The problem with pursuing exports as a means towards economic development is that almost every city, state and nation in the world is doing the same. In order to come out ahead you must export more than you import. Well guess what, the numbers don't add up, never did and never will. And if cities like Greensboro, North Carolina think that transportation hubs are going to lead to exporting our way to a growing economy they are in for a very rude awakening.
Building industrial parks and recruiting major industries to come here? In case you haven't noticed everyone else is doing the same and that hasn't worked either. All we've managed to do is make a few wealthy men a whole lot richer while adding to the tax burden of the working class.
If Greensboro is going to thrive we must figure out how to make it on our own. That's one of the reasons I created the website EzGreensboro.com to allow Greensboro to know what is manufactured right here in Greensboro. Not imported and sold here but made here.
But that alone won't even be a good start. Fact is: it was probably a wasted effort on my part.
EzGreensboro.com is the sort of thing local government should be doing but hasn't. You see, buying from local retailers keeps money in the local economy but buying locally made products keeps an even higher proportion of Greensboro's money in Greensboro. And when you consider that Greensboro currently exports far more capital than it brings in you begin to understand why I say that local government should be doing what I'm doing on my own. After all, local government taxes you and I do not. If I thought the City would step up I'd give them the site.
The new City Council sworn in last night is going to have to look at economic development very differently than previous councils have looked at economic development if things are to change for the better. Studies have proved that the kinds of jobs brought by performing arts centers, restaurants, retailers and hotels actually increase unemployment in the long term rather than reducing unemployment. If Nancy Baracat Vaughan doesn't get a grip on reality Greensboro will soon be following in the footsteps of Detroit-- another city whose appetite for bigger and better could never be filled after the industries that built Detroit went away just as Greensboro's core industries have gone away.
As I've wrote many times before, real estate development and housing starts are economic indicators, not economic drivers. The housing crash of 2008 proved me right when developers learned the hard way that a market driven by artificially high prices instead of real demand, simply wouldn't work. The funny thing is: I predicted it and people called me crazy.
If Greensboro is to get ahead we have to look for bold new ideas and become an early adopter. It's the early adopters who blaze new trails, create new markets and get a jump start on the competition.
So the question becomes: Can we expect the next 2 years to be more of the same? If you think the answer is yes then my advice would be to get out while you can.
