The Communitech economic development research collaborative launched on Thursday. The University of Memphis (U of M) collaborative has aims to become a Carnegie R1 research institution in five years which is the pinnacle University research recognition. Such a recognition stands to attract researchers from around the country which is good for Memphis.

In his Communitech opening remarks, Dr. David Rudd discussed the need for “career pathways” for the community. Problem is the University of Memphis along with its primary partner in FedEx and Fred Smith along with Memphis Tomorrow, Chamber and EDGE  have obstructed locally owned small business from bringing solutions to market to connect career pathways solutions for a Memphis community in need. In Memphis, “career pathways” is just a buzz word without coherent published data to guide career pathways deployment, linkage of career pathways to quantifiable projected employer demand or the availability of a research based plan to define and integrate career pathways planning into the standards based academic curriculum.

Disconnected workforce development systems in Memphis persist after four years of corporate led government funded nonprofit efforts have failed to deliver connected career pathways services. While business involvement is desperately needed in education, the business community has just not executed for taxpayers.

Disconnected efforts come on the back of non-domestic experience and a foreign contract award while Memphis squanders a primary economic development asset in its youthful population. This disconnected career pathways system leaves the University of Memphis and other local institutions with free 2 year post-secondary education without a connecting pipeline to increase enrollment and program completion to serve employer demand.

Career Pathways

The Memphis career pathways disconnect persist following a range of meetings with presented locally owned small business solutions to University of Memphis, Greater Memphis Chamber and FedEx representatives. None of these entities took any known action that would resolve disconnected workforce development efforts in Memphis that have persisted for 4 years following state grant funding to address the local challenge.

Further, I wrote a favorable blog, touting the remarks Dr. Rudd made earlier in the summer, at the Memphis “Age of Agility” educational conference while proposing a solution to connected workforce development efforts in Memphis. The blog was dismissed by the elitist corporate establishment as Memphians and their students were deliberately saddled with disconnected workforce development services for the 4^th school year in a row. The local Memphis population as well as U of M graduates are routinely dismissed and shut out by the elitist establishment as they feed on a community in need through excessive tax abatements – while not advocating for needed service delivery –  and while championing the closed Memphis social construct of the ineffective corporate led nonprofit community that thrives while using taxpayer dollars.

The local Memphis Corporate Community Leadership complex and apparently the University of Memphis have a proclivity toward dealing with Canadian learning providers. There is nothing wrong with partnering with Canadian companies provided they deliver needed services. But Canadian efforts  have not delivered as locally owned small business, domestic expertise and the needs of 60K learners are systematically dismissed by the elitist Memphis establishment. Forget about local small business for a moment. Proven domestic American providers that can deliver are not good enough for the elitist Memphis establishment. This disservice results in slowing economic growth at an estimated recurring taxpayer cost of $15M per year while costing local business millions.

Elected Officials

In many ways, elected officials are left hanging, as the Memphis elitist business establishment systematically obstructs connected workforce development efforts. And the Greater Memphis Chamber has yet to articulate an alignment protocol on behalf of employers to communicate their needs to the workforce development system.

Apparently, terrified of a solution to connect workforce development efforts, the Chamber stifles locally owned small business solutions to connect efforts while kicking solution providing members out of the Chamber without cause and not making their Chamber bylaws available to membership. This occurrence serves as a data point indicator of the closed Crump like elitist system in Memphis that chokes off economic opportunity for all.

But overall, City Council and County Commission efforts have gone nowhere to resolve the disconnect in the face of business community obstruction as business community leadership is fundamentally needed to connect career pathways efforts.

Greater Memphis Alliance of Competitive Workforce (GMACW)

The local business community in Memphis under the leadership of Memphis Tomorrow, a CEO organization founded by Joseph Reeves “Pitt” Hyde III and a Greater Memphis Chamber Chairman’s Circle initiative, launched GMACW in 2014 to align local educational efforts with regional employer demand. GMACW remains a desperately needed initiative but it needs to execute for taxpayers.

In 2014, the State of Tennessee funded GMACW with a Labor Education Alignment Program (LEAP) grant to help align local career pathways programming with employer demand. But the initiative sputtered, hampered by a foreign Canadian contract award, strangely, in conjunction with the Federal Tech Hire award that was to increase domestic citizen employment in tech jobs. As the initiative struggled, instead of course correcting to facilitate needed service delivery of connected workforce development services with available locally owned small business solutions, Hyde dismissed the solutions and participated in the establishment of, yet another, nonprofit in Complete Tennessee.

Soon after the establishment, Complete Tennessee in 2017 reported, regarding the Memphis Delta region that,  “Institutions voiced concerns about understanding the region’s labor market priorities. Inversely, local industry expressed frustrations with the timeliness of student completion, often desiring micro-credential programs as a way to meet pressing needs for both employers and low-income citizens. Additionally, participants stressed the importance of clear career pathways for students that align with regional workforce demands.”

In effect, the report states the LEAP grant did not deliver for the local community. GMACW was then moved under The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) with funding support from FedEx. The new EDGE / GMACW Board persisted in nonperformance by not holding regular board meetings or sustaining the grant with regular labor market reports. Hence, a disconnected workforce development system persists without data, research-based plan or connecting technology costing taxpayers and local businesses millions.For whatever reason, through a lack of course correction, the establishment of more and more nonprofits in the face of below average results, is mistaken as a solution to Memphis problems. After all, Memphis Tomorrow is down in all of their categories of public safety, workforce and economic development as their nonprofit initiatives feed off the taxpayer and community in need.

Recently, the nonprofit Epicenter initiative was featured with a $10M ask from local government pension funds to support small business development. The ask comes without any Epicenter outcome data after 4 years or even an ad campaign to stress the importance of supporting a struggling small business sector. Its makes one wonder is the primary local corporate goal about getting government funding for nonprofits or solving community problems? And the $10M ask is a big ask of local government retirees which would effectively equate to a $72M ask from FedEx’s $24B pension fund.

