The Washington state Democratic candidate for governor has been telling us that he can pick economic winners. (And even that he has picked economic winners in the past, a claim that seems, at best, dubious, especially to those who have taken even a casual look as his personal finances.)
Suppose that he is right. Suppose that he is one of those rare people who can tell us, in advance, which businesses will prosper over the next ten or twenty years.
If Inslee really does have that rare talent, he should be looking for a job, not in Olympia, but on Wall Street, where he can direct investments to winning companies, thereby creating jobs and even making a little money for himself. (Okay, a lot of money, if he really is that good.)
In contrast, a Washington state governor, even with the support of party majorities in the legislature, can do much less to direct investments in the right directions. They can, it is true, give tax breaks to favored industries, but those tax breaks will have to be paid for by tax increases somewhere else, perhaps on other businesses that would be able to prosper, if it were not for those higher taxes.
Those limits on investments are especially tight, right now, given our budget problems.
The experiences of other states (and nations) that have tried to direct investment in this way, tried to institute industrial policies, are not encouraging. I am not saying there are no successes, but they are so rare that many nations, and many states, have given up on them.
If Inslee were to give up his campaign for governor and, instead, begin setting up the Jay Inslee hedge fund, I would wish him good luck. But I wouldn't put my money in that fund.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
Posted by Jim Miller at September 26, 2012 07:52 AM | Email ThisFailure is the norm for Democrats.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 26, 2012 08:58 AM"Where's the evidence to back up this claim? Inslee never said this, and his policy proposals don't "pick winners and losers" either."
http://theweek.com/article/index/233833/is-the-era-of-free-checking-accounts-over
Obama hasn't a clue. Truly.
But, for those who would like another source, here's an article from yesterday's Seattle Times.
Here's a key paragraph:
Inslee, the former congressman, takes an activist view, saying state government should focus on chosen industries of the future. He'd create a new state economic agency and offer tax breaks and other aid to favored sectors, including clean energy, aerospace, biotech and maritime companies.
How would the goals of this proposed office differ from the policy of granting tax advantages and access to public lands to dirty leagcy energy sources -- like oil and coal?
Why would clean energy be a long term smart pick for development? -- because gas and coal are finite and they foul the environment, whereas clean energy uses wind, water and sunlight -- which is limitless.
Life is about choices. You can't have a political party that demands that we 'drill baby drill' and then fault a politician who intends to go in a better direction.
In short, why is your choice to support the sinking ship of oil and coal OK, but someone else's goal to support clean energy 'picking winners and losers'?
That's hypocritical and wrongheaded.
Posted by: herb pease on September 26, 2012 12:43 PMJobs emerge as industries rise, fall, and reinvent themselves around changing technology, demographics, legislation, resources, and culture. Do you really think any politician has the intellectual horsepower to finagle them variables?
Rubbish.
The only jobs I know for SURE will be required in the future are plumbers to keep my pipes flowing, carpenters to repair my home as it ages, and mechanics to keep the internal engines of our robot masters running.
Posted by: Jack on September 26, 2012 04:17 PMOr maybe you'll argue the Columbia Basin Project was not and is not successful?
According to the federal Bureau of Reclamation the yearly value of the Columbia Basin Project is $630 million in irrigated crops, $950 million in power production, $20 million in flood damage prevention, and $50 million in recreation.
Can any of (un)SP peanut gallery do the math?
Regardless of horsepower, politicians clearly "finagle" at least one of those factors: legislation. Many laws promote some industries at the expense of others.
I agree with Jim that politicians should not generally assume they can plan the economy. But this ain't black and white; many appropriate policy decisions should affect specific industries, often because that's the best way to account for externalities like pollution and quality of life issues.
Inslee would be smarter to cite specific government actions that he thinks are appropriate and why. Jim would be smarter to acknowledge that sometimes there are good reasons for government to affect specific industries.
Posted by: Bruce on September 26, 2012 05:53 PMFederal statistics are really accurate, reliable and unbaised these days, like the unemployment numbers.
