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KELO-TV Agrees with Blogs: Statistics Don’t Back Noem’s Superlative Claim About SD Economy

KELO-TV catches up with South Dakota Standard and Dakota Free Press in debunking Governor Kristi Noem’s persistent and blithe claim that South Dakota has “the strongest economy in America.” KELO’s Rae Yost comes to the same conclusion John Tsitrian and I have—the Governor’s boast is baloney:

The GDP for many states decreased for the first quarter of 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (BEA) The decrease in South Dakota was larger than in many states. The GDP declined by 3.5%.

Only eight other states had higher percentage decreases than South Dakota. Those states included North Dakota with a 6.3% decrease. West Virginia, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisana all had higher decreases in their GDPs.

Neighboring states such as Minnesota (2%) and Iowa (1.3%) had lower decreases [Rae Yost, “Is South Dakota’s Economy the Strongest?” KELO-TV, updated 2022.07.21].

South Dakota has its economic advantages, and Governor Noem would be remiss if she didn’t talk up those advantages in promoting the state. But it is possible to say “South Dakota’s economy is great!” without saying, “South Dakota’s economy is the greatest!” Gratuitous and false superlatives only make the Governor and other South Dakotans look like braggarts and liars. That negative perception won’t recruit new business partners or make our economy stronger.

20 Comments

  1. grudznick 2022-07-23 09:05

    “Strongest” is a subjective term. That the media is now refuting this claim demonstrates it is naught but a minor bout of NDS.

    I shall make two subjective claims for you this morning to debate about, as an example: South Dakota has the strongest economy, and Mr. Howie is the insanest of the overgodders.

  2. John 2022-07-23 09:28

    “Strong” is a subjective term. “Strongest” is an objective term for it connotes none are stronger. Noem lied. Again. Grudz: retake high school English.
    Yes, blame Noem, as a sycophant for the trumpian lie factory being laid bare by the January 6th Committee: Republicans Cheney, Kinzinger; Chair Thompson, USN vet Luria, and others. “The dam has begun to break.” – Liz Cheney referring to the trumpian lies.

    “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Mein Kampf
    https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot

    96Tears: hat tip for compiling Noem’s bigger lies. Jamie must break the dam constraining the Noem lies.

  3. grudznick 2022-07-23 10:08

    No. “Strongest” is applied subjectively.
    Strongest in what manner?

    You have the strongest smell.
    They are the strongest chinned fellows you will ever see.
    We have the strongest economy.

    All subjective measures of something. grudznick wins the debates.

  4. 96Tears 2022-07-23 10:26

    John – Kristi Noem would make a dangerous nutjob like Joseph Goebbels proud. The thing she hasn’t figured out is she is not president or a monarch. She is only the governor of a small, isolated state where everybody knows everybody. There is no shield of Fox News or Qanon or legions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers or crowds and rallies of angry supporters or secret service and the other layers that kept Trump protected from the truth for so long. This is South Dakota. Other than the fence she installed around the governor’s mansion when she came to Pierre, she has no protections from simple truth. Unfortunately, the press in our state is a slight shadow of itself from 10 years ago.

    Going back to her lies about her father’s estate and her 20 speeding violations, two stop sign violations and two arrest warrants for snubbing the court, Noem is a Creature of Deception. I wonder how her lawlessness behind the wheel stacks up with her pal Jason Ravnsborg’s record. Hmmm. The difference is she didn’t kill someone with her driving — yet.

    Is this the real reason she worked overtime to kick Ravnsborg off the ballot? Two reckless drivers, running together?

    There are her lies about violating state laws governing the state airplane for personal and political uses. Her lies about intervening and harassing Sherry Bren to help her daughter cheat on the certification process to become an appraiser.

    That horse won’t help her escape the fact that as governor, she has zero significant accomplishments that didn’t involve injuring others, like persecuting trans children under the thin veil of protecting girls’ sports. Or persecuting girls and women who are raped or are endangered by an unwanted pregnancy under the thin veil, as she says, of protecting mothers.

    Ride, Kristi ride! Ride that horse fast because the truth is going to catch up with your dumb ass.

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-07-23 10:31

    Kristi is lying to such a Trumpian degree in office that we almost forget the lies she told to get here.

  6. Bonnie B Fairbank 2022-07-23 11:13

    When I grow up, I want to be just like Kristi Lynn.
    I want to lie, cheat, and steal with impunity and panache.
    I want to be dumber than a box of rocks and get richly rewarded for it daily.
    I want to hire family members with no detectable skills and room temperature IQs.
    I want to make all fertile South Dakota females mere chattel and vessels of the patriarchy, denying them fundamental human rights and bodily autonomy. Your lobotomies are NEXT, b*tches.
    I want My 2021 45 million dollar Gulfstream G500 jet, instead of My crappy 4.5 million 2015 Beechcraft King Air turboprop, to fly Me, friends, and family to non-sanctioned events.
    I want to Tweet about loving My husband while on a Vegas boink-fest with My horrible bum wh*rehopping boytoy and not get struck down by an exasperated God.
    Most of all, I want My pitiful serfs to build Me a studio, buy Me a sauna, $13,000 rugs, custom furniture with gunmounts, objets d’art, chairs, chandeliers, etc., which will all mysteriously disappear from My governor’s mansion once I’m grifting at the national level.

  7. mike from iowa 2022-07-23 11:30

    Noem nothing is one up on drumpf, the “Stable Genius.” She has a stable or horse barn,if you will. And she is just as much a genius as he is.

