The Dark Horse advocates the formation of what will be termed the Ohio Investment Bank (OIB). The Ohio Investment Bank will function as the primary investment vehicle for the state of Ohio. References to “investing” in various industries and technologies mentioned in other parts of this platform should be assumed to be via the OIB unless otherwise specified.
Every aspect of the Dark Horse Campaign and OHIO: RESURRECTION is a masterpiece of thought. But the Ohio Investment Bank stands apart as a truly inspired idea. The Ohio Investment Bank is a radical rethink of government. It’s an institution designed to facilitate progress, innovate, and market activity. It functions as a sovereign wealth fund, venture capital fund, economic development center, and business incubator. Its primary purpose is the formation of new companies in Ohio to take new technologies from the lab into the market but it goes far beyond that. If every single politician, business and labor advocacy group, and political commentator does not denounce this is an atrocious misuse of taxpayer dollars and gross government overreach then they clearly just don’t understand how amazing an idea this is.
The OIB will:
- Provide angel and venture capital to new startup businesses based in Ohio.
- Provide business management and accounting services to limit overhead for startups and carry them through the valley of death with a higher success rate than typical new businesses.
- Provide site selection.
- Provide export/import and supply chain services for startups with the OIB to ensure efficient production and help swiftly find markets for the startups.
- Coordinate the efforts of the OIB’s startups, Ohio’s technological and research centers, Ohio’s universities and community colleges, and labor organizations to facilitate the free flow of knowledge, skills, capital, and labor for the formation of self-sustaining industrial clusters in the state.
- Raise private capital for further funding of OIB startup companies and work with investors for the greatest possible success of Ohio startups and a return on investment.
- Develop statewide and regional economic development plans to identify opportunities, industries of a natural fit, and technologies that can best be capitalized in any of Ohio’s unique economic environments.
- At times, provide direct funding and grants to universities and researchers, for the early stage development of crucial or advantageous technologies.
- Be tasked with providing for the long-term strategic economic interests of the state of Ohio.
Fundamentally this does not sound radically different from various state economic development corporations or other services already provided for by the Ohio government (the many dispersed, difficult to access, underfunded government entities in Ohio which will be rendered redundant by the OIB will be rolled into the functioning of the OIB and done instead competently). What makes this such a deliriously great idea?
First, that the OIB does not deal in loans (that’s the task of the BOO), these are direct investments in early and mid stage businesses with the OIB and vicariously the state of Ohio taking an ownership stake in these businesses. The OIB intends to create equities that will be further invested in by private capital (and no doubt public pensions) providing pathways to relieve the global savings glut and put capital to productive use. The OIB then profits (ideally greatly) by dividends and/or the sale of stock. The profits are then reinvested into the OIB for the creation of more and more companies and the development of more and more technologies ad infinitum.
Second, that the OIB is designed for comprehensive economic development and the production of industry and technology clusters (and no not like all those poor penniless idiot governments who tried creating their own “silicon valley”s like a bunch of absolute morons) in key industries of the future–as well as the industries of the present–that benefit the people of Ohio. This is not the ad hoc luring of this or that oversized business looking for new subsidies to squander. This is the development of industries and ideas. The life of any single business is meaningless to us, they should die, live, and die again in the constant market churn that is creative destruction, an all powerful, awe inspiring, awful force of unlimited scope. Failure is natural and to be embraced. The idea is that the skills, capital, and ideas come, generate, and remain in Ohio.
Third, the OIB will be done right! Most government projects and programs fail because they are underfunded, unambitious, and run by weak willed, underpaid, flunky administrators with zero care, zero focus, and zero drive. Ohio is littered with such projects. No more. The OIB will be funded with an initial $10 billion (with the goal of inducing $50 billion in private investment) over the course of its first ten years of existence. Room will be found in the budget, some funds will be appropriated from Ohio’s rainy day fund. And the Dark Horse administration will implement a systematic restructuring of Ohio’s bureaucracy, creating a culture of vigorous, competitive, and efficient public service and administration. The OIB will be run with energy and determination. It will not act hesitantly or with undue caution out of “respect” for the public funds, none of the same excuses for the failure of government will be tolerated. The OIB will act and act with ambition. Of that, you can be assured.
Fourth, the OIB cannot and will not exist in a vacuum. It exists at the center of a complex and ambitious economic and social evolution in Ohio. The educational system will be expanded and restructured to create a skills ecosystem that is steadily producing skilled laborers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. The government bureaucracy will be streamlined. Nowhere in the country will it be easier to do business, bring technology to market, and for people to come to live and work. Investments will be made to make energy in Ohio the cheapest in the world. Transportation networks and infrastructure will be built to make moving goods and people within Ohio and to the world incredibly efficient. Broadband and 5G wireless communication will be implemented statewide and access to the internet will be unparalleled facilitating historically incomparable globalization and access to knowledge. Ohio will be a center of innovation and progress with the absolute highest standard of living in the world.
The OIB will facilitate the future of humanity. By making investments in technology, capital, and invention, it will bring down the cost of all things. Healthcare will become cheaper. Transportation will become cheaper. Energy will become cheaper. Housing will become cheaper. Education will become cheaper. Food will become cheaper. While simultaneously the economy will be growing and expanding, decreasing unemployment and increasing wages. The necessary cost of the social safety net will shrink and shrink dramatically (without heartlessly and unwisely removing benefits). The expenditure of the state and local governments will significantly decline while revenues swell from stable taxes on increasing economic activity and the returns to the Ohio Investment Bank. The surplus will be returned to the people of Ohio as a dividend in the form of a universal basic income.
This is a long-term scenario. But it is possible and should be done. Does it sound unbelievable? Probably because you lack vision and imagination and that’s okay. This campaign exists to teach the people of Ohio vision. If you doubt this is possible, if you don’t believe it can work, ask any questions you like, share your concerns, we will answer all your questions (and then will put it into an FAQ).
THE DARK HORSE FOR OHIO 