WHAT A MESS Rhode Island finds itself in! Things are so bad that some of our leaders have found it necessary to try to rewrite history, blaming all of the state’s current economic woes on national and global economic weakness. Of course, this is revisionism, as Rhode Island’s current recession began five months before the U.S. recession, our employment peaked 11 months before national employment, and we were one of the first states to experience budget deficits. While there is no denying that national and global conditions have made a bad situation here worse, what appears to have disappeared from the current dialogue is the long-term performance and potential of Rhode Island’s economy.

If I had to identify the single problem that drives most if not all of Rhode Island’s long-term, or secular, malaise, it would have to be that we are far too consumption-oriented. The state’s culture is driven largely by the here and now, which places a premium on current consumption, perhaps not surprising given the state’s beauty and, for many, very pleasant lifestyle.

But we have never focused enough of our attention and resources in any efficient and systematic way on investment-related activities, which by their nature entail sacrifice. In effect, Rhode Island has been seduced by and gotten along based on its good looks for far too long.

I do not mean to imply that we do no investment-oriented activity. Certainly spending on the public education from kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) continues to be substantial. And, based on numerous bond issues over the years, we have made investments in a number of needed areas.

But our state has historically relied far too much on the “quick fix,” whether by bond issues or raising taxes and fees absent much consideration of the big picture. One needs to look no further than what we did with the tobacco money a few years ago to see this. And, unless things here change, expect this to be repeated if President Obama provides the state with additional funds over the next two years.

Rhode Island does not have a competitive tax and cost structure. But the cost of doing business here is not merely inappropriate tax rates. It is related to fees, regulations, energy prices and perhaps most importantly, problems with our human-capital infrastructure.

The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has outlined a viable long-term goal: a far larger proportion of our state’s population needs to earn income above the national median (60 percent goal versus 40 percent currently). But how can we expect to accomplish this goal with so much redundancy and continuing quality problems in K-12 public education while at the same time public funding for public higher education continues its decade-long decline, the fruits of higher education’s output are not being capably commercialized, and higher education continues to become increasingly unaffordable? We will never be able to resolve this puzzle. Rhode Island’s current woes are a testimonial that voodoo economics doesn’t work.

How can Rhode Island end its reliance on voodoo economics while bridging the gap between our consumption-oriented ways and the clear need for investment orientation in the state’s human capital?

I propose raising the state’s sales-tax rate to 8 percent from 7 percent, not broadening its coverage to services (to help contain regressivity), and earmarking all of the resulting tax proceeds to K-12 public education and public higher education. Should the legislature try to move any of the resulting revenues to the General Fund (the God of current consumption), I expect Governor Carcieri to veto this measure and take his case to the people.

There would be numerous benefits in this policy.

First, it automatically links consumption-oriented activity, which we do too much of, with a critical investment-oriented activity — education — providing a sustainable basis with which our state can more effectively transform itself into a knowledge-based economy.

Second, some of this money can be used to incentivize an orderly transition to fewer school districts, while helping to contain property taxes by treating the problem (education costs) at long last.

Such property-tax containment can also be expected to benefit small business. Caps on property-tax rate hikes can be enforced in this type of environment, and the state might also consider imposing limits on allowable growth rates for local pay packages.

Third, this is probably the only viable way for the state to stop injuring higher-education funding, letting higher education improve, the fruits of which can be channeled into the private sector while making higher education more accessible. This added investment will result in more economic growth than we would have experienced otherwise, producing greater future tax revenue than would have been generated otherwise.

We must begin to rely far more on sound economic policy, shifting our orientation away from consumption and toward investment in human capital. The real question is whether our state will ever be able to flourish in the Information Age.

Leonard Lardaro is a professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island.