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BusinessFlare Take

THE GREAT NORTHEAST EXODUS — HOW HIGH TAXES ARE DRIVING AWAY BILLIONS The Northeast’s tax-and-spend governance model has finally hit its mathematical breaking point, with New York alone hemorrhaging $24.5 billion in adjusted gross income to Florida since 2020. This isn’t just wealthy retirees fleeing to golf courses anymore. Working families, entrepreneurs, and entire businesses are voting with their feet, creating a death spiral where fewer taxpayers must shoulder ever-increasing burdens. Municipal leaders still pretending this is temporary pandemic displacement are delusional. The data shows acceleration, not stabilization. A few smart cities in receiving states are capitalizing on this historic wealth transfer by streamlining permitting, cutting regulatory friction, and actually listening to what businesses need. Meanwhile, Northeast cities double down on the same failed playbook: raise taxes on whoever’s left, create another commission to study the problem, and blame everyone except themselves for the exodus they created.

Street Economics Insight

ECONOMISTS ARE STRUGGLING TO FIND JOBS. IT’S AN OMINOUS SIGN FOR THE ECONOMY When even economists can’t find jobs in this economy, some local governments should be hitting the panic button on their revenue projections. The academic job market for economics PhDs has cratered by 40% since 2022, while private sector hiring has shifted from analysis to automation. This isn’t just inside baseball for academia. These are the people who forecast tax revenues, analyze development impacts, and model economic multipliers for your community. Their unemployment signals that businesses and governments alike are battening down for something ugly. Cities still operating on pre-2023 growth assumptions are sleepwalking into fiscal disaster. The smart money is already cutting discretionary programs and building reserves. Economic development professionals should interpret this as the canary in the coal mine: when companies stop hiring people to analyze the future, it’s because they’ve already decided it looks grim.

Drama Meter Reading

THE REAL REASONS LAS VEGAS IS LOSING VISITORS Las Vegas visitor volumes have plummeted 8% year-over-year, sparking behind-closed-doors panic among casino executives and city officials who built their entire economic strategy on endless tourism growth. The public spin blames everything from the economy to weather, but insiders know the truth: Vegas priced out its middle-class base while failing to capture enough high-rollers to compensate. $30 resort fees, $25 cocktails, and $500 minimum tables have transformed America’s playground into a luxury destination most Americans can’t afford. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is reportedly in crisis mode, with emergency meetings about reversing the decline. The drama intensifies as major properties blame each other for the race to the top in pricing that alienated core customers. This is what happens when cities confuse price inflation with value creation, assuming tourists are infinitely elastic ATMs rather than rational consumers with alternatives.

Book Drop

GUT SANDWICH: WHY DATA WITHOUT INSTINCT IS JUST EXPENSIVE NOISE Kevin Crowder’s “Gut Sandwich” should be required reading for every economic development professional drowning in dashboards while their downtown dies. The book’s central premise, that the best decisions blend hard data with human instinct, challenges the consulting-industrial complex that’s convinced cities they need another million-dollar study before making obvious choices. Crowder doesn’t dismiss data; he contextualizes it, arguing that metrics without intuition are like having ingredients without knowing how to cook. The book’s strength lies in real-world examples where communities succeeded by trusting their gut over their spreadsheets, or failed by ignoring instinct in favor of “data-driven” decisions that looked good on paper but felt wrong to anyone paying attention. His “Gut Sandwich” methodology puts data between two slices of instinct and experience, creating decisions that are both analytically sound and intuitively right. Economic developers stuck in analysis paralysis will find permission to trust their experience, while cowboys making seat-of-the-pants calls will learn to respect the numbers.

ECOSINT Signal

NEW TV SHOW IMAGINES CHINA INVASION, GIVES TAIWAN VIEWERS WAKE-UP CALL Taiwan’s new thriller series “Zero Day Attack” depicting a Chinese invasion should be required viewing for municipal emergency planners worldwide, offering a masterclass in psychological preparation for catastrophic disruption. The show’s hyper-realistic portrayal of infrastructure collapse, supply chain breakdown, and civilian panic provides economic developers with a sobering preview of cascading municipal failures during crisis. American cities with significant Taiwanese investment or semiconductor dependencies should study the series as a worst-case planning exercise. The economic intelligence value isn’t in the military scenarios but in visualizing how quickly modern cities unravel when critical systems fail. Local governments maintaining outdated emergency plans from the pre-digital era are essentially planning for the last war. The series demonstrates why economic resilience requires more than stockpiled supplies; it demands redundant systems, distributed decision-making, and populations psychologically prepared for disruption.

