President Obama came to upstate New York yesterday and drew the wrong lesson.
The president spoke at SUNY Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering about the state’s “substantial investment” in the college and what government can do to boost the economy.
“Cutting-edge businesses . . . are deciding to build here and hire here,” he said.
But he insisted “there are steps we can take . . . to make it easier for companies to grow and to hire” — and suggested a few.
Fact is, Obama’s economic approach from Day One has been government-centric, much like New York’s has been for decades.
And it’s an approach that, based on any fair assessment, has failed miserably.
In both cases.
True, most folks likely agree that aid to education — and, in particular, to research for a key economic sector like nanotech — can pay off big, theoretically, down the road. We certainly believe that.
As New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox, who headed key SUNY committees during the college’s development, notes on the preceding page, investment there has shown dividends — attracting new private cash and spurring local jobs.
But the returns are far too little, given the scope of the state’s economic woes.
And they come at far too high a cost.
Take a semiconductor company called GlobalFoundries in Saratoga County — where Obama originallyplanned to speak.
Who knows why Team Obama shifted gears at the last minute — but it’s worth noting that in 2006 the Abu Dhabi-owned plant got a stunning $1.4 billion in taxpayer “incentives” to create a mere 1,400 jobs.
That’s a $1 million subsidy for each one.
Why so much cash to lure a firm here?
Maybe New York’s infamous hostilitytoward business has something to do with it — its high taxes and onerous mandates, rules and red tape.
New York, in many respects, maintains the nation’s most toxic business environment. And upstate has been bleeding jobs for generations.
If Obama, and Albany, truly want to boost the economy, they need to discard their big-government approach: Cut taxes. Ease regulations. Rein in public spending.
Then watch what “investment” in a nanotech college can do. They’ll be shocked.