George Kaiser: ‘In A Race To The Bottom,’ 8 Myths About Oklahoma Persist
‘In a race to the bottom,’ 8 myths about Oklahoma persist
By George Kaiser
Like many Oklahomans, I am deeply disturbed about the deterioration of our state over the past five years, while our leaders looked away. I have lived here for more than two-thirds of the life of the state, and I have never seen the situation so desperate or the governmental response to the plight of our people so dismissive.
In terms of quality of life and core government services, we are truly in a race to the bottom. As an oilman and banker, I know that we cannot attract talent nor retain our bright high school and college graduates nor generate any true economic development with poor schools, health care, public safety and infrastructure. We are seeing an evacuation of our best and brightest, and not just teachers. Our greatest job growth is in low wage call/fulfillment centers.
This is a self-inflicted wound — the direct result of an extreme application of the discredited economic theory that tax reductions stimulate economic activity, the so-called Laffer (should be Laugher) Curve.