But the thought process is one-sided on the side of a closed corporate pig elitist establishment that obstructs growth and leaves Memphis behind in a global economy. Legislative bodies routinely schedule members of the Memphis Tomorrow informal network (EDGE, DMC, Chamber) which is constantly bidding for government funding without formally scheduling or proactively seeking out dissenting opinion from the taxpayer. This leaves the taxpayer with no recognized voice as the non-reporting press only covers establishment presenters.

Press Enabled 

Forget about investigation. How about just reporting?  One of the great enablers of the Memphis decline and the rigged system is the non-reporting local press, another indicator of the rigged system. The public or state leaders are not going to see reporting on the above. Smith and Hyde just can’t be questioned while the local Memphis press leaves the elitist establishment unchecked enabling  Memphis to fall further behind its peers as a global economy, authored largely in Memphis, roars ahead.

While “Momentum” is the politically correct buzz word term to describe the state of local economic development efforts, the reality is that Memphis total wage growth is far below its peers, small business vitality is near the bottom of 106 metros, poverty rates nearly lead the nation and disconnected workforce development persists. Workforce development is often stated as the #1 economic development priority  but its not in practice and the press doesn’t question it as excessive corporate/real estate incentives are the economic development priority.

For example, the recent Beacon Report, went unreported in the Memphis Press. The report outlined excessive tax abatements that approached $200M in taxpayer losses justified with bogus EDGE tax revenue projection accounting. And the local press has yet to report on the apparent lack of progress in local economic development planning to benefit all as tax incentives for the few thrive. As a matter of note, EDGE, birthed by the Memphis Tomorrow CEO organization, is a needed initiative but needs a board that will execute for taxpayers.

Currently, the local establishment appears to measure economic development based on capital investment but no one really knows. After a year, a coherent plan for or definition of economic development by which efforts would be measured has still not materialized. Measurement against an economic development definition of “improving the social well being of people” for example, would not serve “momentum” rhetorical talking points.

Conclusion

This lack of critical press coverage leaves Memphis, a community in need, trapped by an elitist pig establishment that feeds off the taxpayers. Fred Smith and Pitt Hyde just can’t seem to figure out why Memphis doesn’t grow as large segments of the local Memphis population are dismissed seemingly as a matter of process in a rigged Crump like system of the 1940s. The primary way Memphis Tomorrow can help is by filling the gap with a $1.5 BILLION upfront contribution to address the recurring annual tax revenue gap left by deficient corporate community leadership, excessive locally focused tax incentives and below peer average wage growth and by stop rigging up the system.

Greater oversight from the State of Tennessee is the the only way in which culturally engrained elitist authored imbalances can be corrected in Memphis. Otherwise, Tennessee taxpayers will not realize a return on taxpayer dollars and a community in need in Memphis will be trapped by a rigged elitist establishment because its all the Memphis establishment really knows.

About This Site –  Memphis Corporate Community Leadership (MCCL) Measured

With a special focus on Memphis Tomorrow, MCCL Measured is the first ever and exclusive tool to attempt to measure the effectiveness of Memphis Corporate Community Leadership efforts that use taxpayer money. The site is designed to facilitate financial literacy education regarding taxpayer funded initiatives. Additional videos and resources can be found by browsing the entire site or at http://mcclmeasured.net/resources .

Its official Memphis taxpayers don’t have a chance. Legislators, when confronted by the public on the record,  are unresponsive and dismissive of huge tax losses that result from excessive corporate / real estate tax abatements authored by the Memphis Tomorrow corporate pig elitist establishment.

And the local Memphis press does not report on findings of external studies in for example The Beacon Center of Tennessee or taxpayer concerns which quantify Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) overstatements at $850M. The recently released unreported Beacon study revealed  an estimated $451M in overstated projected tax revenues from the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) retention PILOT program.

Memphis taxpayers do not have a chance against the pig elitist while corporate/real estate incentives thrive and true economic development suffers in disconnected workforce development, inadequate public transit and  weak small business vitality. And, there’s nothing close to an  Edward Meeman in the local Memphis press willing to question real power.

At a recent gathering at Abssynian Missionary Baptist Church, hosted by Dr. Earle Fisher,  Eric Barnes of the Daily Memphian, when questioned about lack of coverage on excessive tax abatements, said “Not everyone agrees with your data” to me. I have published numerous blogs questioning the incomplete accounting of the EDGE retention PILOT program. Barnes further remarked “That the Daily Memphian covers/discusses the pros and cons of PILOTs all the time”. But those discussions go nowhere because they lack a quantitative context from which to draw informed conclusions.

Keep It Simple but Model Anyway

Overall, to keep things simple, one should know that abating existing taxes against an existing tax base is a direct tax loss. But in this blog, we will model through retention PILOT accounting while explaining two different approaches to evaluating the tax revenue impact of the EDGE retention payment-in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) program. And in defense of Barnes, not everyone should agree with the data until it is defended. The problem is that no one asks anyone to defend the data because the establishment press and local legislators know that the bogus incomplete accounting authored by the corporate pig elitist is indefensible.

In summary, this MCCL Measured blog estimates an approximate $850M overstatement for 19 retention PILOTs from 2011-2017 with a $224M loss to taxpayers. Beacon estimates a $451M overstatement of tax revenue and a $163M taxpayer loss. Beacon’s methodology will be explained  followed by MCCL Measured’s methodology for evaluating the tax revenue impact of the EDGE retention PILOT program. This will provide a quantitative defense for the assertion of  grossly excessive tax incentives under the EDGE retention PILOT program. Regardless of how one views this analysis, when complete accounting for retention PILOTs is applied,  it’s both a big pig lie to project tax revenue gains from abating existing taxes and also a big taxpayer loss. Let’s get started.

Beacon Methodology

Beacon rejects the use of economic multipliers for existing jobs to project increased new tax revenues while using economic multipliers with new jobs. Economic multipliers are used to model projected increased economic activity that result from filled jobs which range by industry employment from 1.5 to 4.0.

Beacon’s calculation is as follows (New Job tax revenue with multipliers applied) + (construction tax revenue from capital investment)+ (property taxes during PILOT). In the below example, where Beacon evaluated 10 retention PILOTs, it resulted in a $63M loss to taxpayers and $288M tax revenue overstatement. And, this sample analysis does not include all retention PILOTs. The Beacon data is shown below:

One concerning calculation in the Beacon work, involves ServiceMaster which did have a uniquely high probability of relocating without an intervention. This is not an indictment on the Beacon analysis methodology as much as to say that economic modeling is imperfect and imperfections arise in modeling while also revealing concerning trends in a data set. In this case, the trend is significant revenue over projections by EDGE and taxpayer losses.

