LETTERS

Lots of opportunities in RI

Posted 5/29/14

To the Editor:

I have some great ideas on improving Rhode Island’s economy. Ideas desperately needed considering the size of the unemployment rate! I am a great believer in supply side …

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LETTERS

Lots of opportunities in RI

Posted

To the Editor:

I have some great ideas on improving Rhode Island’s economy. Ideas desperately needed considering the size of the unemployment rate! I am a great believer in supply side economics. Not exactly the economics asserted in the early Reagan years. But something similar to that – for Rhode Island’s very ailing economy.

I’m a firm believer in giving people what they want. In Rhode Island, we are not producing enough of what people want. That is the economic problem with Rhode Island (along with too much regulation). We are not supplying to people the things and services they need and want. 

We need in Rhode Island to start supplying, by start making and doing. So people will readily scoop up these products and services. Some key areas to start are as follows:

There is no reason we cannot have a small casino and entertainment center right on the waterfront in Warwick. Why should we have to go to Foxwoods when we can have the same in Warwick? Think of the jobs created! Warwick is Rhode Island’s best city – why not supply gambling and entertainment right where it is needed, in good old Warwick?

Why not have a manufacturing center in the northwestern part of the state. The land is relatively cheap there. So we can establish wind farms, solar farms and waste regeneration facilities there, even a small nuclear generator. All there to supply cheap energy. So we can produce there the things people need for cheap energy, which include components for wind farms, solar farms and other energy generation facilities. So other people around them can enjoy cheap energy.

Everyone loves movies. So why not start making some in our own Rhode Island-based movie studio? R.I. and New England are rich in history, lore and drama, as well as beauty, scenery and natural resources. Why not tell the rest of the world “our story?” We can have actors, writers and production personnel all assembled here with one mission: make enjoyable movies. Movies the whole world would want to watch. The movies would include the two staples of filmmaking: horror films and comedies. We could make R.I. a little “Hollywood on the Narragansett Bay.” 

These three initiatives are just a start; think of the economic activity stimulated when we produce things that people want. In the future, we could even branch off into car or motorcycle production. Supplying things that people want in the here and now is a winning proposition. We need coordinating councils between business, the taxpayer, the well-off private investor and the politicians who may have to change or bend the rules to make this all happen. To paraphrase Robert Kennedy, “some people see things the way they are and ask why, R.I. should dream things that never were, and ask, why not?”

Kevin Vealey

Warwick

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  • JohnStark

    “some people see things the way they are and ask why. I see politicians' hands in my pockets, mind-numbing regulations, confiscatory taxes, and an under-educated adult workforce and say: "Here's why not."

    Friday, May 30, 2014 Report this