The quotations below are from the WSJ Opinion Piece by Brian Bolduc.
Senator Byrd thank you for your service to this state. Even though I disagreed with almost everyone of your political stances I have to believe that your heart was in the right place when it came to WV. However the billions of dollars in Federal Money that you sent to this state only allowed it to sink deeper into poverty while allowing some mistakenly to believe that progress was being made.
The state now has to maintain a sea of asphalt and concrete that our tax base will never in the near future be able to support. We now have to maintain large buildings and facilities that we never should have been able to build. WV has been the beneficiary or victim depending upon your view of wealth redistribution. You funneled money from other states to your own and allowed every single item to bear your name. Yet all this money did nothing.
When Byrd became senator in 1959, West Virginia ranked No. 39 in median family income, and No. 42 in per capita income. Today, it’s No. 48 in both categories.
Your continuous flow of money allowed WV the luxury of not having to make the hard choices that needed to be made. It allowed the budget to be balanced every year and hard choices to be continually put off. Almost every single bit of “advancement†that came as a result of your work was just more federal money being brought into the state. We have jails, the FBI center, large hospitals, but very little of the enormous amount of money that you robbed from other states created private investment. For decades WV has needed to make changes to its tax structure and business climate that would spur private sector growth. But we never did; the state just allowed Big Daddy to continue to write checks for money that was not his.
51.3% of the state’s economy relies on spending by the local, state and federal government—the highest level of any state. “We’ve created this culture of dependency,” warns Mr. Sobel, “Our human capital is not good at competing in the marketplace; it’s good at securing federal grants.”
I am both happy and sad at the days that are to come for my beloved state of WV. I am happy that maybe finally the elected officials will be made to force changes that will hopefully allow the state to grow. I am sad that it has to be done in such a compressed time frame. With only about 20 to 30 years of coal excise taxes left we have less than a generation to make changes that could have started in the 60’s and 70’s. WV’s workforce is strong and dedicated but they lack the opportunity to work and fulfill their potential. Until the business climate in WV is improved its economic status will continue to deteriorate.
An economy that grows because of government spending and not private sector investment is nothing more than redistribution of wealth. The faucet has now been turned off its time for WV to make the hard choices.                 Jake Stapleton 07-10-10
Big words for someone only 35 years old – he was around for a long time before you were born and he did many things for this state that you will never know about. You were taught to respect your elders just as I was.
I may be only 35 but that does not change my feelings. I do truly believe that he thought his actions were doing good and were the right thing but that does not change the outcome. Through the appropriation of money from other states he created a false impression of progress. If this state changed the business climate today it would be generations before we would able to have a tax base to support his “progress”. Roads and infrastructure are useless without the private sector utilizing them for growth. If the government is paying for something they are by definition either taking that money from the private sector or selling debt. The government produces nothing.
I was taught to respect my elders but at the same time I can and will not give them a free pass.
I stand firm in my believe that that history will write (if it’s done objectively) that he did far more harm to this state than good. WV has needed to make hard choices for a long time; and I believe that he has done nothing but delay those choices to the determent of the state.