CNBC says Georgia is No. 4 in business

Just about the time I happily smack Georgia’s economic development gurus for presiding over a plunge in Forbes magazine’s annual rating of states as places to do business, another survey comes along that’s much brighter for the state. CNBC, which bills itself as a business network, ranked Georgia at No. 4 in its survey. The network has taken somewhat of an “American Idol” approach, dragging out announcing the big winner until today — the safe bets are on Florida, however.

The categories used by Forbes and CNBC differ, and even when the categories have the same names, the criteria vary. However, CNBC rated Georgia at No. 2 for “workforce.” This includes evaluating state programs that train workers, where Georgia has achieved recognition. The category also calculates — negatively — unions. Indeed, the state’s relatively low wages stem from the plantation mentality of business and government leaders — we’re $6,400 less per capita than Virginia, for example, which topped the Forbes study.

Georgia also ranked high on transportation — based on such factors as the state’s rail lines, seaports and, of course, Hartsfield-Jackson. Just don’t try to drive to our transportation hubs during rush hour.

As with Forbes, the CNBC poll panned Georgia on such points as “quality of life.”

I’d have a little more faith on CNBC’s study if the network seemed to know a

little more about Georgia. But about all CNBC could say was that we raise

peanuts (in dollar volume, we grow more marijuana than nuts, which the network somehow overlooked) and as a summation discloses this amazing fact: “The cotton gin was invented in Georgia two centuries ago by Eli Whitney, who moved there from Massachusetts.” Wow.