(PIC)<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. That's not news. The question is: <strong>What are we going to do about it?</strong>

We wholeheartedly agree with State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."

Despite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County Economic Development gurus, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a mill or manufacturing hub. Mexico's highly automated, state of the art plants pay wages of $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing many factories there to relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Even the Donald won't be able to reverse this trend.

As Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”

The 'Free Market' economic system our nation was founded upon was largely self regulating and self righting. It was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its sturdy foundation. We were indeed 'The Shining Light on the Hill' that others could look up to and seek to emulate. That was a long time ago.

Scotland County was surely destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing fled, first to China and then Mexico, but things would have soon righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out. The reasons for Scotland County's failed economy are easily understood, straight forward and not complicated at all.

First, let us share a brief story. We made an appointment to talk with a (former) Scotland County Economic Development Director. He was smart, well educated, articulate, courteous, and he earned $80k per year salary, plus generous benefits.

We had recently purchased a former manufacturing plant and began discussing our vision to help turn the County's moribund economy around. He listened politely, but soon enough stated with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn't worth his time to talk with us. We inquired as to what made 700 jobs the magic number? He said the final touches were being put it place to bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.

We weren't ready to take no for an answer and asked who was next on the County ladder. The County Manager was it, but he was not presently available. We left our contact information and were assured he would contact us. We never heard back.

When the mills began shutting down, those with marketable skills left to seek employment elsewhere. Some hunkered down hoping for a comeback. Others made the most of valuable connections and attached themselves to County Government, School District and the City of Laurinburg. Nice work if you can get it.

Today, Government stands as the cornerstone of our economy. Unfortunately, government doesn't actually produce anything, rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce. Government is a conduit via which the fruits of others labour are redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable demographic constituencies.

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<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>
This article: http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status

<center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> </span></strong>

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