Red River Flavor

REAL SPICES, REAL FOOD, REAL RESULTS: WHY RED RIVER MATTERS Goodnight’s Red River Spice Company stands as a delicious rebellion against the chemical-laden imposters masquerading as seasonings in most American kitchens. While the food industry pushes synthetic flavor “systems” and laboratory-created taste enhancers, Red River delivers what your grandmother would recognize: actual spices from actual plants, combined with the radical idea that food should make you healthier, not sicker. Recent studies confirming glyphosate contamination in major spice brands only reinforces what Red River has preached since day one: the industrial food complex has prioritized shelf stability and profit margins over human health. Their Famous Steak Seasoning and Goodnight Chili aren’t just superior in taste; they’re free from the chemical cocktail that’s slowly poisoning America. This isn’t boutique foodie pretension. It’s a return to sanity in seasoning, proving that real ingredients don’t need laboratory enhancement to deliver exceptional flavor. Economic developers should note: consumers are increasingly willing to pay premium prices for authentic products from companies they trust.

The Music Cities

FLAREHEADS PODCAST RETURNS: WHERE MUSIC MEETS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Flareheads podcast is relaunching as “Flareheads: The Music Cities,” exploring the powerful intersection of music and economic development that most communities completely miss. Host Kevin Crowder brings unique credibility to this convergence, combining his experience as a heavy metal guitarist with decades of economic development expertise. The podcast will examine how cities can leverage their music scenes for authentic economic growth, moving beyond tired “Music City” branding to understand the actual economic mechanics of creative communities. Episodes will feature deep dives into cities that get it right, conversations with artists who’ve become economic catalysts, and practical strategies for communities wanting to amplify their cultural assets. The curated soundtrack reflecting BusinessFlare’s ethos promises to be worth the subscription alone. This isn’t another podcast about the music business or economic development theory. It’s about the hidden economy where culture creates commerce, examining success stories like Jimmy Buffett’s place-branding empire and revealing opportunities most cities overlook while chasing the next Amazon warehouse.

Space Economy Signal

THE AVERAGE INCOME OF AN ASTRONOMER IN THE UNITED STATES MIGHT SURPRISE YOU Professional astronomers in the US average just $82,000 annually, less than many municipal economic development directors, revealing a cosmic mismatch between educational investment and economic return that should worry communities banking on STEM workforce strategies. The article exposes how even highly specialized scientific careers struggle with compensation, particularly given the decade-plus of education required. For cities investing millions in planetariums, observatories, and space-themed economic development, these numbers suggest a reality check is overdue. The space economy’s ground-level workforce economics don’t match the hype surrounding billionaire rocket launches. Communities pursuing space sector strategies need to understand they’re competing for a surprisingly small pool of professionals who could make more money writing code for dating apps. The real economic development opportunity might not be in attracting astronomers but in the technical workforce supporting space operations: the machinists, engineers, and technicians who keep the industry running.

Purple Cow of the Day

BARBARA CORCORAN POINTED OUT 1 CLEAR SIGN TO SPOT SOMEONE WITH GOOD LEADERSHIP SKILLS Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran says truly effective leaders make decisions quickly and adjust later, rather than paralyzed by perfect information gathering, a trait desperately needed in municipal economic development where analysis paralysis kills more projects than bad decisions ever could. Her observation that “the best leaders are wrong often but moving always” should be tattooed on every city manager’s forehead. Corcoran built her empire by acting on incomplete information while competitors studied market reports. This isn’t recklessness; it’s recognition that perfect information doesn’t exist and waiting for it guarantees irrelevance. Municipal leaders who’ve turned their cities around share this bias toward action, making reversible decisions quickly rather than allowing irreversible delays to persist indefinitely. The purple cow insight: in economic development, being decisively wrong teaches you more than being tentatively right. Cities need leaders who can make Monday’s decision by Tuesday, not next quarter’s committee recommendation.

About Street Economics Daily Street Economics Daily cuts through noise, jargon, and bureaucracy to deliver sharp, actionable insights for civic and economic development professionals. Blunt, irreverent, and grounded firmly in reality, it’s essential daily reading for city leaders who refuse to settle for outdated strategies.

BusinessFlare | Street Economics | Drama Meter | The Music Cities | Goodnight’s Red River

Street Economics Daily content is generated with AI assistance and human editorial oversight. All analysis, opinions, and interpretations are those of BusinessFlare and do not constitute professional advice. Readers should independently verify all facts, figures, and claims before making business or policy decisions. While we strive for accuracy, errors may occur in AI-generated content. Links to source articles are provided for verification. This newsletter is for informational purposes only.