Solving Two Problems At Once

I get two types of feedback these days.

• We need tariffs to even the playing field and not be taken advantage of anymore.
• My business is about to be clobbered for no good reason, my own Government is killing us.

Somewhere between those two comments ... surely ... must exist a reasonable solution. Right?

I mean, I've been to Tucumcari, New Mexico. Have you? Any reasonable solution must solve the "Tucumcari Problem".

This city is equidistant between Albuquerque and Amarillo ... cities north of 500,000 people and 200,000 people, respectively. Two hours east and two hours west, that's where the jobs are.

As you can see in the image/map above, the town is bypassed by I-40. If you're whistling by with a half-tank of gas, you don't need to stop at the "interchange commerce" resources (gas stations, hotels, fast food) at each exit.

Any reasonable solution should allow the residents of Tucumcari to earn an honorable wage, making a living doing something the residents want to do. Residents shouldn't have to move to Amarillo or Albuquerque because that's where the money is.

Of course, plenty of people do move, they do what they have to do ... which is why the population of Tucumcari is in decline.

I don't expect you to come up with a solution.

I do expect you to have some compassion for a town that was largely abandoned by the modern world the minute Route 66 was replaced by I-40. Somewhere between what we've done the past "x" years and the path we're taking is a reasonable solution.

P.S.:  If you want an example of how one town can be impacted by leadership and industry, allow me to present you with Green Bay, Wisconsin. Green Bay is hosting the NFL draft this weekend. Green Bay is a city of 107,000 people. That's it. The financial impact of having an NFL team in such a small town is felt region-wide. I grew up in Manitowoc ... any town from Sturgeon Bay to Manitowoc to Sheboygan to Fond du Lac to Oshkosh to Appleton to Shawano to Marinette/Menomonee ... any town in that region is impacted. Dollars come "in" to that region. In Tucumcari? Outside of interchange commerce, dollars go "out" of that community. We need to solve the problem of money leaving communities. Ok. I'm done now.