We’ve had a pretty consistent theme to our coverage of the Louisiana governor’s race here at the Hayride, namely that this thing is a runaway Jeff Landry train and it looks tough for anybody else to make the kind of headway needed to turn it around. That said, credit should go where it’s due, particularly where good ideas are concerned.
And toward that end, we wanted to give a mention to the economic plan that Stephen Waguespack rolled out a few days ago.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Stephen Waguespack wants to leverage his experience in the private sector to bring free market solutions to Louisiana’s pressing issues, and he released details on Monday outlining his approach.
Waguespack, former chief of staff to former Gov. Bobby Jindal, believes his lack of political credentials is an asset over others in the race to replace term-limited Gov. John Bel Edwards, providing him a unique opportunity to offer solutions that marry government with business and community organizations to tackle problems that have plagued Louisiana for years.
“I’m coming in with an outside perspective,” Waguespack told The Center Square. “I spent most of my career fighting for free market and free enterprise.”
Waguespack’s four-part policy plan released Monday starts with cutting taxes, reducing regulations and simplifying compliance to streamline the process for entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into reality.
“That will help our tax base, it will grow our economy, and it will create better paying jobs for everyone in Louisiana,” according to “The Wags Plan.”
This was the plan Waguespack teased in that 30-second spot he released last week, the one which drew a good bit of scoffing when he led with calling himself an “outsider.” We scoffed at it as well, because really – Bobby Jindal’s chief of staff and the President of LABI for a decade can’t call himself an outsider.
But the plan that got covered up by that unfortunate “outsider” tag line is very reasonable, and we don’t want it not to get a fair hearing.
So here it is, each of the four elements one at a time.
#1: Cut taxes and regulations=
Louisiana is falling behind. Texas, Florida, Georgia, even Mississippi are drawing businesses, workers and families. Why? Because they have leaders who are making it easier to start a business and raise a family.
Louisiana has the best people and the best quality of life in the world. There is no reason for our young people to move away except poor decisions and corruption in Baton Rouge. We have to do better.
That starts with cutting taxes, reducing regulations and simplifying compliance so it is easier to turn a good idea into a growing small business and hire people. It means creating an environment that welcomes companies from other states to move their jobs here. Cities like Houston and Austin should be worried that our state is set up to steal all their best workers.
That will help our tax base, it will grow our economy, and it will create better paying jobs for everyone in Louisiana.
Back in the spring, the Louisiana Freedom Caucus PAC did a poll on a whole bunch of issues, and near the top of that list was eliminating the state income tax. The poll question on that didn’t beat around the bush – it asked respondents whether they would support abolition of the state income tax even if that meant cutting the budget to “pay” for it.
And likely voters in Louisiana said they’d be for that move by a 64-25 margin. Republican voters said they’d be for it by a 77-13 margin.
So yeah – cutting taxes and regulations is a no-brainer. If we had a criticism of this we’d say it isn’t specific enough. What Wags should do is declare war on the state income tax, note that Tennesse, Texas and Florida have already gotten rid of theirs, Mississippi is accelerating the phase-out of its state income tax and Arkansas has just begun phasing out its income tax.
He could also say that not only is he for reducing regulations, he’s for doing that by getting rid of a whole host of the hundreds of deadhead boards and commissions that regulate the hell out of every facet of economic life in the state. It isn’t too far in the weeds to talk about, and killing those boards is how you don’t just cut regulations but insure that they won’t come back.
Local governments can do that kind of penny-ante stuff if they want. State regulatory boards should handle big things; not hair-braiding and interior decoration.
#2: Improve Education
We can’t attract people to our state until they believe this is the best state in the south to raise a family. And that starts with education.
Every child in Louisiana deserves a great education, and that means re-thinking our approach to public education. What worked 100 years ago no longer works today.
A quality education starts with quality educators. We must recruit, support and reward quality teachers.
We will also incentivize educators and schools to be innovative and transparent – from class schedules to competitive delivery models and teaching methods – ensuring parents feel comfortable and informed on what is best for their children.
This includes expanding school choice for families, and creating real viable pathways for each child to bring out their best potential.
We must ensure our schools always focus on quality education and never on social indoctrination.
All of this is good, and it comes from the right place – re-thinking the approach.
You don’t get enough quality teachers because you’ve captured that profession under the arm of a woke academic tyranny which indoctrinates college education majors into leftist nonsense, and then that’s all they know. They don’t know the subjects they teach. So decredentialize education and let school principals hire subject-matter experts who can impart knowledge. Engineers tend to be really good at math, more so than education majors, so don’t tell an engineer he’s got to go back to school and get a master’s in education before he can teach eighth-graders basica algebra.
And while Wags is talking about school choice, what he might want to really talk about is a full-on money-follows-the-child education funding plan. When the Louisiana Freedom Caucus PAC polled the question of money-follows-the-child, likely voters gave it a thumbs-up by a 64-19 margin. Republican voters favor it by a 73-9 margin.
That’s one you can get specific on without scaring away voters. Wags could have gone even bolder than he did. But nothing in #2 is wrong.
#3: Train workers for jobs here at home
To be the best place in the south to work, we have to ensure our workforce can be trained for jobs here at home.
