Ed -
I do believe this version of the story as well... and agree on the
point you make... tax-incentives are less important (even
counter-productive?) compared to increased skill sets in the population.
It *does* however, fit into the pattern of preferential attachment and
compound interest, or as Pamela said "those who have, git". I'm
ambivalent (in the strong sense of the term) about increasing our
technical talent pool and drawing the kind of business to NM that is
implied. We are already suffering many of the ills of rapid growth
(urban sprawl, water, energy, pollution) and in some ways, an increased
number of high-payed, highly skilled jobs aggravates the much-demonized
disparity of wealth exhibited around centers such as NM state govt,
LANL, SNL.
The point I was making was re: Incentives. While we may revile big-box
stores (specifically WalMart) and question why our state government
would throw them bones to come/stay here, we often apply a double
standard when it comes to seeking the attention and affections of high
tech or media (think Intel, Sony, etc.) Industry.
Many of us with high paying jobs (or businesses) are very
liberal/progressive by many measures yet still subscribe to our own
version of Reagan's trickle-down economics (pay ME and my friends lots
of money and we promise to spread it around to the rest of you). LANL
is probably the most egregious example where (anecdotally) the largest
percentage of millionaires (state, country?) live (fueled by two-PhD
incomes, a hoarding mentality, and a modest if not low cost of living)
but generally do not spend in the local economy. The Rio Grande valley
that provides half the labor force (mostly labour class) for LANL
thereby has the easy-money that fuels the highest concentration of
Heroin abuse and other related and attendant ills (feast your eyes on
the infamous police blotter in the Rio Grande Sun
<http://www.riograndesun.com/cops_courts/> if you will). Santa Fe
County is a patchwork of barrios and trailer parks interspersed with
multi-million dollar homes, many behind locked gates. My question is
*does this really work?*. The closest thing to an answer I have is
"maybe" and "barely" or "sort-of".
Coming from severely poor areas (Catron County in far west NM and
Southern Arizona's Cochise County) where there is little or no
significant source of high payed work, I know it is not necessary to
have ultra-high paying jobs to survive proudly. In some ways it is
risky (class resentments, the crime associated with attractive nuisances
of wealth next to poverty). On the other hand, I chose to become
skilled/educated and find a place where I could be highly paid for
intellectually stimulating work. I am here and feel obligated to help
make the best of it not only for myself, but for my myriad neighbors
(near and far) who have such a diverse set of backgrounds, opportunities
and skills. To engage with them on their ground as well as offer them
opportunities to inhabit parts of my own.
I intend to continue to work on raising the quantity and quality of
workers ready and able to work in the high tech industry and to help
bring more of that work into NM where I can... but I think in the
balance we also need to pay attention to the natural strengths of this
region, of it's historic ability to provide for ourselves through
agriculture and other (nominally?) sustainable (minimally extractive?)
activities (forest products, light mining and industry, etc.) as well.
This is one of the things evolving at the Santa Fe Complex which I
applaud. While the main work is to help shape a new economy around high
tech work (1099 nation, hollywood project model, etc.) it has also
evolved to support less obvious but equally important work such as
implied by Community Supported Agriculture and lower-paid Art/Artisanal
entrepreneurship (especially at the intersection of
Art/Technology/Science).
We need to support this by buying (or growing) produce (and perhaps
other food items such as meat and cheese) from local producers even if
the price is a premium over what factory farms in California, Florida,
Texas, and the Midwest can ship to us by the refrigerated
boxcar/shipping-container/semi-load (subsidized by low-cost fuel and
industrial fertilizer and pesticides and practices). We need to support
this by building and furnishing our multi-million dollar homes (or
modest mud huts, depending on our circumstance) with the help of local
artisans rather than using prefabricated and commercially produced
products shipped in (again) from industries halfway across the country
(or globe). Even if we have to downscale our personal opulence and
convenience to accommodate the real economy represented in the extant
local production and skill sets. As our local industries grow in the
nourishment of our trickle-down wealth, perhaps those less fortunate
than ourselves can afford to shop local as well. Many already do, they
apparently understand the web they are part of better than we do.
For me NM has been a wonderland, allowing me to pursue high-tech work
while heating by wood (and solar) on my own well, growing a garden, with
only a few neighbors to negotiate issues like tinfoil hat wearing, gun
laws, and what to do about the barking dog. I don't know if this is
acutely responsible or irresponsible. If it is a pattern that scales or
not. My selfish and optimistic self says yes, but I don't trust that
self completely.
I hope others are asking (themselves) the same questions... "how does
what I do matter to the community I live in?", "what are my biases, and
can I renormalize my decisions to account for them?". This is perhaps
what I mean when I say "Occupy my own life."
I specifically appreciate your good work at UNM and at SF_X to bring
what you are talking about to NM and in no way want to devalue that
(despite my stated ambivalence). This state (and especially the
Norteno region) is typified by it's extreme diversity and I think
expanding the diversity of the high-tech field (away from "mere"
National Laboratory employment) is a powerful part of that.
I know the examples in this discussion have become extremely
NM/Norteno-centric, but I hope there are parallels among the many
members of this list distributed around the world. I suspect Gary
Schlitz in Ecuador and Mohammed El-Beltagy in Egypt and many others are
in the middle of similar questions and opportunities for their own
extended communities.
I also think (hope) that the topic is highly relevant to ever-present
complex systems questions, not just the overt political/economic/social
embedding it is framed in here. What *of* diversity and complexity as
a source of robustness in this context? What of emergence? What we
cannot predict or cause directly, perhaps we can nurture into existence?
- Steve
During a visit to ABQ to dedicate the microcomputer exhibit at the ABQ
Museum of Natural History and Science, Paul Allen denied the truth of
the often told anecdote of why Microsoft left ABQ. He told the special
student question and answer session we put together that at the time
when he and Gates were forming Microsoft, they had already left NM and
were in CA. There was no reason for them to return to NM since NM
lacked the pool of talent they needed. To me that last point is the
one that should concern Economic Development. The way the anecdote is
often told, the blame is put on the banking/investing community rather
than our inability to a sufficiently large pool of technical talent.
Ed
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