Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel has a way to create more jobs without spending an extra dime of taxpayer money.
Zweifel visited Joplin last week as part of a statewide tour for the “Invest in Missouri” legislation, which is sponsored by Rep. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, in the House and Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, in the Senate.
The plan involves the elimination of a cap on interest-rate return. Currently, Missouri can invest taxpayer money under the terms of its cap, thus guaranteeing less-than-desirable earnings.
Once the cap is removed, Missouri would have a better option for investing taxpayer dollars and get a much better rate of return than the U.S. Treasury’s rate of about 0.2 percent.
Another part of the bill would expand the Missouri Linked Deposit program by making more funds available to entrepreneurs seeking to create or expand businesses.
The expansion would allow more businesses and farmers to take advantage of the program, the newly elected Zweifel said. To get the funds, those entrepreneurs would apply for the loans through eligible banks.
Our only problem with the program: Smaller banks and credit unions might not be able to take part.
Zweifel said that lending institutions without a lot of assets might not be able to issue these loans.
Granted, this may account for only one or two banks in the entire state. But in general, we favor rewarding the banks and credit unions that haven’t committed large-bank sins (which triggered the current banking fiasco).
There’s no reason those financial institutions, many of which have eschewed bailout money, shouldn’t have the same access to state funds.
Such an oversight can be corrected as the bill moves through the Legislature. We hope to see this bill move through the General Assembly and get signed into law.
Opinion
In our view: Great proposal needs tweak
- Opinion
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Other Views: When is a right a right?
The framers of the U.S. Constitution were admirably clear, or so they and we thought, when they wrote in the Fifth Amendment that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”
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Phill Brooks, columnist: Stumbling blocks hinder Legislature
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Roy Blunt, guest columnist: Spirit of Joplin resilient one year after disaster
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Our View: Inspiring all of us
We look forward to the speeches of honor student Michelle Barchak and others Monday night when they address the 2012 Joplin High School graduating class — along with President Barack Obama and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon.
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R. Duane Graham, guest columnist: Trees — and communities — require time to grow
“I never saw a discontented tree,” said the great naturalist John Muir.
Well, I have seen a lot of discontented trees in Joplin this past year as I have moved through the still-healing disruption that tracks across our town . . . -
Emily Fuller, guest columnist: Two cities, two tornadoes
I’ve been afraid of storms ever since I can remember. When I was 4, my dad told me if I stood too close to the windows in our house I could be struck by lightening.
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Kevin Wilson, guest columnist: The world isn't ending, but the spending must
OK, let’s get something out on the table right from the get-go: I am not, and have never claimed to be, an economist.
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