A few reasons to think Georgia’s economic future is bright
If I worked for a chamber of commerce in this state, I would be inclined to highlight the recent report by IHS Global Insight Analysis that predicts Georgia will have the eighth-fastest job growth in the country during the next six years. You can see the data visually in this handy map produced by the Wall Street Journal. The factors in IHS’s forecast are, as an accompanying article puts it, the states’ “macroeconomic outlook, including demographic assumptions, historical and cyclical trends and other factors such as oil prices and tax policy.”
Then, I would be inclined to point to this analysis of the 50 states’ indebtedness, produced by the nonpartisan group State Budget Solutions. A closer inspection reveals Georgia is (barely) among the best one-quarter of states in terms of what we owe to creditors and retirees — current and future ones, accounting for the pension payments and other benefits, such as health care, they’re owed. At about $9,500 in state debt per man, woman and child, we’re closer to the top 5 than to the national average ($13,117). That suggests the tax burden is unlikely to grow worse relative to most other states.
The same SBS report cites a forecast for the American Legislative Exchange Council that sets Georgia’s economic outlook at 11th nationally.
Does all this leave room for improvement? Sure — and no room for complacency. But it’s good to find some reasons to be upbeat about Georgia’s future after the steady refrains of gloom we’ve heard for the past few years.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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113 comments Add your comment
mum
October 25th, 2011
10:29 am
@BillyBane, was the country going off a cliff before the “community organizer” took office? Did we include the 2 wars into our debt calculations before the “community organizer” took office? What people fail to remember is that we have 3 branches of government and the President can’t a whole lot without the buy-in of the other 2. If anyone knew better how to “save” the country, I’d think they would have done it already….see the slate of republicans running for President right now.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
10:30 am
Carlos….so you condone that act as long as the bulk of people are not doing it?
DawgDad
October 25th, 2011
10:31 am
“Unfortunately, thanks to the “fiscal conservatives” in our state, Georgia is inching closer and closer to third world status.”
Does Georgia have problems? Yes. Could it be worse? Oh, yeah. We could be California, Illinois . . .
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
10:33 am
“So, if a few of the “occupy thugs” are doing bad things, that means all of the other thousands of protesters are bad?”
Why not, you guys labeled the Tea Party as racists.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
10:33 am
“was the country going off a cliff before the “community organizer” took office?”
Yep, but we weren’t 14 trillion in debt.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
10:34 am
“Republicans know how to grow an economy.”
And what are your thoughts on all the blue states going bankrupt?
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
10:35 am
If you don’t like GA, move.
mum
October 25th, 2011
10:36 am
@UGA1999, let’s put it in simple term, does you mortgage company rebate what you have in escrow before they evaluate how much you need to cover upcoming payments? So, if there was too much money in the coffers, why not just cut our taxes, I mean really cut taxes, not just shift burden down to the local level and say you did something.
getalife
October 25th, 2011
10:41 am
willard’s response to the housing crises is let it fail.
That is the gop response to our economy.
Let it collapse again.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
10:44 am
mum….The mortgage company is a profitable company and must protect their interest. Our government is not for profit. Lame arguement.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
10:45 am
Getalife….it is called FREE MARKET!
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
10:59 am
Everyone leave?
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:02 am
getalife doesn’t understand free market capitalism.
mum
October 25th, 2011
11:06 am
@BillyBane, looking at these numbers over the years, I don’t see where Obama caused $14 trillion of debt in 2.5 years:
Ronald Reagan started his term with total debt outstanding of 930 million and increased total debt outstanding to $2.7 trillion. This is a 13.71% compound annual increase. He never balanced a budget.
George Bush, Sr. started his term with outstanding debt of $2.7 trillion and increased total debt to $4 trillion. This is a 10.32% compounded annual increase. He never balanced a budget.
Bill Clinton started with total debt outstanding debt of $4 trillion and increased total debt outstanding to $5.6 trillion. This is a 4.2% compounded annual increase. He balanced his last three budgets.
George W. Bush started with $5.6 trillion total outstanding debt and increased total outstanding debt to $10 trillion. That works out to a 9.8 percent annual increase – just slightly more than the rate it has grown during Obama’s first years.
