Economic development endowment funding
Will the envy from the other end of the turnpike ever end? Doubtful. Reaction to Gov. Brad Henry’s State of the State speech is the latest evidence. Henry called for lawmakers to approve a dedicated funding source for the EDGE endowment, boosting the amount of money that can be used for research and growing the principal. The Tulsa World’s reaction was to call into question – once again – whether Tulsa was unfairly shut out of the first round of funding awards. While calling the fund’s goals “laudable,” an editorial noted the awards’ “apparent imbalance” that tilted toward the Oklahoma City area. The newspaper had a similar reaction when the awards were announced late last year. The fund’s oversight board reviewed nearly 100 proposals before deciding on five to split the $12 million in available funding. One of the projects proposed creating 100 jobs in Oklahoma City. Does that mean it’s time for Tulsa to cry discrimination? Hardly. To question the integrity of the selection process based on one year’s results is presumptuous, to say the least. It would be fabulous for the state if the EDGE fund can eventually finance projects in every corner of the state and at many points in between. But merit not geography must be the determining factor.
Harvest moan
Citizens are reveling in the price for a commodity they can’t do without – gasoline – just as they were grumbling about a price they could do nothing about a few months ago. For farmers and ranchers, commodity prices are a matter of survival. They can do little to control commodity prices and must live with the fact that larger harvests depress prices and lower harvests raise them – just when they have less of a crop to sell. Weather is the “commodity” that no one can control. Oklahoma harvests were generally mediocre last year, the Tulsa World reports, and farmers were often unable to take advantage of higher prices for some crops because of weather. The state’s cotton, corn and hay crops were down in 2008, but wheat, soybeans and peanuts had improved harvests from 2007. Think filling your gas tank was rough last summer? Try making a living when your petroleum-based inputs such as diesel and fertilizer are sky high and the skies are lowering with storm clouds right before harvest.
Movin’ on out
People are leaving California in droves, according to Census Bureau figures, but the
Golden
State still glitters for immigrants, illegal and otherwise. The Associated Press reports that
California continues to lead the nation in the rate of departures by existing residents.
New York is second.
California continues to grow, however, because of births and immigration. Census figures aren’t the only way to track arrivals and departures. For 40 years, Allied Van Lines has recorded the number of household shipments into and out of a state using an Allied affiliate. In 2007, Texas had the highest “net relocation gain” (inbound moves minus outbound moves), followed by North Carolina and
Georgia. According to this measure,
Michigan had the highest net location loss.
California had the highest outbound traffic, but inbound movements partially offset that.
Oklahoma was somewhere in the middle of the states, posting a slight net loss. A newer survey from Atlas Van Lines, though, says
Oklahoma had a net gain in moves for the first time in 15 years.
Now hiring
How’s this for irony: The most secure employment in Oklahoma today is helping the jobless get their benefits. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has added employees and may have to do so again to keep up with the traffic in jobless benefits. As unemployment increases, OESC workers have their hands full handling claims for compensation. Phone lines have been so jammed that equipment upgrades were needed. Payments to jobless workers may reach record levels because the maximum benefit has been increased. The state’s unemployment rate in November rose to 4.5 percent from 4.2 percent in October. Imagine how busy the commission would be if joblessness ever hit double digits. That would force the need for more employees, thus reducing unemployment by a fraction of a percent.
Recessed, not depressed
Economic data seems to have caught up with the reality many people have been struggling with for some time: The U.S. is in a recession. Things are tough and may get tougher, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dismisses comparisons with the Great Depression of the 1930s. Bernanke is an expert on the Depression, first signaled by the stock market crash in 1929, and he says there’s no parallel between what Americans are going through now and what they experienced more than 70 years ago. Then, unemployment was 25 percent and real gross domestic product fell by a third. One in three banks failed, and the stock market lost about 90 percent of its value. “During the 1930s, there was a worldwide depression that lasted for about 12 years and was only ended by a world war,” Bernanke says. Small consolation to the worker out of a job, but it rings true when you consider sales figures from Black Friday and the millions spent on entertainment and the latest electronic gizmos.
Continuing a tradition
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry’s ascension to the chairmanship of the Interstate O
il and Gas Compact Commission continues a long tradition of the state’s leadership of this important organization. Every Oklahoma governor has served as an IOGCC chairman; the group was founded by 1935 by then Gov. E.W. Marland. Henry’s appointment, to succeed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also puts him in a better position to influence President-elect Barack Obama on energy issues of concern to the state and its taxpayers. Henry supported Obama and might be well-suited to sway his opinion on the need to aggressively pursue domestic oil and gas exploration even as the administration builds a bridge to the future with alternative energy projects. The Democratic Congress will likely continue to demonize oil and gas (until the next wave of high gasoline prices results in constituent pressure). Henry and other state Democrats know there’s a place for all kinds of energy and that fossil fuels have not outlived their usefulness.
Getting the goods
Time will tell what all bodies are buried in the $700 billion economic bailout bill. We already know about the one that would pay $20 a month to people who ride a bicycle to work. That should be a big economic boost to San Francisco and Portland, Ore., but not so much in Oklahoma City. Also in the bill but little noticed is renewal of alternative energy tax credits that have expired or would expire by Dec. 31. Wind and solar technologies will get a boost from including this in the bill. And you thought the rescue plan was only about financial institutions and the most essential steps needed to restore confidence in the markets. No bill that goes through Congress, even ones that go through in a hurry, is immune from being packed with the non-germane.
Unemployment in Oklahoma
What do Barack Obama’s Illinois, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, John McCain’s Arizona and Joe Biden’s Delaware have in common? They all have higher unemployment rates than Oklahoma, based on figures for August. But then only five states have a lower jobless rate than Oklahoma. Illinois (7.2 percent unemployment rate) and Alaska (6.9 percent) are especially hurting. Arizona (5.6 percent) and Delaware (4.9 percent) are in better shape. The Oklahoma rate for August was pegged at 4.0 percent. Most of the states with the lowest jobless rates are small and connected to the energy sector. South Dakota has the lowest rate, 3.3 percent. Some states are having difficulty finding money to pay jobless benefits. Nationally, joblessness is the worst it’s been since just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In this key economic measure, though, Oklahoma is holding its own.
Seeking economic stability
Life in the fast lane keeps getting faster. Not only did we experience rapid rises in gasoline prices through much of this year, but the stock market declines are happening at an accelerated pace – pulling down John McCain’s poll numbers at a brisk clip. Gasoline prices are now falling rapidly, dropping 64 cents a gallon in less than a month. At this rate, marketers will practically give away the stuff by Christmas. Oklahoma already has the lowest gas prices in the country, but of course this won’t last. Economic indicators tend to snowball, gaining speed in one area such as consumer spending as another (such as the jobless rate) accelerates. What would be nice is a slowdown in the trends, even if it means gas prices won’t fall as rapidly as they have been. Consumers inclined to demonize Big Oil for high energy prices tend not to praise Big Oil for falling prices. Scapegoating is a trend that never loses speed.
