MOScout Daily Update: Bunge's Jeff City Lobbyist (Trick Headline!) - Roeber to Run - Economy Scrambling 2020 Message? - 5G to Skip Rural MO? and more...
Driving the Day: Governor’s Ham Breakfast
The Governor’s Ham Breakfast is this morning at the State Fair in Sedalia. It’s mandatory attendance for aspiring statewides…
Bunge’s Jeff City Rep…
With Bunge’s big announcement yesterday that they were moving their global headquarters to St. Louis County, I was curious who their lobbyists were in Jefferson City… No one…. Bunge has nobody registered to represent them!
Roeber for Roeber’s Seat
Mike Mahoney reports that “Rick Roeber, the husband of the late Lee’s Summit St. Rep Rebecca Roeber, (MO-34) jumps into campaign to replace her, days after her memorial service. Says his wife would understand in his grief the importance of ‘keeping her memory & legacy in tact’”
Maybe Don’t Run on the Economy?
Yesterday’s stock market sell-off has folks using the “R word.” Wall Street Journal reports: When assumptions about how the world works are shattered, a global downturn is often the result. The world learned in the early 1970s that the era of cheap oil was over, in the early 1980s that countries could default, and a decade ago that American mortgages and global banks aren’t safe.
Today, a similar rethink of globalization is under way. From Washington to Buenos Aires, nations’ mutually reinforcing commitment to open markets is disintegrating. In response, investors are rearranging portfolios, businesses are rethinking investments and policy makers are struggling to respond—all of which are pushing the global economy closer to recession.
What It Means
· It’s hard to imagine a recession occurring right now. That disconnect is well-expressed in this meme.
· But the market is theoretically looking out 6-9 months. Which is, of course, maybe the worst possible time politically for a recession to occur, smack in the heat of the presidential race.
· I’ve been saying that it’s smart of Team Parson to try to stick with the policies in the governor’s wheelhouse – workforce development and infrastructure – because they reinforce the political asset of a strong economy.
· Perhaps I’m wrong and it’s best to follow the president’s lead and make America’s cultural war the centerpiece.
We’ll see…
5G to Skip Rural Areas?
On Monday, I linked to an Axios report about the challenges facing rural economies. That’s now. But thinking about the future of rural economies, there’s a new vexing problem looming: the latest advance in connectivity is technically expensive to implement in rural areas
Axios reports (see it here)…
· New 5G networks are expected to supercharge wireless speeds and trigger an explosion of new services — but they also may exacerbate the stubborn digital divide and leave out wide swaths of rural Americans… According to FCC data, 31% of rural residents don't have fixed broadband service, compared to 2% of city residents. Despite the hype around 5G, there's still little financial incentive for the major telecom firms to spend the billions of dollars necessary to serve rural communities, experts say.
· Big wireless providers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are promising that 5G (or fifth-generation wireless networks) will deliver gigabit speeds — up to 100 times faster than current 4G LTE wireless service — that will power smart cities, instant video delivery, virtual reality and a host of other applications that need constant, robust connections.
· The catch: The high-frequency airwaves capable of delivering those fast speeds can't travel very far — only a few hundred feet with a clear line of sight. So networks will need hundreds of thousands more cell antennas to carry the signals. That may be feasible for a metropolitan downtown, but it's too expensive in many rural areas….
And
Governing Magazine has an article about what some states are trying to buoy the rural economy. See it here.
· Rural areas lag well behind cities in terms of educational attainment. They have a lower level of workforce participation, with fewer people per capita in the prime working ages of 25 to 54, due largely to outmigration…
· Most of the governors' initiatives embrace similar themes: expanding broadband, building workforce housing and, in states that haven’t done so, expanding Medicaid to support rural hospitals…
· Too often, rural officials focus on putting together an incentive package to attract a single company, rather than figuring out ways to adapt to a changing economy. That local leadership, in turn, is often stretched thin, due to the fact that educated and talented young people are seeking greener pastures….
STL Gets MLS Team
St. Louis feels the love. A day after the Bunge announcement, word comes from the Post-Dispatch that “Major League Soccer plans to announce next week that St. Louis has secured an expansion team… Plans have been made for an event Tuesday in St. Louis... The St. Louis ownership group, spearheaded by Carolyn Kindle Betz, president of Enterprise Holdings Foundation, and Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology, presented a plan to the league that included a primarily privately funded downtown stadium and a majority female ownership group.”
Apologies
To those who read MOScout yesterday early and saw an RFP for Higher Ed Commissioner. I goofed and referenced an old post.
New Committees
Kaitlin Cavey formed a candidate committee (Committee To Elect Kaitlin Cavey) to run for House 83 as a Democrat. The current incumbent, Democratic Rep. Gina Mitten, is termed.
MLPAC was formed. Its treasurer is Marc Ellinger.
Lobbyists Registrations
Jeffrey Aboussie added U Street Parking.
David Sweeney added StarLake Holdings.
Samantha Davis deleted Missouri Department of Higher Education.
$5K+ Contributions
Spirit of Missouri - $25,000 from RightCHOICE Managed Care Inc.
Missouri Democratic State Committee - $10,000 from Missouri Realtors PAC Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Rep. Rodger Reedy.