So that said, is your contention is that Bush left us with “0″ debt and Obama racked up $14 trillion in 2.5 years in office? Do you realize that we’ven not really paid for a war since WWII? The government has spend way more than collected in taxes for decades but, now you want to blame Obama for a systemic problem. Two wars the weren’t ever included in any budget until Obama added them so people could finally see the mess we were in. You may not like the guy, but you need to look at how we got into this mess and it didn’t happen 2 years ago.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
11:08 am
mum….obama has out spent any other president to date in his term. Facts dont lie.
mum
October 25th, 2011
11:12 am
@UGA1999, I guess you totally missed the point? Common sense says you look at all the variable in future years beforehand, you don’t decide you won’t need the “cusion” before you make your review. Politics trumped common sense and now we have no money in the bank. The Unemployment Insurance shortfall is on good example of the lack of good sense and good planning.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:13 am
” looking at these numbers over the years, I don’t see where Obama caused $14 trillion of debt in 2.5 years”
Guess you missed the failed stimulus packages, obamacare passage, pet projects, other spending bills and other bailouts of GM etc.
You should take the blinders off and pay attention.
Crenshaw8
October 25th, 2011
11:14 am
And what are your thoughts on all the blue states going bankrupt?
They get what they deserve.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:17 am
Crenshaw8
Yep, and the libbies keep wanting bailout after bailout to pay off union thugs and pension funds for people who retired years ago.
carlosgvv
October 25th, 2011
11:21 am
UGA 1999 – 10:30 – That is not what I said and you know it. What I am saying is that anytime any large numbers of people gather in multiple cities in America, there will always be a few bad actors.
Billy Bane – 10:33 – I never said the Tea Party was racist. I do say they are extreme right wing and by saying they would let America go into default rather than raise the debt ceiling they showed how much they care for their idelogy and how little they care for the American people.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:22 am
carlosgvv
You’re blaming the Tea Party for years of overspending by the Dems and Repubs?
Shame on you.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
11:24 am
Carlos…..and what about the defacing the American Flag (illegal), using the bathroom on a police care (illegal), public sex (illegal). Singing songs that say F U America!
You condone all of that as well?
dixiedemons
October 25th, 2011
11:26 am
The future is bright from a fiscal standpoint for the state of Georgia………….. However, citizens that LIVE in the state of Georgia are the ones that do with out and suffer………… Bad schools, overburdened and decaying infrastructure, a community banking system with no integrity, 10 % unemployment , class warfare, race baiting. A state legislative delegation that can’t work together. A congressional delegation that puts the national GOP game plan ahead of their local districts needs does not bode well for the people that LIVE in our state.
mum
October 25th, 2011
11:27 am
@BillyBane, I can see very well thank you! Please elaborate (detail) what Obama spent $14 trillion on over the past 2.5 years, don’t include the healthcare law becuse that won’t be fully implemented for 10 years.
Hillbilly D
October 25th, 2011
11:27 am
I agree with carlos, and SoCo on this one. I think it’ll be a long time before things get back, if they ever do. There’s a whole big state out here (largest east of the Mississippi) and things aren’t real rosy in most of it.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:27 am
carlosgvv
Nothing bad ever happened at a tea party rally. LOTS of bad things are happening at the OWS rallies. Children getting molested, robberies, defecating on police cars, anti-semitism etc.
OWS is full of childish losers.
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:28 am
” Please elaborate (detail) what Obama spent $14 trillion on over the past 2.5 years”
What, you can’t read?
Billy Bane
October 25th, 2011
11:28 am
I bet most of you didn’t realize that GA was Democrat up until the year 2000.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
11:30 am
mum….OH are we picking and choosing what Obama has done (healthcare). This will be a huge loser for our country. If the courts allow it to continue.
mum
October 25th, 2011
11:34 am
@Billy Bane, my teacher said people insult and call people names when they don’t have the vocabulary or the argument to support their claims. I’ve been reading sine I was three years-old.
Hillbilly D
October 25th, 2011
11:35 am
Billy Bane @ 11:28
Those of us who aren’t move-ins do. What most people fail to see is that whether state government has been run by R’s or D’s, it’s pretty much been the same, just a bunch of guys out for themselves. That applies to the local level, as well, at least where I live.
mum
October 25th, 2011
11:35 am
@UGA1999, The problem is that you guys can’t document where Obama has so far spent $14 trillion, so case closed on my part.
JDW
October 25th, 2011
11:38 am
@Billy…”I bet most of you didn’t realize that GA was Democrat up until the year 2000.”
Actually most of us do. What we don’t like is the fact that GA went from one on the best economies in the US to one of the worst over the last 10 years.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
11:49 am
mum….NO you just have a BIG problem with facts. Obama spent more money in his first year in office than ANY other president in their first year of office.
TARP – $154 BILLION
AMERICAN RECOVERY ACT – $202 BILLION
OMNIBUS SPENDING – $410 BILLION
That was all just in 2009.
