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...is the 36th worst in the United States and fifth worst in the South (fourth if you choose to exclude WV as a Southern state). Among the states that border Kentucky, only WV scored worse (48th).
Good news: Kentucky is numero UNO in cost of doing business among the states. It also ranks as having the fourth best cost of living.
However, K-12 education still isn't that great there and when you consider that Kentucky students pay a pretty penny to attend the flagship universities (UK, UofL) for a quality of education that is not great compared to IU, Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, and other public gems in surrounding states, then there you have it. Having said that, I know Kentucky is taking very incremental steps to improve the quality of public education and wish it well.
Our quality of life and access to capital (again, ties back into education and environmentally-friendly utilization of natural resources) are, of course, poor. Western, Central and Southern Kentucky, I can assure you, aren't so bad in the QOL category. However, Eastern Kentucky holds those scores down significantly.
I honestly think outsiders will take Kentucky more seriously when it begins to concern itself more about these issues than UK basketball. Thus a huge reason why I left.
...is the 36th worst in the United States and fifth worst in the South (fourth if you choose to exclude WV as a Southern state). Among the states that border Kentucky, only WV scored worse (48th).
Good news: Kentucky is numero UNO in cost of doing business among the states. It also ranks as having the fourth best cost of living.
However, K-12 education still isn't that great there and when you consider that Kentucky students pay a pretty penny to attend the flagship universities (UK, UofL) for a quality of education that is not great compared to IU, Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, and other public gems in surrounding states, then there you have it. Having said that, I know Kentucky is taking very incremental steps to improve the quality of public education and wish it well.
Our quality of life and access to capital (again, ties back into education and environmentally-friendly utilization of natural resources) are, of course, poor. Western, Central and Southern Kentucky, I can assure you, aren't so bad in the QOL category. However, Eastern Kentucky holds those scores down significantly.
I honestly think outsiders will take Kentucky more seriously when it begins to concern itself more about these issues than UK basketball. Thus a huge reason why I left.
There is a reason I went back to Virginia which is #3 on the list.
In all seriousness, if Kentucky wants to bring in more business and cash, get the schools together first and foremost.
...is the 36th worst in the United States and fifth worst in the South (fourth if you choose to exclude WV as a Southern state). Among the states that border Kentucky, only WV scored worse (48th).
I honestly think outsiders will take Kentucky more seriously when it begins to concern itself more about these issues than UK basketball. Thus a huge reason why I left.
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This CNBC story describes their categories were weighted on a purely subjective basis - News Headlines
And it was mentioned but you downplayed it, that Kentucky was #1 (yes, beating 49 other states) in tax burden, individual income, property taxes, business taxes, and utility costs, cost of wages, rental costs of office & industral spaces. News Headlines
Gee, let me move to Massachusetts, California, New York or Connecticut (ranked at the bottom) to start my new business.
Okay...I'm goin to bite. Now that WE have concluded that US Hillbilly's are a dumb uneducated bunch, what can WE do to fix it? It's easy for people in other places to point out shortcomings as they have none of their own and, I know, I know, you have to recognize the problem before YOU can fix it. I/WE recognize it. Personally, I hesitate pointing out any one's problems (if they have any) without a fix. Now, I welcome any and all recomendations. And, please share with us as to how YOU would do it.
P.S. I'll apologize for any misspelled words in advance.
Hogs, you know better than that! If he finds a way to fix the problem then he can't ***** about it any more. But he'll still find a way to get other things to complain about in this state he doesn't live in any more
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This CNBC story describes their categories were weighted on a purely subjective basis - News Headlines
And it was mentioned but you downplayed it, that Kentucky was #1 (yes, beating 49 other states) in tax burden, individual income, property taxes, business taxes, and utility costs, cost of wages, rental costs of office & industral spaces. News Headlines
Gee, let me move to Massachusetts, California, New York or Connecticut (ranked at the bottom) to start my new business.
It is true that other states have higher business costs, but they also have some of the most educated workforces. That is the reason why a state like VA with a moderate cost of living and lower business costs has seen a good amount of job growth while KY with some of the lowest overall costs have seen overall job declines on a percentage basis at a statewide level. (2000-2009 data). Economic growth in KY has to be tied in better to the educational system that is in place in UK and the U of L. Growing startups and companies tied to life sciences or technology would be good paths to follow. You can't build an economy while destroying the natural resources that surrounds it like eastern Kentucky has done and continues to do. That area will never improve unless it moves past old technologies or is forced to change. Right now, the big energy companies rule most everything in the US and natural gas prices have plunged to multi-year lows. It is basic economics that demand for coal for electricity generation has fallen dramatically.
Hogs, you know better than that! If he finds a way to fix the problem then he can't ***** about it any more. But he'll still find a way to get other things to complain about in this state he doesn't live in any more
gman...I learned a long time ago, don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. For someone that hates Kentucky as much as he said he did, you would think he would forget about that awful place after he left. He ain't gone no where but, he is still dreaming about it, because he can't get Mommy and Daddy to agree to let hin go and he sure can't scrape up enough money to buy a bus ticket.
