Here’s something we hope to see make Kevin Stitt’s Oklahoma Top 10 YouTube Channel.
A few weeks ago, Forbe’s ranked the best fifty-nifty United States to start a business. They based the criteria on a variety of factors, including "business costs, business climate, economy, workforce and financial accessibility in each state."
Not surprisingly, Oklahoma – which has been under one-party rule (the Republican one) for over a decade now – ranked 42nd, which I guess officially makes us one of the top 10 states in the US to not start a business.
KOKH Fox 25's Wayne Stafford found out about the rankings, and naturally, used it as a good excuse to grab some food.
Forbes is ranking Oklahoma 42nd out of 50 states in a recent list of the best places to start a business in 2023.
"I can definitely can see how it can be true," said Hayley Preston, General Manager for El Coyote New Mexican Bar & Cantina.
You wouldn't think the Forbes ranking is true walking into El Coyote at 925 W. Britton Road.
"It's booming. This is the most pack lunch we had so far," said Ricky George, Executive Chef at El Coyote New Mexican Bar & Cantina.
Yep, it’s official. The best way to determine whether a state is a good place to open a business is to check out the lunchtime crowd at a hip and happening new restaurant.
After wiping their faces clean and, hopefully, tipping their server, Channel 25 then went to the Oklahoma State Chamber – a.k.a. the organization that wants to privatize public education in the state and send state money to Christian private charter school grifters.
They blamed Oklahoma’s stupid workers:
According to the Oklahoma State Chamber, it's the workforce portion that the state needs to work on.
"Workforce shortages represent a strategic threat to the ability of a state to grow economically," said Ben Lepak, Executive Director of the State Chamber Research Foundation.
Lepak says they're pushing for a workforce “czar”, to develop more skilled workers in nursing, teaching, aerospace and other career fields.
"What we proposed is having someone at the top who's really owning the development of Oklahoma's workforce and wakes up every day saying how can we improve our work force," said Lepak.
Yeah, the way to solve our state's shortage of skilled and qualified workers is to appoint a workforce czar, says the guy with the local business organization that’s supposed to be addressing those problems, but instead is more focused on destroying public education in Oklahoma, leading to a dumber, less-skilled and less-educated workforce.
Anyway, if you have any ideas to make Oklahoma a better place to launch a business – or know of another good restaurant Channel 25 can visit the next time they need to file a news report – leave a comment.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
