October 15, 2015

It's not either or

Hoppy Kercheval is a big fish in the WV media pond with his conservative commentary and news reporting for WV Metro News. Occasionally I agree with him. I remember one time when that happened we agreed in an email exchange that on such occasions we should both reconsider our opinions.

He recently wrote a commentary in which he criticizes calls to diversify WV's economy while, correctly in my view, pointing out that a major problem is our low level of educational attainment.

I would only add that doing so would be one of the best ways to diversify our economy.

(I would also point out that big corporate tax cuts, which I believe he supported in the past, have also resulted in less funding for higher ed and higher tuition costs for WV students.)

I also sorta kinda agree with his implying that state government can't do a whole lot to plan an economy. I do think, however, that it can do the kinds of things that can position an economy to grow, like having a decent infrastructure, a great educational system, a skilled workforce and a decent quality of life.

1 comment:

Hollowdweller said...

Not sure. Education is important but you can make more as a coal miner or selling pills than getting a degree and working for the state.

Part of the problem is you do any job in WV and they will pay you 5 to 10,000 less than you would get doing the EXACT SAME JOB in some other state.

Then since it's OK to underpay hillbillies they don't have any money to spend extra to create demand for any other jobs.