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 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