Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch focused once again on Gov. Strickland’s inability to right the ship that is Ohio. The Guv, a master of deflection, spun it perfectly.
“I’m not absolving myself of any responsibility at all,” he said. “I believe that once this national recession that Ohio is a part of subsides, that what we have done to turn around Ohio will be very evident, and that we will be wonderfully positioned to move forward.”
The national recession.
Is the national recession why Ohio has an unemployment rate almost 8 percent higher than the national average? Or why companies continue to leave Ohio for greener pastures?
The fact is, no federal stimulus is going to save Ohio’s economy. Each state needs to do its own part to save itself rather than sitting back and waiting for Uncle Sam to throw them a few billion bucks. How do we do that? Is it by focusing on “school-funding and reform”, which Strickland says will be the focus of his State of the State speech tomorrow? No.
Strickland has a responsibility to make Ohio attractive to businesses again. How do you do that? Tax incentives. Tax cuts. We have the manpower. We have a well educated workforce. We just need a place to work.
And since the Governor doesn’t seem to consider that a priority, I know someone that will.