Uh huh.
Good Lord, any adult knows the Columbia Basin Project transformed E WA and provided the electrical power for Boeing to defeat our enemies with a tsunami of military aircraft in WW II.
Mike BS and the liberal mother's basement crowd-stark example of the igonorance produced by the educational system the past 40 yrs. Pathetic.
Posted by: Hank on September 27, 2012 04:47 AMRemember when Enslee first anounced his run for governor he said, "he wanted to use state pension funds to finance new small business startups in the state", (Seattle Times). The fact is: three out of five small business startups fail in the first two years. That sounds about like Obama. Also remember Enslee is has always has been an empty suit and a lap dog just like Larsen for the Dems.
Posted by: Jimbo on September 27, 2012 05:35 AMRemember when Enslee first anounced his run for governor he said, "he wanted to use state pension funds to finance new small business startups in the state", (Seattle Times). The fact is: three out of five small business startups fail in the first two years. That sounds about like Obama. Also remember Enslee is has always has been an empty suit and a lap dog just like Larsen for the Dems.
Posted by: Jimbo on September 27, 2012 05:35 AM"I want to see us export more jobs," ~ Barack Obama in a speech in Ohio Yesterday, September 26th, 2012
Of coure, don't count on the mainstream media to report on this wildly revealing freudian slip like they did Romney's "47 percent" comment.
Posted by: Rick D. on September 27, 2012 07:12 AMJust think if an energy-producing, transformation project the size and scope of the Columbia Basin Project were proposed today? The EPA and other oppressive regulatory agencies (not to mention the lapdog leftist media) would kill it in an hour. Hasn't the Seattle Silly Klowncil attempted to use its vast influence and authority to rip out the Snake River dams for a decade or so?
Posted by: Saltherring on September 27, 2012 07:33 AMActually it took me around 2 seconds to find Obama's quote in the Washington Post, CBS News, etc.
Of course it was a slip of the tongue which he immediatrely realized and corrected. Are you saying Romney didn't mean what he said about the 47 percent?
Posted by: Bruce on September 27, 2012 08:04 AMActually it sounds like the Republican plan to invest Social Security funds in the stock market.
The fact that most small businesses fail does not mean that small businesses as a whole aren't valuable or important. But I agree that both parties overglamorize small business. Small businesses are important. So are medium businesses and large businesses.
Posted by: Bruce on September 27, 2012 08:08 AMIn six weeks, it will all be over and you can get on with the serious work of figuring out who to blame.
Posted by: scottd on September 27, 2012 08:19 AMI will take the stock market over the gov't anytime, anywhere.
SocSec will not survive the baby boomer's benefits in it's present form. Serious adults understand this FACT. Unserious prattle about SocSec nonsense like the horror of investing in the stock market.
Or, WA State becoming a lending institution.
What is not sustainable cannot continue...
Posted by: Hank on September 27, 2012 08:23 AMWe already know who's to blame for the mess we're in, scottd. Barack Obama and his failed policies over the past 4 years. That's why Romney will win in November and the people send the OJT president (that was never qualified for the position in the first place) packing back to Chicago's southside where he belongs. It's really simple- substance over style.
Posted by: Rick D. on September 27, 2012 09:18 AMAnyone else want to put their marker down now for a Romney win?
Posted by: scottd on September 27, 2012 10:28 AMThe only money that an investemnt firm should make should be from profits they make on the investments -- and those profits should be confiscated if/when their investments start to fail. That would be an incentive for them not to make a bunch of BS investments just to collect fees.
That would put the 'security' back in social security.
Posted by: herb pease on September 27, 2012 12:41 PMAny policy that Obama has gotten past the Senate -- even in a truncated form -- has been very successful. It's Republican obstruction of the proposed legislation that is the failure.
If you don't believe that government is ineffective, just elect Republicans and they'll prove it to you.
Posted by: herb.pease on September 27, 2012 12:47 PMI always find it amusing when some liberal admits that government is "ineffective", and in the same breath wants to expand its ineffectiveness by creating MORE GOVERNMENT. That is some serious cognitive dissonance going on their, Herb.
