Economics 101 (my Bachelor’s degree at work), and this is not a political issue—I don’t like either major party—so please don’t reply with politically related drivel. Roswell, NM will be left with no air carrier after a very successful 13 year run with American Airlines due to declining traffic and particularly the 14 day quarantine for any out of state visitors, which has crushed the New Mexico tourism industry.
When portions of the economy are restricted, by real or perceived issues, the economic output shrinks, businesses shrink and eventually businesses close. This makes it harder for other businesses to continue to operate and ultimately shrinks the tax base meaning that there are fewer resources to use to lift the economy and help those most at risk. No one pays more in taxes and royalties in New Mexico than the Southeast’s oil and gas producers. Taxes matter and you have to have economic production to have a strong tax base. Someone who gets it recently wrote, Like it or not, New Mexico’s economy is driven by this output. Someone recently wrote in opposition to a fracking ban that,“if you shut down fracking today, you will have to shut down schools tomorrow”.
Everyone is welcome to their opinion, but in a free economy, economic output is the real determinant of movement of people, especially those who build businesses that create jobs and build the economy. Ultimately we all lose when the economy in our region is restricted and the resources that business owners had to hire, invest and build are drained away by policy decisions.
2019:
2020:
While I don’t agree with all the concepts, several of the rules imposed, that are still in place even though we have met the ‘gating criteria’, make me wonder if we shouldn’t ask the old question, “Who is John Galt”?
The Basement of Time 