Publisher's Synopsis
West Virginia is a wonderful state that possesses numerous natural advantages - climate, location, resources, scenery, friendly and industrious citizens, a fine university system. But for decades West Virginia has ranked at or near the bottom when it comes to most of the important measures of economic well-being, such as average income, life expectancy, quality of health care, and high school graduation rates. The percentage of people in poverty is higher in West Virginia than in most other states. West Virginia has simply not been as good a place to do business as numerous other states. At the same time, although West Virginia has been a poor state for a great many years, it has managed its finances reasonably well, and has not overextended itelf to the extent that so many other states have. In short, West Virginia is in a unique situation - far behind other states in some categories, but way ahead of them in others. An extraordinary opportunity exists. With the right sorts of economic reforms, West Virginia has the potential to become the best state in the country - the most prosperous state and the all-around best place to live. It has the potential to surge ahead in competition with other states, and to become an ideal location for business investment. This book explains in detail how that can happen. West Virginia has the potential to become the envy of other states. But West Virginia needs to act fast because numerous other states across the country will be working hard in the near future in their own attempts to put their ecomonic affairs in order as a response to the Great Recession. This book contains a timely message fpr the people of West Virginia. At the heart of that message is a recommendation for a new state slogan - Low Taxes, Least Red Tape, Highest Ethics - and instructions for how to make this slogan a reality.