MCCL Measured Methodology

Unlike Beacon, MCCL Measured methodology fully embraces the use of economic multipliers and applies them consistently throughout the analysis while using a probability model and applying economic multipliers to forgone economic impact of investing in the community. From 2011-2017 there were 19 retention PILOTS administered by EDGE with some of them having new jobs associated with the PILOTs.

$811M was projected from the retention PILOTs with $194M in associated retention abatements. Abatements for new jobs were subtracted to arrive at $194M in abatements associated with existing jobs or retained jobs (retentions).

In this MCCL Measured analysis, there is a generous 60% probability that companies will remain in Memphis/Shelby without a retention PILOT but with the benefit of an expansion PILOT for new jobs while avoiding hefty relocation costs (40% departure rate). Next there is a 50% impact to the existing workforce for departing companies (40% X 50%), resulting in 20% economic impact of a remaining workforce in the modeling. A conservative 1.5 economic multiplier is applied to the retention abatement amount of $194M to arrive at forgone economic impact of investing in the community. And lastly 50% of the retention abatement is treated as a lost principal amount in the form of personnel experience/capacity, building assets such as community centers, equipment assets and etc. See below resulting equation:

$811M (Projected Revenue) – 487M (Probable Revenue)- 162M (Remaining Workforce) – $291M (Forgone economic impact) – $97M (Depreciated Principal Abatement) = $226M (Taxpayer Loss)

A $843M overstatement in projected revenue results from incomplete EDGE accounting and a $226M taxpayer loss when complete accounting is applied to the EDGE retention PILOT program for the 19 retention PILOTs from 2011-2017. Please feel free to ask questions regarding this analysis.

Conclusion

Both the Beacon and MCCL Measured accounting models reveal significant EDGE accounting deficiencies and overstatements in projected revenue. After modeling through the EDGE retention PILOT program, using complete accounting, one can just keep it simple and  revert back to common sense which is a abating existing taxes against an existing tax base equates to a direct taxpayer loss and NOT a taxpayer gain. Whatever the final conclusion, there is a big ass load of taxpayer losses that result from the EDGE retention PILOT program.

The unfortunate part of these findings is that this has been going on for 8 years as the corporate pig elitist feed on a community in need. The pigs go unchecked by a local press corps and legislative bodies that favorably schedule presentations by the informal network organizations without competing views  while dismissing entire segments of the Memphis population. The taxpayer in Memphis does not have a chance and paid taxpayer advocacy is needed to at least provide a buffer to the Crump Machine like, Memphis Tomorrow informal network of pigs.

Memphians and legislators only get one side of the story in a closed system and that’s the pig elitist side of the story which sets the stage for more nonprofits and corporate/real estate incentives. The former occurs as Memphis gets further left behind with disconnected workforce development, inadequate public transit and struggling small business vitality. Something needs to change and taxpayers need recognition for economic growth to occur.

The local Memphis priority is corporate / real estate development; not economic development for all. One can just watch local proceedings, to draw the above conclusion, that approves a $100M Union Row project with blistering speed, while seemingly bulldozing through a mayoral request for additional review time citing approval delay could threaten the project. And then just as the first $100M traunch is approved, the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) comes right back to ask for a $50M loan for parking that, yet again, threatens the Union Row project without expeditious approval.

Meanwhile, entire segments of the Memphis population are dismissed  without a coherent economic development plan after almost a year, disconnected workforce development efforts persist as workforce development is touted as the #1 priority, public transit is sidelined  and small business vitality plummets. And the local press, without differentiation, enables the corporate pig feeding frenzy while generating siloed reporting without connecting the dots for the public. Connecting the dots would reveal corporate pigs feeding off taxpayers as entire segments of the population are systematically dismissed.

Economic Development Reform

Without a plan from the Greater Memphis Chamber, economic development reform has stalled as corporate/real estate development speeds ahead. It must be stated that, in the summer, Memphis Raise Your Expectations (MRYE), advocated for specific solutions that included adopting a researched based definition for economic development, a method of measuring economic development progress and adopting the Amazon Road Map economic development policy pronouncement of the University of Memphis as a framework for an economic development plan. But that proposal was dismissed by the corporate elitist establishment in favor of what exists now; no economic development plan.

The Shelby County Commission further passed a resolution, without a time table, to review 9 abating boards besides the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) which has garnered most of the local attention. While reviewing  9 tax abating boards is desperately needed, the effort will go nowhere with an enabling non-differentiating establishment press reporting in siloes and without paid representation for the taxpayer. The Memphis taxpayer has no voice as the establishment press proceeds without needed inquiry, all while covering only representatives of the Memphis Tomorrow informal network.

Informal networks were documented as a concern in the diversity report. Memphis Tomorrow informal network members such as EDGE and the DMC dominate economic development legislative schedules while taxpayers are left without paid representation and an establishment Memphis Tomorrow press that reports the “economic opportunity for all” and “momentum” rhetorical bullet points of the informal network. Legislators hear only one presented side and that of the paid Memphis Tomorrow informal network. It’s a network that has spearheaded persistent community decline, working largely unchecked, as the corporate/real estate elitist pigs have devoured true economic development through excessive tax incentives at an estimated taxpayer cost of $124M recurring per year.

At a community meeting, led by Dr. Earle J. Fisher at Abyssinian Baptist Church with The Daily Memphian represented by Eric Barnes (whose voluntary on the ground community presence was not required but appreciated), concerns over nuance, slant and non-differentiation were voiced by participants away from establishment reporting that could otherwise give the taxpayer at least some voice. But that is unlikely to change with The Daily Memphian, who has an anonymous establishment donor base. Hopefully, some press outlet will pick up the slack in a more investigative press as it relates to questioning the Memphis Tomorrow informal network.

