Letter to the Editor: Lardaro Misses the Boat Again

The little note about Professor Lardaro’s index of the RI economy that appeared on Wednesday August 10 again reflects a set of biases that distort how the RI economy is doing. According to Dr. Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, economic growth has dramatically slowed since 1973, and the fundamentals of the economy are trending toward a steady state economy.  When this is combined with ecological collapse, climate change, and little population growth in our cities, it is unrealistic to expect rapid economic growth in Rhode Island.  Professor Lardaro also reflects the bias that the Koch Brother funded anti think tanks offer that taxes and regulations hurt the RI economy. Despite the business climate ratings showing RI in 50th place for the last few years, RI has had a growth rate matching the national median, 1.8% in the first quarter of 2016.

Old industrial places that have been urbanized for a long time will never grow at the rate that Wall St thinks they should.  When the politicians and professors adopt the outdated and wrong-headed indexes about the economy and use it to trash us, they harm all Rhode Islanders. It is time to ignore the business climate indexes that are biased against workers and throw out the indexes that are biased toward a growth that will never come back. Tax cuts and deregulation will not solve our problems. Only working to create prosperity in a low-growth environment will.

Greg Gerritt, Head of Research  ProsperityForRI.com