West Virginia is a wonderful state that possesses numerous natural advantages - climate, location, resources, scenery, friendly and industrious citizens, a fine university system. But for decades West Virginia has ranked at or near the bottom when it comes to most of the important measures of economic well-being, such as average income, life expectancy, quality of health care, and high school graduation rates. The percentage of people in poverty is higher in West Virginia than in most other states. West Virginia has simply not been as good a place to do business as numerous other states. At the same time, although West Virginia has been a poor state for a great many years, it has managed its finances reasonably well, and has not overextended itelf to the extent that so many other states have. In short, West Virginia is in a unique situation - far behind other states in some categories, but way ahead of them in others. An extraordinary opportunity exists. With the right sorts of economic reforms, West Virginia has the potential to become the best state in the country - the most prosperous state and the all-around best place to live. It has the potential to surge ahead in competition with other states, and to become an ideal location for business investment. This book explains in detail how that can happen. West Virginia has the potential to become the envy of other states. But West Virginia needs to act fast because numerous other states across the country will be working hard in the near future in their own attempts to put their ecomonic affairs in order as a response to the Great Recession. This book contains a timely message fpr the people of West Virginia. At the heart of that message is a recommendation for a new state slogan - Low Taxes, Least Red Tape, Highest Ethics - and instructions for how to make this slogan a reality.
About the Author: Ralph William Clark has lived in West Virginia for nearly 40 years. Currently, he is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department and Coordinator of the Humanities Program at West Virginia University. He was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and lived as a child on Plum Island, Massachusetts. He received his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver and his Ph.D from the University of Colorado. He has three grown children - two sons and one stepson - and one grandchild. Prof. Clark has long had an interest in the subjects of business management and economics, and is the coauthor (with Alice Darnell Lattal) of a book for business managers: A Good Day's Work: Sustaining Ethical Behavior and Business Success. His knowledge of business management is more than academic, as he hearned the hard way while growing up what it means for businesses to be unsuccessful, and for a family to be very poor. His father ran small businesses, but with little success despite a lot of hardwork. While still in elementary school, Prof. Clark began working with his father at a small sawmill in New Hampshire that his father owned, and later helped his father build and repair summer cottages on Plum Island. These business ventures brought in little money for the family to live on. Prof. Clark's family had no money to give him for college, but he was valedictorian at Newburyport High School, and thus able to get a good scholarship to the University of Denver. He worked as a truck driver and at several other jobs in the Denver area to help meet expenses. Following graduation, he received an NDEA fellowship to attend the University of Colorado. Early in life, Prof. Clark developed an interest in the principles that underlie economic success, as well as the requirements for living a sucessful and ethical life in a broader sense. He has taught many different types of ethics courses, and has written extensively about ethics. He is an expert regarding how economics, ethics, and politics come together. In recent years, one of his main interests apart from his university job has been learning about ways to make West Vrginia the best state in the country. He has devoted much of his spare time to researching and writing Make West Virginia No. 1. He enjoys spending time with members of his family, attending football games at West Virginia University, hiking, and reading about nutrition and health. Prof. Clark lives in Morgantown, WV, with his wife Suzanne.