Hong Kong of New England

All of New England is ripe for an economic revival. Rhode Island should be leading the way. It could be the Hong Kong of the region. But politicians think they can solve the state’s problems with more government policies instead of getting government out of the way. Bloomberg Business Week reports on Rhode Island’s struggles:

State leaders vowed urgent action this year to address Rhode Island’s stubbornly high unemployment rate and an economy that has struggled for years.

Yet while other states debate sweeping tax overhauls or pass billion-dollar higher education expansions, legislators in Rhode Island have focused on smaller, incremental proposals.

Critics say that few of the dozens of economic bills that passed this session take significant steps to boost education or workforce training, lower housing costs, repair streets, reform the tax code or set up incentives to help businesses.

Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed says improvement will take time. But critics say the state’s efforts are focused too much on government bureaucracy and not on the problems that caused the state’s long-term economic decline.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.