Louisiana Infrastructures Dismal

I must compliment Bobby Jindal on the fact that he and his administration have left no stone unturned when it comes to negatively impacting the quality of life in our state.  Not only have they destructively impacted educational services, health care services, and recreational services, they have now received recognition for their demise of Louisiana’s infrastructures, namely its roadways and bridges.

Under Bobby’s guidance Louisiana has moved from 24^th in its highway conditions and spending in 2011 to 40^th in the nation in the latest findings of the 21^st Annual Highway Report released by the Reason Foundation.  Our state also ranks 39^th in the condition of its bridges.  Roads rated as poor in urban areas rose to three times higher than the national average, while poor rural roads rose to double the national average.

This latest indictment of Louisiana stands in sharp contrast to a very positive aspect of our state which Jindal takes great pride in and pushes often in his national political forums.

It is Louisiana’s rise to No. 6 in the Site Selection 2013 Top U.S. Business Climates.  It is the state’s highest-ever placement in the magazine’s annual ranking. Just four years ago, Louisiana ranked No. 25. Jindal has accomplished this by offering large tax breaks and monetary incentives to businesses if they will choose to open shop in Louisiana.

Jindal often touts this as proof of his successful governing of Louisiana as evidenced by his recent media release: 

“For decades, Louisiana was losing jobs and our people because we did not have a good business environment. Companies were fleeing our state because of high taxes, and other companies didn’t give us a second look because our state was too corrupt. We set out to reverse that trend more than five years ago by eliminating taxes that stifled growth, reining in government spending, overhauling governmental ethics laws, revamping workforce training programs, and providing more educational opportunities for families. Because of these reforms, we have more jobs in Louisiana than at any point in our state’s history. Indeed, this latest ranking confirms that we are on the right path to create more opportunities for our people.”  

I can’t argue with Jindal’s success in this area.  However, if you are literally giving away the state economically with business tax breaks and monetary incentives funded at the expense of the wellbeing of its residents, I have serious concerns.

And most likely once businesses figure out the poor conditions the state has to offer in terms of quality of education,  healthcare and infrastructure, all the tax breaks and incentives in the world won’t satisfy these essential needs that companies desire for their employees.  

It’s only a matter of time until his economic plan all unravels, but Jindal prays it will last long enough until he receives his national presidential bid.  In the meantime he is perfectly happy sacrificing Louisianans to accomplish HIS goal.