Indeed, all of the spending associated with the convention center could have occurred elsewhere. However, in the name of economic development we have shifted resources from serving existing businesses to chasing after new businesses. We must ask what is gained if the climate for existing businesses is sacrificed in the name of economic development. Those in the private sector who make large investment decisions have generally been successful at making smaller decisions. But a person can rise to a key political position without a record of successful investing.
Legislators look out for their districts.
Their choice is to either make good investment decisions and alienate many legislators, or to make poorer decisions to placate legislators. Nationally, we see military spending decisions based on whose state or Congressional district benefits. Oregon's regional strategies program was actually set up to ensure that every region of the state got a cut of lottery dollars, rather than investing funds based upon objective success potential. Sidebar Counting Jobs Counting jobs created by economic development programs is highly speculative at best. An even greater problem is which jobs are to be counted.