consensus on climate change. But calling the dissenting 10 per cent names is arrogant and childish.
Jay
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
“And as you noted the Rs only took over the governorship here 10 years or so if you are correct about that. Hard to undo 150-200 years of Dem screwups in 1 decade.”
A couple of pertinent points:
– As the column points out, over the past 10 years our economic situation relative to the rest of the country has DECLINED significantly, after a couple of decades of strong growth. In other words, pretending that the last decade has been a decade of recovery from previous poor management is simply avoiding reality. Bottom line: Things are considerably WORSE than they were a decade ago, compared to the rest of the country.
– It’s also foolish to pretend that “Rs only took over the governorship here 10 years.” In many ways, the same people are in charge as were in charge when I came to Georgia in 1990. Back then, Sonny Perdue was a Democrat. So was our current governor, Nathan Deal. They simply changed the D to R and along the way dumped whatever veneer of progressive thought that they once might have boasted.
Jack ®
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
What Georgia really should do is discourage new business and encourage the existing businesses to hire only those who are poor and not qualified to do the work. That would reduce the “differential between rich and poor” and at the same time, it would make those businesses feel really good about themselves as they prepare for bankruptcy.
DannyX
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
“Hard to undo 150-200 years of Dem screwups in 1 decade.”
Exactly, thank God good Republicans like Lincoln came in and burnt Atlanta to the ground. Where is Lincoln when you need him? We need northerners to march back in and take care of our problems.
Can’t leave it up to the dumb Georgia Republican voters, they’ll just vote in another Democratic reject and call him a Republican, like they did with Perdue and Deal.
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
GT: Education, North Carolina has one of the best in the nation Georgia one of the worse. On and on. One of the secrets of North Carolina was a balanced government with two strong parties
And what did they get for their efforts? In 2008 they voted for Obama! Clearly that means that education is a bad idea.
DebbieDoRight - When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
Anyone denying climate change is doing so for one of two reasons.
You forgot one more — Profit. If they, (the profiteers), had to acknowledge that, yes — we DO have a problem, then they’d also have to come up with ways to fix THEIR emissions into our ozone.
TaxPayer
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
“He who is silent is understood to consent.”
Adam,
The cons will always be able to out wait you on that one because they know you have to sleep some time.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:31 am
Climate change is happening like it has…well forever. Whether this will continue or is part of a cycle won’t be known for quite some time. Rushing out to solve a problem not yet clarified on data which has not been proven reliable yet is silly. The results/science are too green, incentives are unclear, and we can’t afford any drastic solution at present. Sometimes the simple explanation is the best…there exists a material probability that we are wrong…so until time reduces that discrepancy, I can’t say I know or not.
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
But calling the dissenting 10 per cent names is arrogant and childish.
Perhaps. But they deserve to be treated like children for their own arrogant temper tantrums on the subject.
Rafe Hollister
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
Back in the day when the sky was so blue, the roses smelled so good, people were prosperous, and the Dems were running things, Georgia had a broad employment base consisting of Ford, GM, Coca-cola, the airport/airlines, Lockheed, growing Universities and colleges, and Banking HQ on every block in Atlanta. What happened, times changed and peoples buying habits changed. Many, of these changes, many of which were necessary but many others that could be laid at the feet of the PC police/Democrat party.
Cars were branded as polluters and regulations passed on mileage. Soft drinks were branded as bad for ones health. The F-22 was deemed too costly and overly effective and defense spending was attacked. The TSA was created to harass innocent fliers making ones desire to fly equal to ones desire for a prostate exam. Banking regulations were weakened to allow all the banks to merge into a very few giants. Universities were allowed to raise their tuition at alarming rates by the easy access to Lottery money.
So, a great deal has happened to the employer base that was the result of times changing and previous legislation, but Bookman just wants to blame the GOP, as usual. The story is quite complicated and is not as easily explained as just saying, the Republicans did it.
MiltonMan
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
Jay, it is your democratic buddies who control Atlanta who are really pushing for a new stadium but let’s just ignore that.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
UK – In some circles, only the innocent are entitled to santicy of life.
Paul
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
jensen dert
“my co-worker’s step-sister makes $76 every hour on the laptop.”
What club does she dance at? Getalife’ll be glad to help out -
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
The cons will always be able to out wait you on that one because they know you have to sleep some time
They should also know by now that I’ll always be back
Thulsa Doom
January 9th, 2013
10:41 am
Brocephus,
I doubt GB meant anything racist by just mentioning race.
For what its worth I think that the education system is a big problem and part of the demographics issue is that the gulf between wealthy and poor local education systems might disproportionately affect blacks in a worser way.
indigo
January 9th, 2013
10:43 am
Doggone/GA – “start your own blog and YOU can control what is said”
Is that your idea of approval?
If so, you need to spend less time here and more time on your homeschooling.
Oscar
January 9th, 2013
10:43 am
Arrogant temper tantrums are childish, no question about that.
the cat
January 9th, 2013
10:43 am
Thulsa-um no, I am not making anything up. You know you speak with that “dialect” and you do so to be demeaning.
another voice
January 9th, 2013
10:44 am
Thanks Jay for an informative article.
By the way, if businesses are not paying sales tax on energy use, who is picking up the slack?
Adam
January 9th, 2013
10:44 am
Stevie Ray: Climate change is happening like it has…well forever.
Wrong.
Whether this will continue or is part of a cycle won’t be known for quite some time.
Wrong.
We know both. Even in layman’s terms this has been explained. You simply are not aware, either on purpose or not on purpose, that the science has already settled whether this is all “natural” or not.
we can’t afford any drastic solution at present.
I agree on this, but I am not proposing a drastic solution. I am merely saying we need to all get on board with the FACTS.
Stevie Ray
January 9th, 2013
10:44 am
DebbieDoRight – When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.
January 9th, 2013
10:40 am
Which side will profit more? The companies having to pay insane amounts or those who profit from selling solutions that may not change things one way or another?
Every action has an opposite reaction???
Erwin's cat
January 9th, 2013
10:44 am
Climate change is only denied by the stupid?
I don’t think anyone denies that the climate changes or is changing…pretending to know why, on the other hand, is a bit naive and dangerous