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Tesla probably won't come to New Mexico. They might even build in their home state, California! Close for shipping. They're looking for the Ahh-nold to give them some tax incentives. The other choices would be Nevada or Arizona.
Ahh-nold's been gone for four years now, but current Gov. Jerry Brown (yes, that Jerry Brown) is certainly the kind of guy who'd be interested in the kind of eco-friendly model Tesla is pushing. On the other hand, California's economy is a lot healthier so I imagine they'd feel less pressure to offer huge incentives. I agree that Albuquerque is probably a dark horse at best.
I would think New Mexico may in the coming years get some spillover from CA and Denver from people escaping high home prices. House prices in Coastal CA briefly dipped from 2008-2011 and Cali became somewhat affordable, but then they shot back up and housing in Coastal CA is now ridiculously unaffordable once again. This tends to drive out-migration to neighboring western states in search of affordable housing. Also Denver CO house prices have really shot up too and that area has become much less affordable. I would think ABQ may look attractive to some folks up there looking for lower cost housing.
I personally think ABQ is really a great deal in terms of what you get for the price with housing.
Right... which is exactly why a manufacturer, like Tesla (who is reportedly considering building a factory here), is highly unlikely to come to NM. Why come here and run the risk of having to put up with a labor union? Why not just go to right-to-work Arizona? Or go to right-to-work Texas AND pay no taxes?
Tesla's very happy to live in non-right-to-work California (replete with multiple large factories), and shows no interest in pulling up stakes and moving their operations to places where top talent won't relocate. The fact NM is non-right-to-work is not going to be as large a negative with them as other factors.
If the polÃticos improve the education system, employees will relocate to NM. Until that happens, the economy will flounder.
Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina are seldom at the top of the education rankings, and often toward the bottom, yet auto companies continue to locate plants in those states. So, it's not about education. Their draw, of course, is the conservative, anti-union sentiment combined with incentives. But even if NM could match the incentives and the anti-union sentiment, it's still missing a couple of big things: convenient location and infrastructure. There's no port within five hours' drive or an easy train ride, and flying in and out is also a challenge. C-level folks from the coasts don't like that hassle. NM's remoteness -- part of what makes it so special -- works against it when it comes to economic development. I don't see how you fix that.
So that gets us back to education. And education does need to improve in order to draw the types of employers that could feasibly call NM home.
Right... which is exactly why a manufacturer, like Tesla (who is reportedly considering building a factory here), is highly unlikely to come to NM. Why come here and run the risk of having to put up with a labor union? Why not just go to right-to-work Arizona? Or go to right-to-work Texas AND pay no taxes?
Current policy might have a negligible impact on the current available jobs... but it also keeps a lot of jobs from ever even coming here. If were were next to states like Indiana or Ohio we might look pretty good.... but next to Texas and Arizona, to a potential employer, we don't stack-up well at all.
Texas is not tax free. What they lack in income tax they make up for in other taxes.
If we need to reform any tax it's to reform and lower the gross receipts tax and maybe increase property tax. One list I saw showed NM with the lowest property tax rates in the country.
Not to mention that surveys of entrepreneurs find they are more concerned with quality of life issues/amenities/access to talent than minor differences in tax rates.
Also, compared to El Paso, ABQ fared better in terms of net migration.
El Paso net migration 2010-2013 was -2748 (ABQ was +1,516), and 2012-2013 was -10,500 (ABQ was -1,987)
If the polÃticos improve the education system, employees will relocate to NM. Until that happens, the economy will flounder.
Or the parents could teach their children the value of education.
Any political action directly on education won't have much effect if the parents of so many students think school is a waste of time.
If the politicians do anything it should be higher pay to attract better teachers, along with incentives to students and their families which might include payment for completing certain milestones.
Heck, the universities could even offer tuition rebates for students who finish in a reasonable time frame.
Tesla's very happy to live in non-right-to-work California (replete with multiple large factories), and shows no interest in pulling up stakes and moving their operations to places where top talent won't relocate. The fact NM is non-right-to-work is not going to be as large a negative with them as other factors.
In their analyst conference call a couple of weeks ago, Tesla stated that California has been added to the group of four states under consideration for their plant (so it is now 5). I think that lowers the chance of NM getting their battery plant into the slim to none category.
I'm thinking (without a lot of proof) that Tesla officials will try ta keep the battery factory local in CA to save costs. I think Jerry Brown has been in touch and they're working on it. But what do I know?
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