There is a reason I went back to Virginia which is #3 on the list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by N. Olikee
I agree with EE and Alanboy / The Dissenter.........education is KEY to KY as well as a MUCH, MUCH better business "climate".
In all seriousness, if Kentucky wants to bring in more business and cash, get the schools together first and foremost.
Yep, yep and yep. Understood. Kentucky CAN bring in the cash...to the University of Kentucky's men's basketball program. I swear, UK fans are more rabid with their basketball than are IU or even UNC or Duke fans, no less other SEC fans with their football. Okay, okay, 'Bama fans are rabid, but at least Alabama has two top 75 public universities in UofA and Auburn. It's everything UK has to crack the top 120 list in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings; I realize that rankings don't always mean everything, but 'Bama, Jawja, North Cakalackay, Indiana, and Ohio (with the latter two being more expensive than Kentucky schools) effectively devote a larger percentage of their budgets to subsidize higher education and have some of the best biomedical/biotechnical or aeronautical technology incubators in the East. Think'a the schools I'm talking about here: UAH, UAB, Auburn in Alabama, then Georgia Tech, UNC-Chapel Hill, IU, Purdue, and Ohio State.
I still care about the fact that Kentucky ain't using all thur lottury muney it oughta to fund education as was originally intended by Gov. Wilkinson.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gimme3steps
I also read that Kentucky has a large number of pricks who move away yet continue to bash it for no apparent reason.
I still care about Kentucky. I'm not foolish enough to be blind to California's problems (not that I mentioned them in my original post). However, given Kentucky's natural resources and geographic location of not quite being in the Sun Belt but far from being a Rust Belt state (except for Northern Kentucky which has rebounded nicely), it's a shame to see that there are smart, progressive economic minds in the state being held back by generations of "the way we dun it."
Say what you will about David Williams. Hell, I don't even like him and think he's a first class jerk. However, his idea for state pension reform, had it been implemented, would have placed Kentucky on the forefront of fiscal austerity along with Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Utah, and Idaho going into this recession. Kentucky's saving grace is not raising taxes very much during the recession, but there's been no marginal improvement in...wait fot it, the quality of life ranking, and I honestly believe eastern Kentucky pulls the QOL ranking of the whole of Kentucky down from 30th-32nd to abysmal. Cutting new highways through slowly depopulating hollers just won't bring factories, biotechnology, and cloud database facilities to the mountains.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsonkk
And it was mentioned but you downplayed it, that Kentucky was #1 (yes, beating 49 other states) in tax burden, individual income, property taxes, business taxes, and utility costs, cost of wages, rental costs of office & industral spaces. News Headlines
Gee, let me move to Massachusetts, California, New York or Connecticut (ranked at the bottom) to start my new business.
I pointed out Kentucky's positives in the chart.
What type of business are you looking to start? Wanna get into cloud technology? I doubt even our friends in the state's tech incubators in Lexington and Murray can be of assistance. Y'oughta go to, wait for it, "Massachusetts, California, New York or Connecticut" for that. My NEIGHBORHOOD here in California is one of the world CAPITALS of biotechnology.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater
It is true that other states have higher business costs, but they also have some of the most educated workforces. That is the reason why a state like VA with a moderate cost of living and lower business costs has seen a good amount of job growth while KY with some of the lowest overall costs have seen overall job declines on a percentage basis at a statewide level. (2000-2009 data). Economic growth in KY has to be tied in better to the educational system that is in place in UK and the U of L. Growing startups and companies tied to life sciences or technology would be good paths to follow. You can't build an economy while destroying the natural resources that surrounds it...
You know, the posters here can't hate you because you often state sense better than I can.
I have a suggestion, or an old one that I'm modifying: create a ninth public university in Eastern Kentucky. Paul Patton, former governor and current president of the University of Pikeville, even supports the state absorbing UPike. Now, there is enough self-created wealth in Pikeville and its "suburbs," a high enough expenditure per capita by state government (as in getting more back than it pays) and a decent enough highway and education infrastructure to begin to foster the seeds for 21st Century development in the mountains. Owensboro is already creating a biotechnology incubator. UPike, when/if it becomes a state university, along with KLTPRC, KCED, KCPSE, UK, UofL, and other state entities, as well as KBP LLC of Owensboro, need to meet with facilitators and researchers at universities such as UNC, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, UC-Davis, UCSF, UCSD, and Texas to learn about their local and international efforts to foster such economies in their areas.
Oh, and one more thing: as California (yep), Mass., N.Y., N.J., and Illinois continue to tax themselves into oblivion, Kentucky can play its cards correctly NOW (like NC did by developing Research Triangle Park, for example, in the 1950s) and really reap what it sows 30 years down the road! Now, isn't that enticing to y'all? I guess not. This would be a great chance for Kentucky to lure jobs from California, Mass., etc. and provide researchers with improved educational and infrastructure capital, a lower cost of doing business and living, and one of the nation's top ten safest states in terms of violent crime. Highly educated, high income, high producing...think about it.
Buuuuuut...I no longer live in Kentucky, so this 8th-generation native's opinion isn't valuable.
Last edited by EclecticEars; 07-18-2012 at 11:32 PM..
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facts?