  8. WillyNilly 2022-07-23 11:30

    When I see Kristi flying across the prairie (where was that filmed anyway?) I see her running away, bailing out, escaping. She has plans to leave as soon as possible taking her ill-gotten gains with her. Kick her out before she has time to leave.

  9. P. Aitch 2022-07-23 12:16

    – Subjective terms are used when you’re talking about an opinion or feeling that is based on an individual’s perspective or preferences.
    – Objective terms are used when you’re talking about something—like an assessment, decision, or report—that’s unbiased and based solely on the observable or verifiable facts.
    – Thus, Governor Noem’s communication stooge who writes these misleading statements is giving only the candidates opinion.
    – Apparently, she approves of this linguistic deception by repeating this opinion as if it were fact.

  10. O 2022-07-23 13:27

    So the MAGA way to make America great again is to just say it is when Republicans are in power and is not when Democrats are. who is in power is the only barometer of quality of a nation/state.

    I would also add that all of this points to the reason why the GOP is so anti-history: their wild claims and falsehoods never stand up to the scrutiny of history. Truth does seem to surface over time; truth has not been the ally of the GOP.

  11. O 2022-07-23 13:29

    And how about a shout out to the federal government who props up SD’s economy annually (as SD continues to drain the federal coffers).

  12. P. Aitch 2022-07-23 18:49

    O, Knows. History is a gauge. It reveals in time who was on the right side and who was on the wrong side. It’s uncertain where USA is heading but it’s easy to predict that SD will be fighting it all the way. e.g. Why aren’t big companies moving to SD? Because the state is an “anchor to meaningful and beneficial change”.

  13. Mark Anderson 2022-07-23 19:07

    Kristi Gnomes just exaggerating a bit, she learned it at the snow queen contest. They all do it. Men do it too. Look at the length of that shotgun in the Rounds sculpture on the capital grounds. It’s really vertical also, and what’s that dogs snout pointing at? There’s so much virility in manly sculpture these days. At least shotguns won’t be banned. I used a 20 gauge double barrel myself, two shots. You can’t go blasting off anywhere, even though I do it here regularly.

  14. Donald Pay 2022-07-23 21:41

    You know, when Muhammad Ali said he was “The Greatest,” he could back it up. Generally, he made that superlative while his opponent was trying to pick himself up off the canvas. He would predict the round of the knockout, and he would deliver time and time again. I don’t mind superlatives, but you have to deliver. on them. I know ad people have to keep away from them, or they end up having the Federal Trade Commission wanting proof. I’m not sure why politicians should be any different from toothpaste. You know, Trump was the exception. He was the Greatest Liar of All TIme. I trusted that everything he said was wrong or a lie. Noem is right up there with Trump.

  15. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-07-24 07:21

    O, yes, that’s a vital point: the “strongest economy in the nation” should be able to jobs, goods, and services without massive federal subsidies. The fact that South Dakota is hooked up to multiple IV drips from Washington, DC, indicates that we are not completely healthy, certainly not as healthy as the other states that export their revenue to keep us alive.

  16. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-07-24 07:27

    To strengthen our economy and have a shot at being the “strongest”, we would need to diversify even more away from agriculture, an economic sector that cannot survive in South Dakota without federal subsidies. Kristi Noem and her family know this fact (remember, they’ve collected well over $4 million in farm subsidies in their crusade for vengeance against the meager estate tax they had to pay after Kristi’s dad died in his grain bin), yet just last week, Kristi celebrated the incorrect claim that agriculture isSouth Dakota’s #1 industry. She would rather make economic claims that feed into her cowgirl image rather than promote realistic and healthy economic diversity.

    We’d also not complain about downsizing at Ellsworth Air Force Base or consolidation of the VA hospitals in the Black Hills. Instead, we expect the federal government to spend more money than it has to on bombers, runways, and old remote hospitals to prop up jobs and sales tax instead of more efficiently executing the federal missions of the DOD and VA.

  17. Mark Anderson 2022-07-24 17:49

    You know Cory, that Idea of turning western South Dakota into a park was a good one. Thousands of people are burning to see Mud Butte. Thousands would love breakfast with Grudz. He could have his own giant table at Wall drug. Imagine a Sturgis throughout the west for months. A Buffalo three wheeler hunt, or are they illegal, four wheeler then.. Gambling bigger than Kevin Costner could imagine, at least on the rez. Since women are now property in SD reopen the purple door. A traveling circus of purple doors from Ft. Pierre to Hot Springs of course. Wherever people roam.. All those children from rape or accident, the Catholic church has always done well from that. There all all kind of ways of making money for South Dakota. It’s just a bit to dry west river for weed but I’m not sure about the hills. Imagine concerts at the Stratobowl…it would launch many careers. A national state park for western Dakota. They could break away from all the fuddy duddies in Eastern Dakota and form their own state when Puerto Rico becomes a state. You can’t have Demon crats taking over you know.

  18. grudznick 2022-07-24 18:38

    Those are some pretty good ideas, Mr. Anderson. Except the Stratobowl is private property, so they could already do concerts there if they wanted.

  19. Bonnie B Fairbank 2022-07-25 08:18

    Mark, your sentence “Imagine a Sturgis throughout the west for months” is and has been a reality for several years in Fall River County. My front door and windows are approx. 175 ft. from the median of US 385/18 (Fall River Road, Jensens Highway) and Sturgis started right on schedule this year on June 17.
    Every arrested development boy with a deliberately damaged bullet muffler on their Hawg rides ceaselessly, night and day, with sound systems blaring, for our enjoyment. Yup, I hate unnecessary noise and would cheerfully kill the riders with a dull garden hoe. I am a Bad, Bad, Person.

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