EDGE

As far as EDGE reform, nothing has occurred. This is especially concerning after a majority of EDGE Board members have served seven years while employing incomplete and bogus retention PILOT accounting to justify excessive corporate/real estate PILOTs. In the summer, as a proposed solution, MRYE advocated for a new EDGE Board with professional balance from small business, education, transit and the corporate sector to drive balanced economic development reform but still nothing has evolved to reform EDGE. Legislators and the local press, in reference to the highly ineffective Memphis Tomorrow informal network, have been reluctant to even broach the topic of new faces on the EDGE Board.

In the meantime, except for the favorable Indigo PILOT (with the specifics of the DMC parking incentive still outstanding), EDGE unfavorably roars ahead, unquestioned by the establishment press, while approving real estate deals labeled as economic development. In a stunning EDGE Board action in November, the Board approved an expansion job PILOT for 30 warehouse jobs for Mark Anthony, Inc that abated $2M in existing property taxes at a $500K loss to the taxpayer while EDGE pocketed $51K in fees. EDGE is clearly incented to conduct transactions as opposed to representing the needs of taxpayer. This reality helps explain the drivers behind the corporate welfare culture of the Memphis Tomorrow informal network as the the $500K taxpayer loss and corresponding $51K in fees to EDGE went unreported by the establishment press.

Curiously omitted from page 2 of the Mark Anthony Project Summary was the customary page 2 of EDGE project summaries entitled “Tax Incentive Eligibility Analysis”. Upon investigation, which doesn’t occur by the local press or legislative bodies, an external “Tax Incentive Eligibility Analysis” was conducted using EDGE requirements.  The analysis reveals that the EDGE Board did not follow their own requirements when granting a PILOT award of 10 years to Mark Anthony, Inc. A 10 year PILOT would have required a score of 100 according to EDGE requirements. The external analysis resulted in a score of 46.5 far off the 100 required score for a 10-year PILOT. See the below analysis.

This occurrence is unfortunate in that if for some reason the EDGE Board wants to continue incenting warehouse jobs, they could have somehow accommodated the taxpayer while honoring their published guidelines by 1) reducing the tax incentive by 53..5% over 10 years or 2) reducing the PILOT term TO 4.5 years. But the EDGE Board chose neither and to not follow their own policy requirements. This is just another in a series of actions that points to the need for a new EDGE Board. And besides, EDGE recommended reform efforts have been delegated to the EDGE Board itself by local legislators which means reform efforts won’t work because the EDGE Board will likely not follow their own guidelines. So, a new EDGE Board is needed as recommended in the summer by MRYE.

Conclusion

The taxpayer, in a community left behind, has been systematically dismissed by the deficient Memphis Tomorrow informal network of corporate elitist pigs. It’s a culture, rooted in a rigged Crump culture of years gone by, enabled by conforming legislative bodies and an establishment press that leaves the citizenry further behind in a knowledge based global economy. Going forward, paid taxpayer representation is needed to give the taxpayer voice and to provide needed balance for legislative bodies in considering taxpayer funded economic development efforts. This is best for all and that includes the Memphis Tomorrow informal network.

Memphis still lacks an economic development plan after the unfortunate dismission of the Amazon Road Map over a year ago. The University of Memphis published the policy pronouncement entitled “We Are Not Lost – Amazon Gave Us A Road Map” and it has received little if any mention in local economic development planning efforts. Instead, under the guidance of deficient corporate community leadership, Memphis limps along without a plan from the Greater Memphis Chamber in what appears to be a “planning” as opposed to an “economic development” juggernaut thereby underwhelming current efforts.

Saddled with deficient Memphis Tomorrow corporate community leadership, its not surprising the local University of Memphis policy pronouncement was dismissed by the corporate elite establishment. The policy pronouncement championed 1) career ready workforce 2) public transit 3) quality universities 4) quality of life 5) efficient air travel and 6) responsible tax incentives to attract economic development. But that was not good enough for local elitist.

Having worked in communities across the country, Memphis is the only place that I have seen that routinely dismisses entire segments of ifs population while expecting to grow. When confronted with facts regarding the local corporate establishment, local legislators are more offended by the rhetorical slant against establishment leaders than they are the systemic dismission of 1 million taxpayers. Don’t worry legislators, “Big Daddy” Fred Smith is going to be okay.

The establishment dismission includes a lack of Council representation for 200k, 60k students under-served with disconnected workforce development services, a stifled small business sector, excessive tax abatements and the slow walking of public transit funding support.

Memphis Tomorrow

The fact is that Memphis is saddled with a Memphis Tomorrow corporate community leadership complex that fires folks for having a bad year while this crew has had a bad 18 years guiding local economic and community development. Memphis Tomorrow is a CEO organization, founded by Joseph Reeves “Pitt” Hyde III and includes FedEx representation, that promised a better community for all while facilitating the creation of a number of government funded nonprofits.

But Memphis Tomorrow is down in all their categories of public safety, workforce and economic development. Hyde has served somewhat as the local education policy czar while disconnected workforce development efforts have persisted for the last 4 years. These efforts occur on the back of non-domestic contract award that has left local business and the community reeling with costly workforce development deficiencies.

Meanwhile, a local establishment press accommodates the complex with a lack of critical coverage further entitling unchecked taxpayer funded efforts and rigging the system.

FedEx

From his corporate perch in the heart of the Poplar TIF District, “Big Daddy” preaches open markets to a global audience. FedEx’s innumerable global commerce accomplishments have been cradled and accommodated by a city left behind in Memphis with a closed business corporate welfare rich culture that has historically served the small few. Terry Roland and Kenneth Whalum, representing opposite sides of the political spectrum, both referenced the corporate welfare culture in Memphis on the most recent Informed Sources broadcast.

The Poplar TIF District is mentioned because its one of many corporate/real estate welfare benefits that serves the few. The Poplar TIF was sold on the baseless claims that it would create 7,000 jobs and the existence of traffic congestion. Some TIFs make sense for economic development purposes but not this TIF. The Poplar TIF commits significant revenue increases over the next 20 years to the most affluent area of the City as many parts of the City in need get further left behind.

