Beavertail in Jamestown. (Photo by Bob Plain)
I’m glad Ted Nesi stumbled upon the American Human Development Index, which indicates Rhode Island is the 11th best state as far as “well-being” is measured. It’s a nice contrast to the drone of voices who chime on and on about how unfriendly to business CNBC thinks the Ocean State is.
I haven’t studied it too close but there’s a pretty obvious inverse correlation between the two rankings – states that are more friendly to business tend not to score too high in the well-being rankings, and vice versa. Not that it’s an either/or proposition … but if we’re to invest our shared resources to improve either the Ocean State’s well-being or business friendliness, I know which way I’d vote…
Unfortunately, though, we might not being as well on the well-being scale as this index suggests … or at least there is competing data. A new Kids Count report indicates Rhode Island is 25th nationally for child well-being.
Ed Fitzpatrick on Barry Hinckley’s business plan of running for office to garner free pr: “Hinckley’s message clearly was not an idealistic call to public service. No one is going to confuse his “Free PR” speech with JFK’s “Ask not” speech. If anything, it was cynical. And while we absolutely do need new people and new ideas here in Rhode Island, we definitely do not need people running for public office to benefit themselves, their unions or their businesses. We have too many of those already.”
Hinckley also got some free pr on the national stage … I’m sure this is just what he had in mind.
Congrats to the two Jamestowners who are in DC this week lobbying for new legislation to curb climate change.
Note that the Kids Count ranking was changed this year to include recession related indicators, which may explain our drop from 17th to 25th. I think we can expect a rebound in that ranking as the local economy improves.
So is conservative, corporatist Rhode Island doing well, or is it progressive, socially just Rhode Island? Is the state succeeding despite the “flat tax,” or is the state doing poorly because of it? I can’t keep the progressive narrative straight anymore – it changes from day to day on this blog. At least conservatives/libertarians are consistent in their message that the state is extremely troubled and bringing up the rear in nearly all categories.