Former Business Owner
October 25th, 2011
11:51 am
I don’t know where this pie-in-the-sky fallacy originates, however the Atlanta metro area has litererally bet the farm on real estate development … you know more and more mini-mansions on a postage stamp. The counties have left very little room for any business other than retail / highway commercial. Until we bring back manufacturing and industry, this sad, sorry state will continue. Not everyone can work in an office job.
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2011
11:52 am
HD
Been missing your wise counsel… Amen on that 11:35 as there is no difference between the parties other than the alphabet following their names. They’re all more interested in self-service as opposed to serving the state.
Hillbilly D
October 25th, 2011
11:54 am
Former Business Owner
Until we get our economy based on production instead of consumption, we’re never going to get this sorted out, in my opinion.
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2011
11:57 am
HD
We’re in for a world of hurt then. Our labor costs are too high to bring production back to the US in any sizeable fashion. I think our best option was to pursue some of the newer technologies and/or green energy items. Now that China has positioned itself to corner that market, we’re screwed unless we come up with some radically new industry that everybody needs but nobody else can produce.
carlosgvv
October 25th, 2011
11:58 am
UGA 1999 – Billy Bane
Apparently neither of you is aware of a tremendous smear campaign being initiated by the Republican Party against these protestors. Naturally, you believe everything they say. Naturally, you either cannot or will not acknowledge that these protests are aimed at Big Business and that The Republicans, their bought and paid for lackeys, will say and do anything to protect the rich.
Hillbilly D
October 25th, 2011
12:01 pm
SoCo
I’d agree if we continue on our current course. Tariffs are provided for in the Constitution, so the Founding Fathers must have thought they were important. It’s time to use them. If a U. S. company manufactures their product off-shore and brings it here to sell, let them pay a tariff just like a foreign company (I believe I’ve seen you propose that before, if memory serves). We have a choice, we can pay a little more for what we buy and keep Americans working or we can pay higher taxes for unemployment benefits. I’m for looking after our own.
Balki Bartakomous of Mipos
October 25th, 2011
12:07 pm
Georgia will not be able to pull out of the recession and high unemployment until we get rid of the glut of existing homes in the suburbs. Too many people are confined by underwater homes or the unsellables and cannot create or find new jobs until something breaks loose in the system. However, this only goes for the metro Atlanta area. The rest of rural and outlying Georgia towns will dry up and blow away like tumbleweeds. Agriculture and timber will exist but that is all. You will an even more dichotomous Georgia in the future.
Politi Cal
October 25th, 2011
12:11 pm
The Left hates prosperity, as prosperity leads away from their center of nonsense: BIG GOVERNMENT.
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2011
12:13 pm
HD
That’s what I advocate, and I’ll continue to do so as long as we need to put them back into place. The whole idea of “free trade” is a sham. Once tariffs are removed by an agreement, there is little to no incentive to keep manufacturing here in the US. The company can move to the foreign locale, take advantage of much cheaper labor costs, little to no regulatory issues, and then re-import their product without having to pay to do so. It’s a win-win for the company, but the American worker gets shafted in the process.
I’m with you in that I look to see what’s American made before I spend a dime now. If I have to pay a bit more, I don’t mind it as long as I know it’s keeping somebody employed here.
Balki Bartakomous of Mipos
October 25th, 2011
12:14 pm
And of course it goes without saying we need manufacturing.
Former Business Owner
October 25th, 2011
12:17 pm
Its deeper than just the salaries of the worker bees. The local zoning boards ( think your city or county) have become dominated by real estate developers. Very little land is available for manufacturing or industry … plenty of land now for home construction.
The Atlanta metro area economy was so completely dominated by the real estate development industry and consumption, that there is no room left for anything else. The worker bees feel entitled to make $20 per hour for unskilled labor and want to live in a mini-mansion.
Former Business Owner
October 25th, 2011
12:19 pm
Oh, and by the way, most of the more restrictive zoning rules are put in place by the nosy busy body, tell everyone what to do, so-called republicans ….
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
12:23 pm
carlos….I have seen them first hand (NYC). TRUST ME no need for a smear campaign. They are doing a good job of defacing themselves.
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2011
12:26 pm
Former Business Owner
I think many of the worker bees want to just be able to earn enough to survive on. When you make $300 a week at a job and get hit with a $200 gas bill for example, that hurts the finances quite a bit. I’ve read where home sizes are trending downward, and I suspect that it will continue for the most part as wages are continuing to stagnate.
UGA 1999
October 25th, 2011
12:31 pm
Southern….i agree.
Common Sense isn't very Common
October 25th, 2011
12:47 pm
I hope the GA plan is to import educated workers from other states (like Perry’s Texas) or Ga is screwed.
Remember last in education and first in bank failures