When Dennis Daugaard ran for Governor in 2010, he presented a 20-page plan for economic recovery (you know, from the second Bush Recession that Barack Obama kept from becoming a Depression). Given our be-Twittered attention spans, aspiring Daugaard successor Marty Jackley has posted what looks like two printed pages worth of an economic plan that he calls his “Hometown South Dakota Initiative.”
What do we get from a man who’s been running for Governor for fifteen months?
- “Opportunity South Dakota”—essentially, fight brain drain, try to get South Dakota grads to come back, and try to find more workers, using the same programs Daugaard has used.
- “Online Sales Tax Collection”—try to win in the Supreme Court and collect the remote online sellers’ sales tax that the Legislature enacted in 2016.
- “Connecting South Dakota”—keep connecting more schools, businesses, hospitals, and farms to faster Internet, as we’ve been doing since the Janklow days.
- “Economic Development Roundtables”—sit around and talk with mayors, county commissioners, and business leaders, as governors have done since governors were.
- “Infrastructure & Affordable Housing”—keep spending the tax hikes the Republican Legislature passed in 2015, continue spending money from the Housing Opportunity Fund, and continue spending money from the National Mortgage Litigation Settlement (secured by the Obama Administration and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012).
The SDGOP spin machine dutifully parrots its sponsor’s press release and the plan’s campaign-professed status as an “initiative”. But the root of initiative is initiate, which means to begin, start, launch, create and set in motion. Jackley’s five economic development points all look like continuations of things other people thought of and started, not anything fresh from the mind of Marty.
What a load of crap. This is basically 1. Beg people to move back to SD. 2. Hold hands of business leaders as they cry about not being able to find workers. 3. Subsidize housing so poorly paid workers can find a place to live.
Has no one ever heard of supply and demand? As demand for a commodity increases and supply of that commodity decreases the price buyers need to pay for the commodity must increase. If you don’t pay the price someone else will. Any shortage of workers in SD can be solved by increasing wages paid to the workers with the needed skills.
Increased wages will also have the effect of solving the housing shortage since well paid workers will be able to buy existing homes or build new homes. New homes will increase the property tax rolls. Better paid workers will also spend more money on stuff. Stuff subject to sales tax, thus increasing sales tax collections.
This really isn’t that hard to figure out.
Cory,
What did Obama do to keep it from a depression?
Nick,
What exactly do you have a problem with?
The market controls wages.
That’s my point Jason. South Dakota employers are crying they can’t find qualified employees and want the state to do something to help them find employees, but heaven forbid they increase wages in an effort to attract employees. If you pay them they will come.
Jason, do your own research. Stop acting lazy.
Nick,
Which SD employers are crying they can’t find qualified employees?
John,
Do my research on what?
John,
Cory made a statement, and I am asking him to back it up. Why should I spend time backing up his statement?
I already know his statement is false.
Jason, according Senator Mike Rounds the SD construction and tourism industries are the ones crying they can’t find workers. He incorrectly claims “South Dakota’s workforce depends on temporary, H2B visa workers to fill important seasonal jobs.”
https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-statement-on-meeting-with-dhs-secretary
It’s not our workforce, but rather many South Dakota employers who have become dependent on the low wage economy created and maintained by state Republicans. Rounds and Noem, and their fellow Republicans have kept unions weak, and maintained a regressive tax structure forcing many workers to work multiple jobs.
Nick,
Please explain in detail how Government controls wages in South Dakota?
If unions are weak in SD, that means they have nothing to offer to employees. If they did, they wouldn’t be weak.
Jason,
Explain in detail how Government controls wages in South Dakota?
That’s easy. SD laws aren’t union-friendly. SD is a “right to work” state, which makes it hard for unions to organize and maintain membership. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), in a January 2014 report, found “that workers in “right-to-work” states made more than $7,000 less in an average year than their counterparts in “union security states.” https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/08/wsj-falsely-claims-anti-labor-right-work-laws-are-secret-high-employment/214390
And South Dakota legislators are working hard to eliminate the unions that do exist. https://dakotafreepress.com/2017/11/14/mickelson-wants-to-ban-unions-from-sd-public-universities/
Regarding the following statement: “If unions are weak in SD, that means they have nothing to offer to employees. If they did, they wouldn’t be weak.” They have plenty to offer, mostly higher wages, but also the benefit of collective bargaining, protection against unfair labor practices, and training programs. The reason they’re weak is due to actions by SD Republicans, and because workers have believed what those in power have told them about unions. This also holds true for working families believing SD is a low tax state. They believe and keep voting Republican. It makes no sense.
https://itep.org/south-dakota-is-a-low-tax-state-overall-but-not-for-families-living-in-poverty/
https://itep.org/whopays/south-dakota/
Kept us out of Depression? Read the link in the original article—I put them there for a reason. (Also: stimulus, health care, good government, setting up steady job growth strong enough to keep its momentum up through the first full year of the rudderless Trump Administration….)
Nick, great explanation. There are numerous steps Jackley could propose and state government could take to raise wages. Raising teacher pay was one of those steps in 2016, setting somewhat more competitive wages for one group of professionals, hopefully driving up demand, profits, and wages in local economies. Restoring and strengthening worker rights instead of hacking them away would be another
But Jackley and others could also do what good readers like Nick Nemec have done for a long time: use the bully pulpit to say the obvious—”Wages are too low!”—and tell our business leaders that they could solve their own darn workfore problem by offering competitive wages instead of asking the government to come up with Rube Goldberg subsidies and marketing programs trying to distract people from the basic market conditions that keep them from flocking here to work.
https://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/02/21/scotus-case-could-damage-unions-kill-prosperity-nysut-chief/356839002/
Remember there is a pretty solid 5/4 wingnut tilt again, thanks to wingnut shenanigans. Plus……
http://reverbpress.com/politics/supreme-court-landmark-case-could-be-life-or-death-for-labor-unions/ Gosuck feted at Drumpf hotel by anti-union money men.