Last November, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon went to Macon to recognize an expansion of Ardent Outdoors, a manufacturer of fishing equipment. The addition of eight jobs was enough to draw Nixon to the mid-Missouri town.
Ira Glass joked with Nixon about his Macon appearance during the monologue of the most recent edition of This American Life, a public-radio show. The theme of the show was job creation, and Nixon acknowledged that no payroll increase is too insignificant.
Nixon told Glass that Ardent Outdoors was not the smallest job-creation announcement that he's made in person. "I mean, we actually did one in north Missouri, where we created one job."
"And you showed up?" Glass asked.
Yep. Nixon added Bethany to his itinerary during a swing through northwest Missouri in January 2010. Nixon visited with Marina Remmers, the owner of Remmers Design, a printing company. Remmers, who was working out of her basement, borrowed $25,000 from a state loan fund. The money helped her rent a storefront and hire someone.
"This is what it's come to, America," Glass said after Nixon described his trip to Bethany. "You can hire your very first employee, and the governor shows up with TV cameras."
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