The fact is, a four-year liberal arts degree is not the best path for every student (especially when it sometimes comes with a lack of relevancy … and a load of unnecessary debt).
As Governor, Wags will increase support for two-year and technical training colleges so that students can follow a career path that fits their interests, personality and skills.
Our community and technical schools, along with our four-year institutions, must be seamlessly aligned with industries here at home to ensure students are equipped with the skills employers need.
Wags will also push our four-year universities to focus on high quality research and partnerships that fuel regional economic needs to benefit Louisiana students and Louisiana employers.
Additionally, our state will start early by equipping high schoolers with career skills and on-site job training, as well as teaching them the soft skills necessary to get and keep a job.
We must also train and introduce new skills to adults who are ready to work by partnering with local economic development groups and universities to build collaborative partnerships and spaces in each region of the state.
By working together and harnessing our strengths, we will grow the economy so that great jobs are available right here at home.
This is one that you’re going to hear from pretty much all of the Republican gubernatorial candidates, and it’s absolutely a no-brainer. College has hit its peak in terms of the number of Americans who’ll be attending, because it’s too expensive and colleges and universities are busy trying to teach woke social engineering which actually make graduates less employable rather than more.
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That’s why, particularly among males, you’re seeing a rush of kids heading for technical schools so they can gain a marketable skill they can at least fall back on. Most college degrees don’t prepare you for a job, while the technical schools do.
And the dirty little secret is that you can get a college degree online after you get a job and start working, and it’s cheaper. That way you can do it without having to go into debt. You do miss out on frat parties and watching football games in the student section, and that’s not nothing, but on the other hand a lot of that time in college is wasted and there’s nothing more important than getting yourself on a firm financial footing as early as you can if you want to build net worth and accumulate some wealth. Orienting public policy toward creating citizens who actually own things rather than owing them is a key bit of intelligent government, so yep – we’re with Wags on #3.
#4: Tackle the insurance crisis
Everyone is facing the crunch of inflation and Louisiana is no different. But our state is also facing a multi-pronged crisis with skyrocketing insurance rates for individuals and businesses putting a squeeze on our economy at the worst possible time.
No region of this state has remained untouched from the historic storms and tragedies over the past two decades. While the blue tarps might go away in one region or another after a while, the scars are left behind and the economic damage remains in high insurance rates, damning flood maps, economic blight and lost population.
Wags’ approach is simple: As Governor he will get the regulators, lawyers and industry leaders in a room until we have a solution that benefits our families.
We must also be creative in finding ways to rebuild a competitive insurance market by rethinking how we fortify our homes, update building codes, manage water, create competitive markets and protect the rights of property owners.
We must train the next generation of adjusters at our regional universities to stop the adjuster shuffle that stalls recovery and frustrates homeowners after a storm.
Sensible legal reforms must be implemented to ensure proper recovery for victims while also removing unwarranted recovery cost spikes that drive up rates for everyone.
We must create a tax and regulatory environment where smaller insurers can mitigate risks and affordable re-insurance can be secured to keep those providers present in our communities.
A less heavy-handed regulatory approach can provide the market flexibility needed to help these smaller insurers sustain coverage during good times and bad. Tax relief should be provided for homeowners who take extra steps to protect their family and property in advance of a storm.
In the long term, our focus and investment in coastal restoration, hazard mitigation and flood protection must stay vigilant and can be used as an example for the nation to follow.
Insurers should pass on savings to customers that live behind new protections built during this effort. We must also work with our federal delegation to secure much needed formula changes in flood insurance programs and secure long-term federal funding to keep our restoration projects moving on target.
Some of the problem with property insurance in Louisiana is simply bad luck, as we’ve had a big run of hurricanes and other storms roll through the state over the past several years, wreaking more havoc than normal. Eventually it’ll even out and rates will go back to normal, but the big problem now is insurers don’t want to write insurance here. That’s true of home insurance, largely because of the floods, and it’s true of car insurance because of the massive amounts of litigation coming out of car wrecks but also because car theft is an absolute pandemic in the largest cities here.
Everything Wags is saying here is true, but what hasn’t been talked about is the relationship between crime and the insurance crisis here. Car theft has to be brought down. And crime in neighborhoods might not directly affect insurance, but one thing it’ll do is trash a neighborhood and make it so people can’t get good value for a home in that neighborhood when they sell it. What happens then? They stop putting money into that house and it gets run down. And a run-down house will for all kinds of reasons generate insurance claims.
We’re all for coastal restoration projects, though we’ve got a lot of faith that if the Mississippi River is allowed to flow at its mouth rather than be penned up inside those levees, it’ll do wonders for coastal restoration.
And of course we’re going to need some kind of tort reform, though the last thing anybody running for governor should talk about is that subject. Not after what the trial lawyers did to David Vitter and Eddie Rispone.
What we’re wondering is whether some sort of deal shouldn’t be made in which Louisiana passes laws facilitating a litigation free-for-all against Big Tech and China in return for a rein-in of personal injury and car-wreck lawsuits. The former is where the real money is, after all, and if that deal could get cut maybe it’s a way to get the trial bar on board with conservative reform.
In any event, you can’t solve all the state’s problems with the Wags plan, and perhaps it doesn’t go far enough in some areas, but what he has is worthy of praise.
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