Is Your City Safe From The Tech Bust?

Joel Kotkin asks Is Your City Safe From The Tech Bust?

“A decade ago, the path to a successful future seemed sure. Secure a foothold in the emerging information economy, and your city or region was destined to boom.”

Today, that isn’t necessarily so.

I recall a friend visiting me in another state over 12 years ago.

He spoke glowingly of Tennessee with it’s light factories, plentiful jobs and generally “clean and efficient” Southern atmosphere.

He spoke about “light manufacturing” as the people Kotkin mentions speak about “technology”.

Now the Promised Land of the South is pockmarked with empty industrial parks and fast talking factories seeing who’ll give them free land, rent and utilities just to put their local populations to work.

Being the “low wage” producer only works until you’re under bid.

While the technology boom did boom, it’s now working overtime to stay even… it’s not creating new jobs in many places.

As Kotkin said, the whole charade was pitched as a way to avoid the “business cycle” and ride the wave of perpetual profits… as if that sector were not vulnerable to technological improvement, competition, or sheer human stupidity!

But as workers moving South to follow jobs found, this trend too only provided short term relief. The difference was the pitchmen. In the former case, my friend was pitching the glories of the South. No money exchanged hands.

In the later, lots of money exchanged hands as economic developers and business pitchmen both sought your tax dollars to quench their thirsts and promised endless returns.