I read in Joe Monahan's blog that a Mayoral hopeful says the state of NM movers and shakers need to grow the economy here to offset falling spending by the federal government and defense complex. Actually, the potential candidate has it all wrong. We should be moving to improve the private sector to offset a dying fossil fuel industry. Yes I mean oil, gas and coal.
Government spending will always be a part of NM. It is in less danger of a meltdown than anything. But as the global meeting on climate change progresses in Paris, the hand writing is on the wall for the dirty energy sector. Not tomorrow, or ten years, but certainly in our lifetimes that industry will mostly go the way of sailing ships, buggy whips, and VCRs. And so why blame government spending for being the bogey man on our future economic outlook? Because somebody has really not thought things through. And if they want the support of intelligent voters, they better start thinking harder.
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You may want to "google" Steve McKee, the gentleman Joe Monahan cited as a mayoral hopeful. What you will find are a couple of Journal and Business First articles on him. He is an ultra right wing Christian fundamentalist involved with Calvary Church who is the CEO of a major advertising or marketing firm in Albuquerque who specializes in power branding. He has ties with the ultra right wing Rio Grande Foundation and is a favorite of Paul Guessing who heads up that foundation. City Councillor Dan Lewis and County Commissioner Wayne Johnson, both who are talking about running for Mayor, share the same constituency, but he would not have the political baggage. Problem is he could easily win in a low voter turn our race such as the last and would be nothing more than a clone of Berry once elected: a businessman who wears his religion on his sleeve, who wants to reduce the size of government, get rid of all unions and say no to any and all tax increases, no to increases in minimum wages and no to a woman's right to choose.
According to the NM Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of October 2015, out of 856,200 jobs in New Mexico, 191,700 are government jobs.
http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.nm.htm
That's more than 1 in 5 and getting close to 1 in 4. That's a huge chunk. It's hard to imagine any single industry ever approaching that.
I don't know how many of those jobs are federal, but I do know that New Mexico has several military bases and two weapons labs and that the American ruling class has made the decision to proceed into the foreseeable future on a war economy and keep increasing the size of the military industrial complex. Bush started two wars, Obama has started three. All five are ongoing: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria. The decision has been made to return to a Cold War footing with both Russia and China.
Of course, on the down side, or in the bigger picture, the military consumes more than half the federal budget. Men, women and children are being blown to bits in all five of those countries I mentioned. All those countries are ruined, people are starving and fleeing in droves, and as a consequence of our Middle East policies radical Islamic fundamentalism is mushrooming, but it all should boost New Mexico's economy.
And will continue to, and at an even more rapid pace if the person who led the Neocon, hawkish wing of the current administration into its three Middle East wars becomes the next president. That would be Hillary Clinton, who has been advocating more hawkish positions than the president on Syria -- she wants a no fly zone -- and as an honorary AIPAC member probably wouldn't have done the Iran deal. Etc.
What interests me is that, since I assume New Mexico's government jobs are fairly well paying, why don't they lift the economy more? Are the rest of the jobs we have here that bad? Anecdotally speaking, I'd say so, and I'd say there's a lot of room to improve the economy by changing that, but of course that's never discussed at all, especially by Democrats.
"And if [our candidates running for office] want the support of intelligent voters, they better start thinking harder." Really Jim? I question how many intelligent voters really are in Albuquerque and New Mexico when they voted to re-elect Berry and Martinez by such wide margins, and don't blame it on their opponents who were out spent 4 to 1. Its all about money.
Government jobs include city, state, county, and federal. They even include many casino workers, since they work for the pueblos. New Mexico has cut the number of city and state workers a lot since the recession. These workers are likely to have benefits and pensions, and do work we need done. They can afford to buy things, so make other jobs. Their CEOS usually aren't making big bucks. Why is this considered bad?
Martinez administration is a total economic disaster. Cut government jobs without any replacement jobs in the private sector and during the worst recession in our generation. Cut corporations tax rate yet get no business in return but keep advocating for this policy. Support oil and gas monied interests when this state could be a leader in alternative energy that is not going to stay "alternative" for long. Martinez ends solar tax breaks, Dunn stops the Sun Zia transmission line, tax cuts for oil and gas.
NM could be leading charge, but that requires leaders in the Martinez administration. Instead, all Martinez does is travel around the country raising money. All of the pictures of her with school kids be damned. She could care less about this state and us. She is all about enriching herself and travels the country every day doing just that.
So, if you sit on the sidelines during elections, this is what you get. Our state is a sorry state of affairs with the Republican Party leading the charge into the gutter.
The only type of new buissness that have bloomed in Albuquerque are the Micro Brewery's. What a God Send !! More places to drink in the DWI capital of the state, in a state that is the DWI capital of the nation!! Can't invent this shit Jim.
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