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Once upon a time there was a city on a lake founded by French fur traders. They called it Toulouse and it grew to a regional center over the centuries. After the fur traders came the loggers, who clear cut the large pines and shipped them all over the lake until the pines were all gone. Toulouse went into a recession until copper was discovered nearby. Capital rushed in from all over the world to mine the copper. Huge smelters were built and hundreds of craftsmen became coppersmiths, shipping their wares all over the country on the new railroad. Mining and smelter executives became millionaires and built elegant houses on the other side of town from the smelters, rail yards, and docks. Property taxes and generous donations built dozens and dozens of schools, libraries, parks, theaters, and even an opera house. People low and high felt there was nothing they couldn’t do and prosperity would go on forever. Then the high-grade copper ore ran out. The smelters couldn’t handle the lower grade ore and were abandoned one by one, leaving decrepit buildings and toxic waste behind. The executives moved farther west to new mines but left workers behind. People pointed fingers every which way for the resulting problems, the greedy executives, the greedy unions, and the incompetent government leaders. The elegant houses became apartment buildings, the libraries became decrepit, and even the opera house fell into disrepair. Then a big change came about in reading habits across the country. Families were reading two newspapers a day, three magazines a week, and a book a month. The demand for paper exploded. Suddenly there was a huge demand for the smaller trees to produce the paper pulp. Paper mills sprouted along rivers everywhere and loggers worked overtime cutting enough trees to supply the mills. Toulouse became a railhead and port for shipping paper all over the country. Toulouse became prosperous again. Tax revenues were more than adequate to meet the public’s demands for services. To attract employees, Toulouse had to offer generous benefits. People low and high felt there was nothing they couldn’t do and prosperity would go on forever. Then a big change came about in reading habits across the country. People started watching television and reading less. They now subscribed to only one daily newspaper and one weekly magazine, and they only read a book a month, if that. Paper production fell, several mills closed, and loggers often couldn’t work full time. Then a big change came about in travel habits across the country. More people owned cars and used them often for leisure. It was nothing for a family to drive a day or two to a vacation spot. Toulouse, because of its lake, became one of those spots. Hotels and restaurants sprouted up where there had been warehouses and machine shops. The city administration and council looked for opportunities to encourage the development of more tourist attractions. It decided to revive the opera house. It spent millions refurbishing the building, added many modern features, and tore down some historic buildings for a huge parking ramp for the anticipated crowds of opera buffs. It also arranged for Flora d’Oro, an internationally renowned soprano, to take the lead role on opening night. Unfortunately, a really cold snap arrived a week before opening night and was predicted to last two weeks. Many out of town ticket holders canceled their reservations. When Ms. d’Oro learned that the house would be only half full, she cancelled her appearance. Worse yet, when many other singers learned of the cancellation, they either cancelled or refused to even considering coming to Toulouse. The opera house was used for local theatre and musical performances, but the high ticket price to pay the construction loans kept many people away. On top of this, the state imposed a limit on taxation for all the cities and towns. Toulouse was hard-pressed to pay many of its debts and obligations. A young mayor was elected on his can-do attitude about reviving Toulouse’s fortunes. Little did he know how big the debt was and how little flexibility he had in raising taxes. He thought long and hard about the problem and decided the city needed to make drastic cuts in its services and the city needed to sell some of its assets. The first assets to be sold were the oak trees that lined a majority of Toulouse’s streets; these went to a sawmill in another state. When these went, people started selling their houses, the prices went down and down, and so did tax revenues. The next to be sold was a popular, affordable golf course. The new owner raised the greens fees and built a luxury clubhouse, and the city saw a mammoth decrease in tourists. The decrease in tourists led to a severe decrease in sales tax revenues. On and on it went. Every asset sale led to a decrease in tax revenue. The decrease in tax revenue led to a decrease in services. The decrease in services led to a decrease in population. Finally, the city was able to pay off its remaining debt by selling all of its land to a wind generation company. This company felt the wind would go on forever. ©2008 Melvyn D. Magree |