re: These melts are hilarious but the fact remains: LA has no future

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also this has been one big diversion

what is the plan to get good companies to locate here and provide good jobs? if that doesn't happen we are dead

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It's not looking good. I've got nothing against plants but most college educated people have no desire to work in one, including myself

Simple suggestion go look up macro Econ data on cost of smoking to society the lost cigarette tax revenue would be dwarfed by cost savings

Maybe Rispone didn’t state his policies because they wouldn’t align with the LAGOP’s????? Ever think of that? Maybe he was gonna flip the whole thing on its head and do right for Louisiana....we’ll never know.

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All of the entry level jobs for college kids are in big cities. Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and to a lesser extent, Austin, Nashville, etc. All this talk about rural areas is confusing. Clearly the problem is that Louisiana has no Houston or Austin. Pretty simple.

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This is what New Orleans is supposed to be

*ETA: that's what Nola USED to be is more accurate

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In other metros, companies moved to the burbs. In Louisiana, they fled the state. That should tell you something.

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no fricking shite.

see: my OP

LINK

Some points, smoking excise taxes would go away but look at the CDC estimates of the cost savings , overall healthcare costs go down and productivity losses due to sick leaves and early deaths would result in more wages and income, thus more tax collections from other sources for a longer time, ie sales tax, income, car fees etc etc ,

So my basic position stands, cigarette excise tax does not impact the tax burden of the majority of LA folks who do not smoke and at the macro level results in greater GDP growth for states and lower healthcare costs for society at large,


so JBE increasing cigarette tax was actually solid fiscal and economic policy where Ole Bobby Jindal cut them to make the DC Lobbyist Grover Nordquist happy and Rispone supported Jindal 100%

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What is MS doing to improve its economy that LA could do?

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They insist their third-graders can read.


That's not "the one thing" but I think it's a great indicator that they understand the importance of education -- real education -- and (at least for right now) are committed to trying to do it.

I don't expect next year's fourth graders to turn MS into Silicon Valley, but maybe in 15 years the smart kids won't have to move out of state to have somebody to talk to.

No I am not saying ban smoking , but if u choose to smoke then u pay the excise tax, it is a voluntary excise tax and by not Levying that tax the government is subsidizing big tobacco who makes money off a product that imposes significant costs on the rest of society, same thing with vehicles , the gas tax u pay is inversely related to the MPH ur vehicle gets. U can voluntarily lower ur gas taxes by the type of vehicle u drive . I drive and SUV so I spend more money on gas than someone driving a Honda Civic , and thus voluntarily tax myself at higher amounts