Memo to Ohioans: Quit Dying, Already!

Well, the U.S. Census Bureau came out today with its state-by-state population estimates for the U.S. as of July 1, 2006. The State of Ohio experienced an anemic growth rate of approximately 0.1 percent, which is consistent with the State's rate of growth since the 2000 census. While Ohio families produced a healthy share of babies this year, and we had a large number of immigrants move to the state, Ohio's growth was negatively impacted by an estimated 107,000 deaths, as well as approximately 48,000 Ohioans who left the state to seek a brighter future.

Ohioans will continue to leave the state until we can rebuild our educational institutions, improve our infrastructure, rebuild our tax system, and make other necessary changes that will create jobs here. In the meantime, Ohio will continue to fall behind other state's population growth rate, costing us congressional seats and electoral votes. So, Memo to Ohioans: Would you quit dying already!?