Parting Shot

I've often thought that Bob Robb should have been the Republic's Business columnist and Jon Talton should have been a political columnist.  Robb espouses a traditional economic view and rejects Talton's view that Phoenix is built on pyramid scheme, capitalism is the enemy and Ireland is an economic Mecca. 

I don't know if it's intentional, or if there was simply a lot of subconscious pent up frustration, but in his latest column, Robb takes a very effective parting shot at Talton as he heads out the door. 

Here are excerpts from Robb's latest column.  Contrast Robb's statements with Talton's worldview in blue. 

Current conditions have Arizona's economic worrywarts working overtime.  Arizona's economy is supposedly driven by residential housing, which is in a slump.

I don't know all the reasons metro Phoenix's narrow, housing-based economy levitates decade after decade, lagging by a host of quality measures but usually at the top in job creation and construction."  Talton  March 15, 2007

Nor am I going to peddle sunshine.

Well, you don't have to shovel sunshine, and the economy is always booming. At least, that's what they tell me.  Talton, May 2005.

A slumping housing market does have an economic effect. But it is simply untrue that Arizona's economy is primarily driven by residential real estate.

Some say that Arizona's economy is driven by growth. And certainly with that kind of population growth, a lot of people are going to be employed servicing it.

People came here to get away from it all, and their numbers have created what might seem to be a perpetual motion real estate economy.  Talton January 2007

And it's not the weather, another commonly cited driver of the Arizona economy.

The competitive winds blowing from China and India have only added pressure for the state to do more than depend on hot weather and inexpensive land.  Talton February 2006

Growth certainly creates more economic opportunities. However, such opportunity has to be extant to a considerable extent to generate the growth to begin with.   The most fearful feature for Arizona's future isn't the stuff that the worrywarts fret about. It's the extent to which this fundamental is overlooked and underappreciated.

But the index shows the urgency in creating an economy that does more than rely on lower-wage jobs driven by population growth.  Talton March 13, 2007

Residential housing doesn't drive the Arizona economy now, and bioscience won't in the future.

The university and bioscience campuses, combined with light rail, give us the best shot ever to reverse decades of creeping blight and attract capital, jobs and residents. Talton  March 12, 2006

Comments

[ron]

Read Robert Robb's article. Pretty weak. Not Mr. Robb's best writing.