I've enjoyed getting to know Bill over many years now. We need many such open and honest economic analysts in town. It takes many data sources and models to bring reality to this region. I agree we need to formalize this - create a NEO Dashboard of the material that matters, to face-off against the marketing fluff.

Disrupt IT

Over the years around here, it's been a discussion of concepts and ideas devoid of the discussion of money and relationships--what it costs, and who pays for it, and who benefits from it financially, and functionally, both now, and later. Finally, we are digging through the marketing hype and the feel-good bumper sticker slogans to find out what's really operative, and we've just scratched the surface, thanks to Roldo, Bill, and others like them.

What we are finding out makes a compelling argument for a campaign against innumeracy. Over the years, the educational system has been dumbed down, with the result is that people blithely allow the gangsterism we now see, for instance, in the waste surrounding the proposed Breuer building demolition and site rebuilding to house still more county employees. We can't afford to give our politicians a pass any more; they're not serving the public interests when they spend the assets of prior and current and future generations like drunken sailors on leave, in the hope of garnering more votes for the next election cycle and perhaps get their name on a building, or a street. (We saw some sort of rebranded McFaul street downtown today, sort of like the nonsense they snuck through on us renaming Fairhill...)