This story comes to mind after Kia Motors announced its intention to build an auto plant in Georgia and SBC announced its acquisition of BellSouth Corp., which will likely mean the loss of an estimated 10,000 jobs.

Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau recently released a report on Hispanic-owned businesses. The Bureau revealed our state's Hispanic-owned businesses rose by 56 percent from 1997-2002, an increase which places Georgia second in the nation.

Moreover, Hispanic-owned business generated $4.2 billion in sales in 2002, 122 percent higher than in 1997.

Georgia places very high in new-business formation among African-Americans and Asian-Americans as well. Based on preliminary Census Bureau figures already released, the state will rank eighth in growth of new African-American-owned businesses. Moreover, Georgia will likely rank fourth in growth of new Asian-American-owned businesses when final figures are released in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, large companies like BellSouth have proved to be employment eliminators in recent years. Federal government statistics for 2001-2002 reveal that Georgia-based firms of 500 employees or more cut more than 81,000 jobs during this period. Such large companies were the primary cause for a loss of total state employment by more than 88,000 jobs from 2001 to 2002.

It's great to have big wins like Kia. Yet one of the key statistics in the Kia win is zero. That's the amount of state, county and city property taxes Kia will pay over the next 16 years.

Meanwhile, Georgia's tax-paying minority businesses keep growing in their influence on the state's economy and their contribution to the state's coffers.

For Gladstone, Faraday's invention was a "someday" proposition. For the coffers of the state of Georgia, however, Hispanic- owned businesses are a today's reality.