As for scottd, by any standard of metrics used, Obama does not deserve a second term. He's taken a bad situation and made it even worse. He had a Democrat controlled Congress for 2 years with nothing to show for it but a very unpopular mess called ACA. You seem pretty sure he'll get a 2nd term based on what? Empty rhetoric that got him there in the first place? I don't think so. He's in above his head so he's out on his head come November.
Posted by: Rick D. on September 27, 2012 01:41 PMYour inability to grasp this simple truth is because you are an ideologue who has mastered a few crackpot notions (the 'free market' being one of them)and are too easily swayed by authoritarian figures that you trust.
But big business/government do not have your interests in mind in the slightest -- unless it is to steal your social security money by 'investing' it all the way into their own pockets.
You can't and won't think things through for yourself. The government isn't standing between you and success -- it's the government+big business that is.
You want to take all the regulation off of big business? They'll be shooting you in the street like a dog, as Blackwater did in New Orleans.
Posted by: herb.pease on September 27, 2012 02:58 PMYes, the knowledge "produced by the educational system the past 40 yrs." helps me to understand that the Columbia Basin Project led by the librul guberment is a shining example of the ability of the political process and politicians to, as Jim says "pick economic winners" right here in the state of Washington.
I suspect you had a point to make, but that same educational system which served me so well has apparently let you down. Too bad.
"You can't and won't think things through for yourself. The government isn't standing between you and success -- it's the government+big business that is."
Provide an example of how this is occurring. What big business - GE ? Oh, yes - it must be BP, Exxon and big oil - liberal prog meme, but you have nothing but empty rhetoric to back it up.
"You want to take all the regulation off of big business? They'll be shooting you in the street like a dog, as Blackwater did in New Orleans."
No one wants to take all the regulation off of big business. You made that up and created a "strawMan" just like Owebama does. Some regulations need to be removed, like lower corporate income taxes - currently 35% is the highest of any major nation in the world. The tax code needs to be scrapped in favor of a newer flatter tax that will garner more revenue.
So, you like the way things are now and the status quo. Just like all of the other leftist lemmings - you can line up and march over that financial cliff that you don't take seriously because you have no clue about economics and its all a zero sum game to you - joker.
Posted by: KDS on September 27, 2012 05:22 PMWow, talk about projecting. So what is your answer there, herb? Just make Obama king so he can increase government and let him wipe your bottom for you? Ahhh yes, now that's freedom as our founding father's hoped we would have in this country 200+ years later, right? Pathetic.
The Free market is America!! As for "too easily swayed by authoritarian figures that you trust", I give you the man you voted for in 2008- Barack Obama. Talk about being gullible. You fell for the "hope and change", "yes we can" and every other 4th grade mantra his campaign trotted out that only the most simple-minded and/or naive fell for. The fact that you and others want to double down on that vote is evidence that you fall into one of those two camps given the deplorable state of this country after 4 years of an incompetent running it.
Posted by: Rick D. on September 27, 2012 06:48 PM@29 - I'll move out on that limb of the diseased tree called liberalism that is rotting from the center like a fish rots from the head on down. Racist demagoguery and dog whistles give leftists a purpose. Big government policies like the ACA will be ineffective and damaging to seniors and future generations, but the Democrat party doesn't care.
To the leftwing it's all about power and control - not only is there an attempt by them to redistribute wealth by this ACA (Obamacare) scheme, there is a veiled attempt by the Obama regime to redistribute power with all of the czars and 157 new Federal Government bureaus the ACA act creates and removes our freedom of choosing the type of medical care we want - Medicare will change and require approval of a 15 member panel to determine whether a surgery can be had or not - a loss of freedom. Government needs to be shrunk and moved out of the way, which will lead to lower unemployment and a restoration of a better way of life like it was in prior to 2008, in the 1990's and before- even for liberal progressives. One thing I would like to see Congress do next year is restore Glass-Stegal to protect against future occurrence of another housing bubble.
