Keller @ Large: Who Do You Trust - Private Sector Or Government?
BOSTON (CBS) - I spent a very interesting half-hour yesterday interviewing Bob Kraft and casino mogul Steve Wynn, who are proposing to locate the one eastern Massachusetts casino now permitted under law across the road from Gillette Stadium.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Their argument is the same as the one that got casinos over the hump on Beacon Hill this year - we need new jobs, badly, and this is the best short-term prospect for creating them.
"I see this as a great job creator that brings great benefits to the schools and social services of the community," said Kraft.
"I'm worried about what's gonna happen to the social fabric if we dont bring jobs back to America, and here we have an opportunity in this community to create 10,000 new jobs."
Wynn has in the past made it clear he has zero confidence in the Obama administration to shepherd economic recovery saying recently: "The Democratic agenda of spend and bribe the public has bankrupted this country, and until it stops, the citizens of this country are in for more hard times."
If you ask me, there's plenty of blame to go around to both parties, and the private sector hasn't exactly been covering itself in glory with its economic leadership in recent years.
But these two businessmen are essentially saying: do you really see a better job-creation plan out there than the one we're offering?
Kraft noted that he had wanted to build a life-sciences office park on the proposed casino site, but that industry, which state government has been touting as a future savior, has yet to deliver on that promise.
And if you think Gov. Patrick's current trade mission to South America is going to deflate the unemployment rolls anytime soon, you're quite the optimist.
There's been a lot of discussion lately about the excesses of the private sector, and rightly so.
But ask yourself: who do you trust more to create jobs in the next year?
Them, or the plodding, polarized pols of Beacon Hill and Washington?
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
