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Create jobs for Georgians: Invest in property we own, not private investment firms

Georgia needs jobs.

There is no way to paint a silver lining around Georgia’s dark job climate.

Georgia’s level of job creation over the past five years is among the worst in America. We rank 47th in the nation. The Georgia Department of Labor announced recently that Georgia’s jobless rate increased to 10.3 percent, marking the 50th straight month that we exceeded the national jobless rate of 9.1 percent. In fact, Georgia lost 31,000 jobs in the past 12 months – in other words, 85 jobs disappeared each day. Dalton, Valdosta, Warner Robins, Gainesville, Augusta and Atlanta all lost more than a thousand jobs each.

This is the wrong direction.

It gets worse.

Georgia’s leadership will amplify the problem by creating a new layer of government called a “CAPCO” investment capital program. Don’t know what “CAPCO” means? The legislature would prefer you didn’t. The complicated scheme will funnel 125 million taxpayer dollars through private investment firms run by political cronies. The program is a scam that moves money from one pocket to the next in a way that’s so involved that politicians think you won’t try to understand it. The program has cost other states — including Wisconsin, Iowa and New York — more than $2 billion over 20 years for few new jobs.

There’s a simpler way to tackle Georgia’s jobs problem. Instead of listening to lobbyists for private Wall Street investment firms, listen to real people from Georgia. Invest directly in improving our state’s assets, such as parks, bridges and public buildings. Hire local businesses and local people to do that work.

We don’t need to line the pockets of an investment firm to make it happen.

Take Action

You can take action immediately.

Text “GAjobs″ to 30644 from your mobile phone.

Or take an online poll to show your support for keeping our tax dollars out of Wall Street investment firm pockets. (Take the poll).

Finally, share this article with your friends, family and colleagues. By working together, we can improve our state.

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