Posted by: KDS on September 27, 2012 07:02 PMYou sound like a true liberal. Nothing wrong with smal business startups, that is what made this country great. How about Enslee uses his own money and not Ombamanize the issue with money that has been designated for other purposes? In this case money that has been contributed equally by pensioners, cities, counties and the state. This money is equal to money in a trust. Of course if you want to redistribute other peoples money, just follow the example of the serial liar and join the club. Oh, by the way are you still feeling his love?
Jimbo
Posted by: Jimbo on September 28, 2012 05:18 AMAnd here is more info on the program that like everything else Obama has nearly doubled the expense load on this country in four years.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 28, 2012 05:51 AMThat ain't the half of it!
Obama supporters get a free iPhone with an unlimited data plan!
Not only that, but the new iPhone maps app is used to track down Republicans and 'Job Creators!' and take their money to pay for it all!
I got a message on my Obama iPhone that says the next step is to give US taxpayer paid iPhones to each and every single mooselem soshulist Kenyan!
And yet Rmoney and most Republicans down ticket are getting slaughtered. How'd that happen??
I'd say according to plan. Couple indoctrinated idiots (Mike BS, etc.) with low information fools and the no-load welfare crowd and they just might outnumber those who provide for their own and pay taxes. That is how we got to where we are now.
Problem is that soon the music will stop and the party will be over. The low information crowd won't know what hit them but the no-loads will turn on those (indoctrinated idiots) who promised an indefinite free lunch. Rural residents and small business folks can hunker down for a time but I wouldn't want to find myself in a city with all those angry no loads and clueless "Dancing With The Stars" crowds.
Posted by: Saltherring on September 28, 2012 08:54 AMYes!
The sky is falling! GREECE!
Friend, if what you say was anywhere near true then you need to nut up and acknowledge that YOU and your party are to blame. Why with all the resources available to you and your SuperPACs have you failed to educate those voters for 4 years?
Alternatively, maybe your side is just offering more of the same sh*t that brought the messes and you are the "indoctrinated idiot".
In the meantime it is not too late to get your free Obama iPhone! :-D
Those are the facts. Does Greece have anything like this ?
Posted by: KDS on September 28, 2012 10:01 AMIf the media were as responsible now as they were back in 1974, there would be one ongoing Watergate magnitude investigation (Fast & Furious or firearms-gate) and another one (Benghazi-gate) just starting up.
Posted by: KDS on September 28, 2012 11:46 AMWe may be going to hell in a bucket,
but at least I'm enjoying my free, free, FREE Obama iPhone!
@42 Jeff B. on September 28, 2012 10:52 AM,
"Why did this Administration send Susan Rice on a press spin tour trying to scapegoat a YouTube video for an Al Qaeda attack? " You more or less already answered your own question.
Rice lied on tape before the attack, thus the lie is worse than Watergate because peopled died as a result of the pre-taped comment.
@44 KDS on September 28, 2012 11:46 AM,
Absolutely! The media has fallen down on its Constitutional responsibilities under Article 2 Section 4. We should demand that Speaker Boehner have the House investigate why the media won't impeach the President!
....or at least ask why the Senate hasn't presented a lawful budget for four years or acted on any of the budget bills passed on by the House.
Posted by: Saltherring on September 28, 2012 05:39 PMDon't wait on that, because I just got word on my free, free, FREE Obama iPhone that after Obama wins he's going to replace the Senate with AKORN!
So, run down to your local New Black Panther Party HQ and pick up a free, free, FREE Obama iPhone with unlimited texting and send Speaker Boehner your very thoughtful and uncrazy ideas!
Sent from my free, free FREE soshulist made in Kenya by false birth certificate holding mooslems Obama iPhone!
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on September 28, 2012 08:25 PMBut I will note this point: None of the Inslee supporters seem to think that he would be a great success as a hedge fund manager.
Posted by: Jim Miller on September 29, 2012 08:07 AM