The Midwesterner has a blog post up on a territorial review the OECD will be doing on the Chicago region. One of the problems it will encounter is a parochial attitude between Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan which has served to inhibit the areas of those states around Chicago from working together. Generally, the political impulse is to to fight one another to poach each others’ businesses rather than working together to make a region that can compete globally.
It’s a good post over all, but what caught my eye was our old friend Mitch Roob, who you might remember from such cautionary tales as “Privatizing welfare eligibility evaluations” and “Phantom economic development success stories.”
At least the state governments of Illinois and Wisconsin agreed to take part in the OECD study, although given their past record, I’m surprised they were invited. Not Indiana, which apparently is under the impression that the main challenge to its depressed economy comes from Illinois, not China.
The Chicago Tribune quoted the Indiana Commerce Secretary, Mitch Roob, as saying “we don’t do studies, we do deals,” which pretty much epitomizes the parochialism that cripples so much Midwestern economic development. Roob later told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that, because it’s trying to filch businesses from Illinois, Indiana can’t cooperate in a project that could strengthen both states. “Until Illinois gets its fiscal house in order, we are being forced to differentiate ourselves,” he said.
As the Journal Gazette noted, whatever Roob is doing isn’t working. “The state,” it said, “ranks 42nd in the nation for per-capita income, down from 33rd in 2000.”
The hot streak continues.
Arrogant. Roob has always had an overinflated opinion of his own abilities.
Where does Indiana rank in per-CEO income?
Yes, but we FEEL rich, don’t we? Thanks to all the “balanced budget”ing and “fiscal prudence” and all that other bullcrap, we should all FEEL like we have higher income than when Mitch and Mitch started. Luckily for them, since a huge chunk of the state’s been unemployed, the “Rolls-Royce benefits” the unemployed have been receiving (state average of only about $300 per week) have really made everybody feel like millionnaires like our governor thanks to him slaying the great debt dragon in this state as he and his propaganda machine keep telling us.
Morton Marcus, just last week, had another great article about all that, too. You’re right again, Doug, the hot streak does continue.
I think it makes perfect sense. It’s pretty unlikely that we’re going to poach businesses from India or China, but Illinois and Michigan? That’s doable.
Just about every single one of my neighbors is a transplant from the South ‘burbs of Chicago. The trend is huge, and now that Illinois is doubling its income tax rates, I expect the trend to get even more turbocharged than it already is.
When it comes to government, competition beats the hell out of cooperation. What are the 4 states going to do together than Indiana can’t do itself?
I will give you this: Northwest Indiana is persona non-Grata in Indianapolis. But it has always been that way, and frankly, I like it that way, too.
My sense of the General Assembly’s approach to dealing with The Region was to send up buckets of money in exchange for votes of various kinds and otherwise let it do things its own way. No idea if that sense is actually justified.
Actually, a study by the Boston Consulting Group points to a nascent resurgence of manufacturing jobs in the US due to a combonation of:
1. The rapid rise of wages in China,
2. The shortage of Chinese workers with high-tech manufacturing skills, and
3. The race to the bottom of American wages.
Once you factor in transportation and inventory costs the savings are nearly negated.
http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-75973
So, the ability to poach business form China and India is pretty high…
It has long been my theory that Mitch Roob has glossies of someone in a high place doing something shameful/obscene/illegal–otherwise, I cannot understand his continued employment by government. Everything he has touched has turned to you-know-what…
paddy, color me skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that your 3 items are true to a certain degree. The falling dollar certainly helps.
So perhaps “onshoring” will happen to a certain extent, at least in manufacturing.
But manufacturing is a small part of the jobs mix. We need all kinds of jobs, and we are more likely to get them from Illinois and Michigan than elsewhere.
BTW, I maintain that we need to be more like Texas and less like our neighbors. Did you see that they just implemented “loser-pays” in Texas?
Indiana needs to be Texas without the drawl. We have a long way to go.
Buzzcut, Texas currently has a $27 million budget deficit. You need a better role model.
They aren’t my 3 items, they are part of a study from one of the world’s preeminent Global management consulting firms.
Of course, your reply is not surprising at all. This isn’t the first time you are willing to ignore independent info that disagrees with your worldview.
We don’t want to be like Texas because of “a $27 million budget deficit”? Considering Texas has over 25 million people, that whopping $1 a person deficit bothers you? Have you seen what the national deficit amounts to per person? Have you paid any attention to the problems of states like Illinois?
Paddy, the majority of all jobs are the jobs of “small employers.” Additionally, China (and Asia) makes little sense for most of the “service economy”, and you won’t see hardly any service economy positions in these countries. So, while your report might mean something for certain manufacturing positions, that is a very small minority of employers. However, we compete with other states for many small employers, and the amount of competition for thse employers is fierce.
The fact that Indiana is sitting on a boatload of skilled and trained manufacturing workers, I think that study does mean something.
In the paper today, they expect tens of thousands of applicants for the 1,000 jobs on the Honda second shift in Greensburg.
I am not saying that we aren’t competing with neighboring states, but to dismiss the chance to compete with China and India is a mistake.
In fact, one of things Mitch and his buddies trumpet is all of the success we have had sending our government officials to Asia to court companies for jobs.
Finally, many of those services jobs aren’t exactly lifting boats seeing as we “outsource” them to illegals for low pay and crap benefits.
Paddy: Mitch has trumpeted going to Asia because of the willingness for Asian companies to setup local offices in the states. He (and we) wants those local offices established in Indiana. Sometimes, these local offices will include manufacturing, but they frequently do not. This is not competition between Asia and Indiana, but foreign investment in Indiana.
The “services” includes, lawyers and accountants, and the “manufactuing includes cheap labor at $10 an hour too.
Paddy, implementing right-to-work would do wonders for manufacturers here in Indiana. I know at my unionized employer, the union mentality is a major impediment to business improvement. Throwing the USW our of our site would do wonders for employment. I don’t even think that it would lower wages much, just getting rid of the stoners and the deadwood would do wonders for productivity and morale.
No shite, if you are in the union and you show up drunk or stoned, the consequence is company paid rehab. That’s unionized America 2011.
I don’t get Mitch Roob. Why, oh why, does he continue to get high administrative jobs in government when he screws up everything he touches?
Loyalty over competence.
That’s why, Paul. It’s Governor Daniels’ (real) personal motto.
fides super facultatis if my Latin grammar isn’t too shoddy.
“fides super facultatis if my Latin grammar isn’t too shoddy.”
Does this mean people do or do not get thrown under the bus in Indiana?
On another note, my adult child and spouse are leaving Indiana, recruited to a once-removed neighboring state where their science competence is being recruited, where their thirst for intellectual curiosity will be better satisfied.
My loss, of course, but Indiana’s as well. We are so satisfied to be mediocre.
Mary, the only people who get thrown under the bus aren’t “team players”.