The Poplar TIF is one of many examples of a local corporate welfare culture. The dealers in this local game of economic development Blackjack are always the same corporate elite as the taxpayers are dealt scraps in disconnected workforce development, a stifled small business sector and inadequate public transit. It would be nice to rotate the dealer in this local Blackjack game, which would give taxpayers a chance at a winning hand, but local public officials constantly surrender the deal to the same crew.

Sitting above the political spectrum in Memphis and on the international stage, the entire world knows FedEx’s position on trade, gun and tax policy, while its home in Memphis, a city left behind, has no idea of FedEx’s position on the lack of City Council representation for some approximately 200k dismissed voters. And on the international stage, FedEx has sat back and enabled local disconnected workforce development efforts that consisted of a Canadian contract award that has fallen flat leaving 60K students and a community in need under-served and taxpayers with a $15M taxpayer shortfall. As far as the national stage, FedEx has been a leader in more “Trickle Down” economics.

“Trickle Down”

“Trickle Down” economics is a lie. But Memphis has been saddled with it both on the federal and local levels. FedEx along with other corporations just last year pushed through an unneeded  corporate tax cut during an economic expansion. And, Dr. Matt Murray of the University of Tennessee just reported to the Governor, pertaining to corporate tax cuts, that, “deficits will raise interest rates, the volume of the dollar and contribute to large international trade deficits, all of which will weaken growth.”

National reporting today confirms Murray’s projection based on the fact that the national debt is at an all time record level having increased $2 trillion under Trump. $2 trillion is $2,000 billion with fiscal conservatives having left the building a long time ago.

On the local level, excessive tax abatements have promised a non-forthcoming trickle- down effect using bogus incomplete accounting to justify excessive tax abatements for existing companies and real estate interests. This excessive tax abatement policy is estimated to cost dismissed taxpayers $250M+. The former benefits the small few as inadequate public transit and challenged workforce / small business development efforts persist.

Once leaders that desire to evolve the community ecosystem fully understand that the challenge is PIGS at the top of the ecosystem, then Memphis has a chance but until they do, expect more decline under a “In Corporate Pigs We Trust” mantra. See the below graph that shows the lie of “Trickle Down” since its inception in 1980 compared to 2014 with exploding income inequality.

Conclusion

Memphis is saddled and trapped by a deficient Memphis Corporate Community leadership complex. The cost to taxpayers are estimated to be $124M per year in Memphis/Shelby taxpayer shortfalls. The way Memphis Tomorrow can help is to come up with $1.5 Billion upfront, stop rigging up the system and feeding off the taxpayers. Unfortunately, a locally rigged system is all that Hyde and Smith really know. Its what they grew up with during the Crump machine era. Its what they had then and its what we have now. And it’s a rigged system that won’t work in a global economy.

About This Site –  Memphis Corporate Community Leadership (MCCL) Measured

With a special focus on Memphis Tomorrow, MCCL Measured is the first ever and exclusive tool to attempt to measure the effectiveness of Memphis Corporate Community Leadership efforts that use taxpayer money. The site is designed to facilitate financial literacy education regarding taxpayer funded initiatives. Additional videos and resources can be found by browsing the entire site or at http://mcclmeasured.net/resources .

This is about the lie and stupidity of “Trickle Down” economics that is evident in tax and economic development policy on the federal, state and local level. It’s policy that in the end serves the few at the expense of many thus threatening the societal foundation that allows business to thrive. ATTN Elected Officials: Quit listening so much to the Corporate Elites.

Where is civic leadership when needed ? Not in Memphis. Outside of rhetorical talking points, needed advocacy and action is missing from Memphis Corporate Community Leadership (MCCL) or their players on core issues of democracy, connected workforce development, small business development and public transit. MCCL consists of Memphis Tomorrow, Greater Memphis Chamber and the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE).

The big idea of this blog is that if public officials are interested in evolving the community, they should listen to corporate elites only sparingly. Focus on good policy for the community benefit and not philanthropic dog bones, statue removal or public-private partnerships at the cost of more important work. The corporate elite are paid to serve their shareholders and customers; not the community. So, they should not be viewed as economist or community developers but only as invested community stakeholders. This article will discuss the following:

• Examples of Corporate Elitism
• Local Challenges
• FedEx / Workforce Development / Tax Policy

Corporate Elite

Unfortunately, when business leaders present themselves or are viewed as objective economic / community developers efforts suffer. Most often, corporate advocacy consists of request of government funding based on the premise that corporate leadership can more efficiently allocate capital for the common good. But this has not been the case in Memphis.

Some of the players of the MCCL consist of Fred Smith, Pitt Hyde, Richard Smith, Carolyn Hardy, Spence Wilson, Jr., Jack Moore, Johnny Moore and Duncan Williams. Do you remember any of these civic organizations or players of late speak out or write about current challenges that would have forwarded democratic principles by allowing people to vote for their City Council representative replacement, expedite the appointment  for the open District 1 City Council seat or propose thoughtful solutions to disconnected workforce development efforts or public transit funding solutions ?

Like other cities, organizations of the social elite wield considerable influence and when properly used can propel a city forward. But public advocacy from the Memphis elite for issues that matter for the overall good just has not occurred. Instead, the corporate elite consistently get their way on things that matter only to the select few in for example corporate/real estate tax abatements as the city devolves in aspects that matter to the common good in for example public transit, workforce and small business development. Given local concerns of small business vitality, does anyone remember even an ad campaign to support transacting with small business ?

Its not even clear that the MCCL strongly supports democracy given their lack of voice for allowing voters to elect their City Council replacements or subsequently, voice for expeditious District 1 appointment to give citizenry representation. Lack of voice on so many issues that matter to the common good give rise to suspicions of elitism of the corporate elite as their needs for example in PILOTS and TIFS are prioritized. What is clear, is that the corporate elite of Memphis want your federal, state and local tax dollars. Here is the problem as stated by former conservative Federal Reserve Chairman  Paul Volcker and given the outcomes, is more so in Memphis:

“We’ve got an enormous number of enormously rich people that have convinced themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart and constructive. And they don’t like government, and they don’t like to pay taxes.” And then said, “Everybody talks about monetary policy but the lesson of all this is we need better, stronger supervisory powers.”

