"OOPS:"

ANOTHER COMPANY

LEAVES

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Before dropping out of the presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was fond of reminding people that vast numbers of Americans and American companies have fled high-tax, high-regulation, low-highway infrastructure states for the welcoming boomtowns of his home state.

Hangar Orthopedics, which sells medical prosthetics and orthotics, has now moved from right here in Bethesda to Austin, Texas.

Matt Crawford told the Austin American Statesman that manufacturers of medical equipment prize the vast number of engineers they can hire away from established Texas semiconductor industries, among more obvious factors in relocating.

Here in Montgomery County, rather than develop high-wage industrial and manufacturing jobs, our industrial zones are being sold to developers. In turn, they build "town centers," which primarily generate low-wage service jobs. Frankly, we are going backwards economically as other neighboring jurisdictions capture all of the good jobs. We need a fundamentally different approach, and to complete our highway system, if we are to move from the 1990s into the 21st century in terms of our economic profile and diversification.