Survey: Biggest Obstacle to Economic Growth in NM: Government

That’s the real story behind a recent Albuquerque Journal story detailing the results of a poll done by the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

While generalized issues like “weak economic growth” were seen as significant problems for businesses, government-created or exacerbated problems like “lack of skilled labor,” “state/federal regulations,” “health care costs,” and “high taxes” were the most important, definitive issues dragging New Mexico down. “Lack of federal funding/budget cuts” was way down the list which is somewhat shocking given New Mexico’s relative reliance on federal dollars.

Solutions? Easy to come up with, but hard to implement: Revamp our education system focusing resources on school choice and vocational education; deregulate the New Mexico economy; end ObmaCare and adopt health reforms based on free market principles, and reduce taxes on productive economic activity both at the state and federal levels.

So, despite all the talk about federal cutbacks hurting New Mexico’s economy, it looks like the real culprit is what government does or does poorly, not the mathematical inevitability of spending cuts in Washington.