In other words, the corporate elite need stronger oversight by the people and their elected officials for their own and community good.

Elitism

Unlike being a corporate elite, elitism is the practice that the elite knows what is best for all. But the outcome data for Memphis shows that is not the case as elitism reigns supreme at the cost of the overall community with unfilled council seats, disconnected workforce development, challenged small business vitality, below peer average total wage growth and inadequate public transit. The former occurs as corporate/real estate tax abatements for the few have thrived. The above has occurred under the control of the  Memphis Corporate Community Leadership complex. Here are some specific examples of elitism at work at significant cost to Memphis/Shelby taxpayers:

As the education czar of Memphis Tomorrow, Joseph Reeves “Pitt” Hyde III, while enabled by FedEx, chose not to intervene or have a sense of urgency in addressing disconnected workforce development efforts. This inaction left educators and some 60,000 learners under-served at an estimated $15M in recurring Memphis/Shelby revenue shortfalls. FedEx will be discussed later.

Memphis Chamber of Commerce lack of public policy position on funding adequate transit thus placing less priority on it for overall economic development and those in need following the release of the transit study two years ago.

Jack Moore’s decision not to hold regular EDGE / Greater Memphis Alliance for Competitive Workforce (GMACW) to support connected workforce development efforts as he met every month with the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) to administer corporate/real estate tax abatements

Lack of statement from Memphis Tomorrow or Chamber to advocate for the election of vacating Council seats or expeditious appointment of seats to afford citizens of representation

Spence Wilson, Jr’s implication that citizens must “EARN” their right to question performance of taxpayer funded initiatives under the control of the Memphis Tomorrow / Chamber Corporate Community Leadership complex.

Chamber / Richard Smith’s request for government pension fund proceeds to be invested in the small business Epicenter nonprofit without any corporate percentage matching pension fund commitments while the Epicenter lacks any published outcome data or the support of a local ad campaign to promote the idea of increasing local small business transactions by the corporate establishment.

The Greater Memphis Chamber dismissing membership and renewal rights without cause.

The EDGE Board’s persistent use of incomplete bogus accounting to support excessive retention payment-in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) program for existing companies.

Such deficient corporate community leadership practices are estimated to cost taxpayers $124M in recurring annual Memphis Shelby revenue shortfalls. The above resembles a closed rigged Crump like economic system of the 1940s and supports a $1.5 billion one time upfront ask of the Memphis Tomorrow complex to make up the recurring Memphis/Shelby taxpayer revenue shortfall.

So What About FedEx ?

Fred Smith is arguably the greatest CEO on the planet having been one of the few primary architects of the global economy through the founding of FedEx. But he is paid to serve global customers and maximize shareholder value; not to build community economic prosperity. His view of the economic and community development is through the lens of a CEO and not an economist or community developer.

If public officials listen to CEOs too much, it puts at risk the societal foundation on which businesses thrive. Memphis public officials, apparently starstruck, listen too much to the corporate elite as evidenced by misplaced economic development priorities.

In a recent interview, in response to questions regarding many left behind by global trade, Smith said “Equip them [people] with the tools needed to land in-demand jobs”. Representing shareholders, this answer makes sense for FedEx shareholders and their communities. And FedEx has responded with progressive employee benefit programs to fuel their talent pipeline development needs in paid college degree programming at the University of Memphis. This programming is scaling throughout the country through a high quality online offering.

But other FedEx career pathways efforts have fallen flat in support of connected workforce development efforts while local small business offers to address disconnected efforts have been obstructed and directed to remote providers. In fact, Richard Smith of FedEx and the Greater Memphis Chamber just recently took the proposed approach of a local small business and transferred it to the Talent Pipeline Management offering in Washington DC thereby thwarting Memphis small business.

This thwart follows another miss by FedEx in concert with Memphis Tomorrow and Pitt Hyde that left the community behind with disconnected workforce development and  60,000 under-served learners. The miss awarded a contract to a Canadian company that lacked a track record of United States experience and could not effectively deliver for taxpayers. The Canadian contract award was conducted in concert with the Federal TechHire program  that was to reduce the number of foreign technology workers while boosting domestic employment in technology fields.

This makes the Canadian contract award especially strange while bypassing proven US domestic providers that could have expedited connected workforce development efforts over the last 4 years for a Memphis community that has been left behind. In fact, in reviewing the FedEx Career Pathways brochure, the only local Memphis outcome, in the home of FedEx, is the relatively small  Memphis Challenge program as disconnected workforce development conditions persist in a Memphis community left behind.

On federal tax matters, the highly effective Fred Smith representing shareholders, successfully advocated for federal corporate tax cuts. In addition to current concerns regarding foreign trade and corresponding FedEx cutbacks, Smith must know that with rising debt levels, the United States taxpayer is tapped out under corporate rule.

In fact, the just released report to the Governor regarding the 2019 State of Tennessee Economic Outlook, states  under corporate tax cuts, “deficits will raise interest rates, the volume of the dollar and contribute to large international trade deficits, all of which will weaken growth.”

All of this to say, CEOs are equipped to be stakeholders in economic and community development endeavors but given their responsibilities to shareholders, in most cases, they lack the objectivity to be effective economic and community developers. In fact their rosy “trickle down” policies are taking a toll on the society with widening income inequality of the type that more effective education will not solve. Please see the New York Times graph of widening annual income increases for the economy’s top earners since 1980. “Trickle down” is a scam.

Conclusion

For whatever reason, on a personal level, my small business pursuits in the area of workforce development in Memphis have been stifled by the Memphis Corporate Community Leadership complex and specifically by the Hydes, Wilsons and Smiths as 60,000 learners have persistently gone under-served with disconnected workforce development efforts.

To public officials, Quit Listening To These Guys So Much !! While they have the power to rig the system, they lack the objectivity to positively evolve the Memphis ecosystem.

Chief Wiseman,

Being from here in Memphis, you might think the culturally normed devolution of the Memphis ecosystem under the Memphis Tomorrow Corporate Community leadership complex is normal, but its not. The devolution has occurred with positive talking points all while pummeling the taxpayer using labels like “economic development” and “workforce development”.

