Submitted by RSimmons on Mon, 02/20/2012 - 2:47pm.
In hindsight and after being smacked around by my wife and some friends who saw the "Rant" on TV. Much of what I wrote I based on 20 years experience through my employer who often laments that he regularly has to recruit personnel from the Triangle or Charlotte area and beyond to fill skilled and/or technical positions. Perhaps the shallow labor pool for manufacturing reflects the shallow job market for manufacturing jobs.
I agree that CFCC is a great school and has come very far in a short time. But that knowledge isn't staying here. It is going elsewhere for opportunity.
I don't agree about tax relief, a lot of companies do business in this state and more are moving here. Our corporate taxes are .9% higher than Georgia. But our workmanscomp and property taxes are much lower than Georgia. I'm not seeing us at a huge disadvantage in that respect. Georgia has a significantly higher debt load as percentage of GSP than North Carolina. Giving tax breaks and incentives come at a cost.
I do agree about infrastructure. Very poor in this region much of that is due to neglect by the state and some is just geographical.
Wilmington is still a beach town on a dead end road. I'm not a native,I'm from the middle of the state. I have been in and out of this area all my life and it never was an area of large scale manufacturing to begin with. Forestry, boat/ship building, ports services,agriculture and military support has been the anchor industries.
Wilmington has marketed itself as a retirement town and that is our growth industry. People from new england,upper midwest or where ever are making a significant investment of their financial resources here. Like Caterpillar or Titan they expect a return on their investment. They don't want industries like Titan here,I can't say that I blame them.
Poor choice of words on my part
In hindsight and after being smacked around by my wife and some friends who saw the "Rant" on TV. Much of what I wrote I based on 20 years experience through my employer who often laments that he regularly has to recruit personnel from the Triangle or Charlotte area and beyond to fill skilled and/or technical positions. Perhaps the shallow labor pool for manufacturing reflects the shallow job market for manufacturing jobs.
I agree that CFCC is a great school and has come very far in a short time. But that knowledge isn't staying here. It is going elsewhere for opportunity.
I don't agree about tax relief, a lot of companies do business in this state and more are moving here. Our corporate taxes are .9% higher than Georgia. But our workmanscomp and property taxes are much lower than Georgia. I'm not seeing us at a huge disadvantage in that respect. Georgia has a significantly higher debt load as percentage of GSP than North Carolina. Giving tax breaks and incentives come at a cost.
I do agree about infrastructure. Very poor in this region much of that is due to neglect by the state and some is just geographical.
Wilmington is still a beach town on a dead end road. I'm not a native,I'm from the middle of the state. I have been in and out of this area all my life and it never was an area of large scale manufacturing to begin with. Forestry, boat/ship building, ports services,agriculture and military support has been the anchor industries.
Wilmington has marketed itself as a retirement town and that is our growth industry. People from new england,upper midwest or where ever are making a significant investment of their financial resources here. Like Caterpillar or Titan they expect a return on their investment. They don't want industries like Titan here,I can't say that I blame them.