A great blue heron flies over Greenwich Cove. (Photo by Bob Plain)
Sure Rhode Island has its share of business failures, but it’s also got some success stories – none bigger in recent memory than Alex and Ani, the Cranston-based jewelry company that bought Sakonnet Vineyards. The company employs almost 300 people, almost as many jobs as 38 Studios was supposed to bring to the Ocean State. We’re impressed that the company chose local agriculture as part of its expansion plans as it shows genuine business acumen. Good luck!
Speaking of local businesses, Senator Jim Sheehan raises an important point in a GoLocal article about the EDC and Capco: “This may or may not have been a bad decision by EDC, but, the lack of transparency about Capco Steel’s default makes one question the wisdom of the initial decision.”
Notice the map Ted Nesi posts this morning showing which states get more federal dollars than they send to Washington … at a quick glance it looks as if the more conservative the state, the more money they get from Washington. Ironic, or just plain dumb? We report, you decide…
Welcome to Rhode Island, Craig Shwalb, you’ve got big shoes to fill … Here’s hoping Paul left you the referee uniform, you might just need it!
Congrats to progressive Portsmouth blogger John McDaid, who just got his press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in September … we look forward to your reports!
Not so fast, Republicans, you can’t have it both ways … either government spending creates jobs or it doesn’t.
Yes, the Republicans are for job creation when it’s tied to militarism, unfortunately among the worst job creation programs (and as noted in the linked article above)…
– quote –
$1 billion in spending on the military will generate about 11,200 jobs within the US economy. That same $1 billion would create 16,800 jobs through clean energy investments, 17,200 jobs within the healthcare sector or 26,700 jobs through support of education. That is, investments in clean energy, healthcare and education will produce between 50 and 140 percent more jobs than if the same money were spent by the Pentagon. Just giving the money to households to consume as they choose would generate 15,100 jobs, 35 percent more than military spending.
– end quote –
Funny, I thought the Repubs said that the government didn’t create jobs.
“intends to sell the wine in its new Teas and Javas coffee bars”
Is this even legal? To be a producer, distributor, and retailer of alcoholic products in RI? I thought there were rules about that.
Also, I worry that Alex and Ani is growing too quickly. I don’t know about the details, but I suspect they’re taking on a LOT of debt to buy stuff up and build-out. A hiccup in their luck could bring down the whole thing. I don’t want to scare anyone, and I really don’t know anything about what kind of cash they’re sitting on, but every news story is about them engaging in multi-million dollar project after project.