When one fully understands, through both research and experience, the debauchery by the elitist Crump like Memphis Tomorrow social construct of the 1940s of a community already in need, its enraging. Its a closed rigged system. With the lack of an investigative press, effective legislative oversight or needed advocacy, the Shelby County taxpayer is hung out with no representation. The best thing going in Memphis is Memphis Raise Your Expectations (MRYE).  Formerly, I thought FedEx was the best thing going in Memphis. FedEx is up there but MRYE is the best thing going.

So here are my slam dunk ideas for the state to consider as a Tennessee taxpayer intervention in Memphis:

Democracy – Democracy is a sound under-girding support for economic development. Memphis Tomorrow, Chamber and even FedEx could have spoke up in favor for allowing the public to select City Council replacements, but they didn’t.

Small Business – Finding a way for the corporate establishment to transact with local small business. Government can do only so much as they represent only about 10% of the economy. In my personal experience, top establishment players like to stifle small business while shipping orders off to Canada and Washington, DC while furthering disconnected workforce development efforts leaving 60,000 learners under-served. The establishment here does not know how to transact with local small business as they prefer to set up bureaucratic programs.

Negotiation – Help the Mayors negotiate with the complex. Right now, the complex is asking for a Memphis/Shelby pension proceed investment for yet another Memphis non-profit in the Epicenter small business engagement. The elitist establishment complex is asking for .3% or $10M of proceeds. Makes sense but we are talking about retiree money not wealthy venture capitalists. As a counter, have Mayors ask for .3% of FedEx, International Paper, St. Jude and Auto Zone of their employee retirement funds. As an example, with Memphis as one of the US cradles of global commerce and FedEx Headquarters, .3% of FedEx $24B pension fund would be $72M.

Its cultural here. Getting over on taxpayer is seen as cool and slick by the establishment but in the end is good for no one while stifling growth.

Connected Workforce Development – The County Workforce Ad Hoc committee adjourned without having 2019 goals or plan for workforce development. This marks the fifth year in a row of such an occurrence as educators scream out for a connected approach. This occurs as the establishment complex remains unable to select a common commercial job board such as Indeed or articulate an alignment protocol to direct the local workforce development system.

Excessive Incentives – Get a new EDGE Board that uses complete accounting to justify incentives. The current elitist EDGE Board has used incomplete bogus accounting to justify excessive corporate / real estate incentives for existing companies as true economic development efforts in workforce development, small business development, site development and public transit have suffered. Probably 70% of the deficiency in total wage growth vs Shelby County’s peer average can be linked to deficient small business and workforce development.

Stop Printing Tax Payer Money – Abating boards are creating new tax incentives without local legislative approval. Not only that, abating boards are commissioned with fees to give out taxpayer money. At a recent EDGE Board meeting, the Board awarded a $2.3M abatement using $2.0M of existing property taxes for 30 warehouse jobs at a $500K loss to taxpayers while pocketing $51K in fees. Where did this crazy design come from. How about the Memphis Tomorrow Corporate Community Leadership complex? This is  NUTS !

Also establish a benefit/cost ratio greater than 1.0 to inform smart incentives. A 1.0, which EDGE uses, assumes there is not a benefit to investing in the community. If this is the case, public officials might as well go home…..

Public Transit – Get Memphis Tomorrow/Chamber to come out with a funding position in support of adequate public transit as opposed to having Justin Davis of the Bus Riders Union perform the heavy lift  of determining adequate funding in County Public Transit Ad Hoc.

NAACP – With a majority African American population, encourage the NAACP to become a taxpayer advocacy organization. Encourage them to hand off the symbolic endeavors to the National Civil Rights Museum. NAACP will dramatically increase membership and importance. Heck, send a grant down here for that work and give me the job as taxpayer advocate after the Memphis Tomorrow / Chamber complex has stifled my small business.

Join – Join the $1.5B Memphis Tomorrow ethical debt ask to pay back Memphis/Shelby taxpayers

Fiscal Conservatism – Finally, I am a fiscal conservative. George H.W. Bush was the last one that considered both revenues and expenditures that set the table for our last balanced budget. Can we quit smoking this “Trickle Down” dope and thought process. Trickle down is a lie and everyone knows it. All it does is set us up for a crisis to crisis framework while further exploding income inequality when each crisis occurs. We got allot CEOs who know allot about history but use it only very selectively. That’s too bad for the society.

Hope these ideas help….

The problem with the proposed $10M Memphis/Shelby government pension fund ask by the Memphis Corporate Community Leadership (MCCL) complex  for the Epicenter local small business initiative is that the culture and policy environment do not exist in Memphis for small business success. Otherwise, the ask would make complete sense. This blog is a response to Evanoff’s recent Epicenter article.

Memphis/Shelby government should counter the offer with a request for the MCCL to support a policy environment and culture that supports small business and for “Big Daddy” Fred Smith to come up with another $6M on top of Smith’s $10M investment for the fund. Using “Big Daddy” as an example in this case, Smith has reported net worth of $5.4 billion. $16M would be .3% of Smith’s reported net worth which mirrors what is being asked collectively of City of Memphis and Shelby County pension funds valued at $3.3B resulting in the $10M ask.

CONGRATS TO ALL ON INDIGO !

Waddell Premise Off

While David Waddell’s big idea of investing in Memphis small business makes complete sense, his premise is off as reported in the Commercial Appeal. Waddell says in the article, “What I think we should do is pick five businesses and make them huge,”

Why concentrate on only five companies? How about instead, focus on building out a more vibrant and diversified economy that has Memphis ranked at least 53^rd out of 106 metros in small business vitality? That type of culture is what is going to attract entrepreneurs and new business to the City. In the last publication of the Memphis Business Journal Small Business Vitality Index, the Memphis MSA was dead last out of 106 metros. 53^rd out of 106 metros would be average, is achieveable and would require many more local small business establishments.

In fact, the data proves that the MCCL establishment does not support transacting with local small business much less loaning them money or investing in them. The data indicates the establishment is reluctant to give a poor bastard an order. In line with the Crump machine of the 1940s, what the Memphis establishment does, is create bureaucratic programs that say they support community needs as the community fails to realize community benefit from government funding.

