“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” – attributed to Mark Twain.
The long term economic growth rate of West Virginia is 1.4%. That’s last in the nation. The long term growth of the US as a whole is more than double that at nearly 3%. A 3% growth rate for the state of West Virginia would go a long way to improving the standard of living. What is the standard of living in West Virginia? The per capita income of the average West Virginian is $26,029 – ranked 48th. The two states that ranked below West Virginia were Louisiana and Mississippi. One of the contributing factors to their having ranked lower was hurricane Katrina and the devastating effects it on those states’ economies. One might therefore say that the economic policies at work in West Virginia have had the effect of an economic hurricane. The state with highest per capita income was Delaware, and it is not surprising that Delaware is also ranked number one on the Economic Freedom index. The per capita income of the average Delawarean is about $9500 per year more than the average West Virginian. That is more than 35% higher. Finally, if you applied the criteria used to create the rankings in that index to countries, West Virginia would place behind Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia in economic freedom, three former Soviet Bloc countries.
Most of the statistics that are cited here are derived from the landmark book: Unleashing Capitalism: why prosperity stops at the West Virginia border and how to fix it. It is edited by Dr. Russell Sobel who is a professor of economics at West Virginia University in Morgantown. In this remarkable book are essays written by academics, students and others. It is a wealth of information about the economic conditions and policies of our state.
Another significant fact: 52% of all of the spending that occurs in West Virginia is government spending, when you include local, state and federal spending. That is more than half of the state Gross State Product (GSP)! This is clearly unsustainable, and it puts West Virginia at risk during this or any other economic downturn. As the deficits pile up in Washington, there is an ever greater threat that government programs will have their budgets cut – and that could spell trouble for our economy. But really now, how can an economy last long that depends so greatly on government spending? Without a private sector, any economy is doomed to failure. Where do tax receipts come from? The private sector! The more you tax, it smaller it gets. Eventually, when you eat all the chickens – there will be no more eggs.
Elliot Simon
The Statistics
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” – attributed to Mark Twain.
The long term economic growth rate of West Virginia is 1.4%. That’s last in the nation. The long term growth of the US as a whole is more than double that at nearly 3%. A 3% growth rate for the state of West Virginia would go a long way to improving the standard of living. What is the standard of living in West Virginia? The per capita income of the average West Virginian is $26,029 – ranked 48th. The two states that ranked below West Virginia were Louisiana and Mississippi. One of the contributing factors to their having ranked lower was hurricane Katrina and the devastating effects it on those states’ economies. One might therefore say that the economic policies at work in West Virginia have had the effect of an economic hurricane. The state with highest per capita income was Delaware, and it is not surprising that Delaware is also ranked number one on the Economic Freedom index. The per capita income of the average Delawarean is about $9500 per year more than the average West Virginian. That is more than 35% higher. Finally, if you applied the criteria used to create the rankings in that index to countries, West Virginia would place behind Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia in economic freedom, three former Soviet Bloc countries.
Most of the statistics that are cited here are derived from the landmark book: Unleashing Capitalism: why prosperity stops at the West Virginia border and how to fix it. It is edited by Dr. Russell Sobel who is a professor of economics at West Virginia University in Morgantown. In this remarkable book are essays written by academics, students and others. It is a wealth of information about the economic conditions and policies of our state.
Another significant fact: 52% of all of the spending that occurs in West Virginia is government spending, when you include local, state and federal spending. That is more than half of the state Gross State Product (GSP)! This is clearly unsustainable, and it puts West Virginia at risk during this or any other economic downturn. As the deficits pile up in Washington, there is an ever greater threat that government programs will have their budgets cut – and that could spell trouble for our economy. But really now, how can an economy last long that depends so greatly on government spending? Without a private sector, any economy is doomed to failure. Where do tax receipts come from? The private sector! The more you tax, it smaller it gets. Eventually, when you eat all the chickens – there will be no more eggs.