Sasse Says By All Indications RI’s Economy is Slowing, “Black Cloud" Emerging

Sasse Says By All Indications RI’s Economy is Slowing, “Black Cloud" Emerging

Gary "The Money Man” Sasse, the former Director of Administration and Director of the Hassenfeld Institute at Bryant University, says that research by economics professor Edinaldo Tebaldi at Bryant and reports by Leonard Lardaro at the University of Rhode Island show Rhode Island is lagging the rest of the country.

Sasse cites the morbid growth rate in RI of just 0.2% versus the U.S. rate of 2.8% in the 4th quarter.

“I think a black cloud is descending over the economy of the state… there was some work done by the regional economic studies group of Bryant, which is Professor Eddie Tebaldi -- who we work very closely with  -- and just to take a second to summarize and highlight some data, if you look at the gross domestic product for the fourth quarter, ours is going to grow by 0.2%

In addition, in both January and February, Rhode Island lost jobs — in contrast, Massachusetts added more than 17,000 jobs in those two months.

Lack of Planning

Sasse says the challenge for Rhode Island is to shift from a transactional economic development strategy of a lot of one-off deals to a more strategic and planned strategy focused on critical clusters that can help transform Rhode Island’s economy not just for the short-term, but for the state’s long-term viability.

Sasse joins GoLocal LIVE every Monday at 4 PM.

Watch the full interview above