Legislators misguided, focus on wrong economic areas
To the editor:
Your editorial on June 1 focused on Indiana’s ranking of 49th in public health spending. That is only one facet of Indiana’s ranking in the bottom third of the nation on almost every health and social issue.
Indiana is noted for its budget surplus. Behind that smokescreen is the fact that Indiana ranks 42nd in revenues and spending. For that miserly approach to state budgeting, Indiana earns the following stellar positions: 48th in overall quality of life, in spite of the spin of political pundits about the quality of Hoosier living; 46th in quality of the natural environment; 43rd in quality of the social environment; 46th in air pollution; 42nd in infant mortality; 41st in smoking; 40th in obesity; 37th in diabetes; 35th in education; and 30th in crime and infrastructure.
Indiana’s misguided legislature does not like to hear these results but does little to try to turn them around. Perhaps they do not understand the basic mathematics since they do not understand the actual basis of Indiana’s economy. The legislature says it focuses on the top three sectors of the economy — manufacturing, agriculture and logistics. They are right on one of these, manufacturing is the top sector. However, financial services is second, 4.5 times greater than logistics and 10 times greater than agriculture. Professional and business services is close behind, three times greater than logistics and six times greater than agriculture.
In fact, logistics is No. 10 at a meager 2.9% of the economy and agriculture is 11th at 1.3% of the economy. Indiana politics is steeped in the fantasy of 20th century agricultural economics with antiquated tax systems at all levels and misguided policies and investments in sectors that are no longer significant. Indiana citizens deserve a better informed and responsive government, a fair and improved tax system and significant investment in the factors that can pull us out of the bottom third of the nation.
Donald A Smith,
Franklin
