{"id":1794,"date":"2007-12-18T08:10:21","date_gmt":"2007-12-18T13:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2007-12-18T08:10:21","modified_gmt":"2007-12-18T13:10:21","slug":"neologism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1794","title":{"rendered":"Neologism"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Employing weasel-speak as a roundabout justification to just keep on raising taxes”.\u00a0 It’s a long, cumbersome phrase.<\/p>\n

So when I say “Sturdevanting”, you know that’s what I’m talking about.\u00a0 OK?<\/p>\n

Speaking of which; I’ve noticed that a lot of car dealerships along University Avenue have closed in recent years.\u00a0 We’re in danger of losing those well-paid, skilled jobs, and the tax-paying employees that do them, to other states, unless we find a way to subsidize car lots with state money.<\/p>\n

Sounds ridiculous?<\/p>\n

No, don’t worry.\u00a0 I’m only Sturdevanting.<\/p>\n

And so, as it happens, is Lori Sturdevant<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The president of a 160-employee engineering firm [demanded a hike in transportation spending] so forcefully at a state Chamber of Commerce Grow Minnesota! luncheon on Dec. 4 that some of his listeners likely had trouble swallowing their mousse dessert.<\/p>\n

“We need to find a dedicated funding source for transportation” above and beyond the 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax, said Bret Weiss, president of WSB & Associates. “The governor needs to get behind it and get something done.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WSB and Associates?\u00a0 And they are…?:<\/p>\n

Last week at his Golden Valley office, near proud displays of his firm’s local work, Weiss elaborated: Minnesota is on the verge of losing a sizable number of good-paying construction and engineering jobs to other states.<\/p>\n

Construction professionals stayed in Minnesota in recent years despite the state’s refusal to spend more on transportation, because a hot housing market and business boom kept them occupied. That changed with the economic cycle, he said. Unless the state steps up transportation funding in 2008, “it’s going to become very clear to everybody that there are no dollars out there” to sustain the industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So in other words:\u00a0 subsidize the construction and engineering industries.<\/p>\n

Wait a few years to boost transportation spending, and contracts of necessity will go to national engineering and construction firms, he predicted. That won’t produce nearly the desired ripple through the Minnesota economy that spending now on locally based firms would.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“We need to be smarter about this,” he said. Smarter means not just more spending but the more-consistent spending over time that can anchor good jobs here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So if the big worry is that out of state firms will come to Minnesota to bid on projects that don’t exist today, then why aren’t Minnesota firms bidding on out-of-state projects now?<\/p>\n

“I’m not asking anybody to give me anything just because I’m a Minnesotan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, let’s be clear; that’s exactly <\/em>what you’re asking for!\u00a0 You want the state to pony up for transportation spending purely <\/em>to keep jobs – and, incidentally, give your companies a ready, flush market – in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

I’m saying: At least give me a shot. I can bring a lot of employees into this state, and those are great jobs. … Why not try to foster this industry here, as we do so many others?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Translated: “This state got into the subsidy business decades ago.\u00a0 So even though the state has slowed down the giveaway machine, we want our <\/em>piece of the pie”.<\/p>\n

Shorter translation:\u00a0 “I’m Sturdevanting”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Employing weasel-speak as a roundabout justification to just keep on raising taxes”.\u00a0 It’s a long, cumbersome phrase. So when I say “Sturdevanting”, you know that’s what I’m talking about.\u00a0 OK? Speaking of which; I’ve noticed that a lot of car dealerships along University Avenue have closed in recent years.\u00a0 We’re in danger of losing those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-minnesota-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}