While Waddell’s premise falls flat, his Epicenter design makes sense. The design, in part, resembles a self-sustaining and investable Memphis small business cap fund that would provide fee based back office services, loans and venture capital with the first $100M perhaps looking like this: $22M in back office, $60M in loans and $20M in venture capital which could easily yield investors 10% to 13% provided that the culture and policy environment supports Memphis small business.

Policy Environment

MCCL has traditionally supported, in practice, policy that benefitted corporate/real estate interests and not small business. This is evidenced in a locally excessively rich tax incentive environment that benefits corporate/real estate interests. In a Good Jobs First survey report, many of the respondents say “spending on incentives for big businesses strain the tax base for public goods such as education and infrastructure that benefit all employers and truly form the bedrock from which small businesses can grow.”

For whatever reason, local Memphis economic developers, in practice, believe rich incentives for corporate/real estate interests optimize economic development outcomes at the expense of true economic development in the attraction and  demand drivers of workforce development, public transit and site development. The former is work that supports small business as well as corporate/real estate interests. Vibrant communities attract investment; not incentives. Incentives only help close the deal.

Examples of a deficient small business policy environment include:

EDGE – The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) retention payment-in-lieu of taxes PILOT program that uses incomplete bogus accounting to justify excessive tax abatements for existing local corporate/real estate interests. The program comes at a estimated cost of $250M+ to Memphis/Shelby taxpayers as opposed to the $600M+ gain as claimed by EDGE. The Best of the Worst of EDGE can be found here.

Real Estate Development as Economic Development – At the most recent EDGE meeting, a real estate deal labeled as “economic development” cost Memphis/Shelby taxpayers $500K for 30 warehousing jobs while abating $2M in existing property taxes as EDGE pockets $51K in fees.

Workforce Development – Deficient and disconnected workforce development efforts that are 4 years behind schedule. The MCCL has been unable to select a common commercially available job board, promote a common occupational assessment or articulate an alignment protocol on behalf of employers to help direct local workforce development efforts. STUNNING…..

Public Transit – Two years after insufficient funding was identified as the primary obstacle to adequate public transit, efforts are only now getting started with addressing the problem while having Justin Baker of the Memphis Bus Riders Union, perform the heavy research lift of coming up with a funding solution for public transit.  This is currently occurring in County Public Transit Ad Hoc committee work.

Abating Authority – Although Indigo is news, tax abatement organizations, such as the Downtown Memphis Commission as well as other abatement boards are creating new taxpayer funded incentives that are apparently unknown to the public . 

Besides the culture, the policy environment is not in place to support small business based on the findings of the Good Jobs First report. Therefore, investing in small business will likely not generate an adequate return for Memphis/Shelby County government pension funds.

Memphis/Shelby Government Counter Offer

Memphis/Shelby government should aggressively consider investing $10M in the Epicenter small business initiative should the MCCL support a supportive culture and policy environment for small business to thrive. Memphis/Shelby Government should counter with the following requests:

Memphis Tomorrow – Request for Memphis Tomorrow to come up with a committed plan to immediately identify and  invest $270M in the community in  small business/Epicenter, workforce development, public transit and public infrastructure to support success for small business. The $270M ask is based on the $9B in investment income generated locally as shown in Evanoff’s CA article. This assumes a 10% return on $90B in invested assets.  Currently, the effective .3% being floated as an investment amount in the Memphis/Shelby government ask would be $270M based on .3% of $90B. The additional $1.2B of the $1.5B ask of Memphis Tomorrow for excessiveness that has overly concentrated wealth with  corporate/real estate interests will be addressed in a later blog.

Greater Memphis Chamber – Memphis Chamber should support getting started now with connected workforce development with funding support coming from the above $270M while advocating an alignment protocol on behalf of employers to help direct connected workforce development programming.

Excessive PILOTS– End retention PILOTs for existing business and focus incentives on new business.

Public Transit – Memphis Tomorrow/ Chamber should publicly advocate for a specific funding solution in support of adequate public transit with public transit funding supplemented by the $270M above ask.

Approval – Have all new incentive instruments approved by local legislative bodies.

Benefit / Cost Ratio – MCCL should collaborate with local government to derive benefit/cost ratio for community investment and above a 1.0 to inform the development of a hurdle rate of sorts and smart taxpayer funded incentives. If there is no taxpayer benefit in community investment as implied by a 1.0 benefit/cost ratio, public officials might as well go home.

With the above funding and policy commitments from MCCL, a supportive small business culture should evolve in Memphis which would make $10M in pension funds proceeds a smart taxpayer investment.

Conclusion

Without a supportive culture and policy environment, investing in a Memphis small business cap fund won’t work for taxpayers. The right policy environment will help insure cultural evolution in support of local small business and the evolution of the community as a whole through the implementation of balanced economic development policy.

The Joint Shelby County Workforce / Education Ad Hoc committee met yesterday for the first time since 10/31/18. While there were a few bright spots toward the end of the meeting by County CAO Patrice Thomas and Commissioner Tami Sawyer, meaningful progress to connect local workforce development efforts did not occur.

The goal of the committee is to optimize and connect workforce and educational programming with employer and individual student/worker needs. The committee consists of Shelby County Commission members, Greater Memphis Chamber representatives as well as other civic organizations.

Meeting Summary

The meeting seemed to be a repeat of former meetings with civic organizations discussing their respective workforce development programs without any common language supports to facilitate productive communication.

The meeting comes after the Greater Memphis Chamber, once again, touted workforce as the #1 economic development priority at their annual Chairman’s luncheon. But nothing of significance was accomplished at this meeting that would facilitate a running start for workforce in 2019. In fact, this meeting set up more of the same in reports and homework for committee members as the Chamber remains unable to articulate an alignment protocol on behalf of employers to direct local workforce development efforts and programming.

Bright spots included Thomas and Sawyer at the end of the meeting. Thomas, brand new to the committee, smartly summarized the need for a convergent database website to connect workforce development efforts. And Sawyer, less concerned about web-based technology, focused on the need for a coherent workforce development plan deliverable.

Both Thomas and Sawyer are right on target. Web-based technology provides the delivery framework to cost effectively deliver connected workforce development programming. And a coherent plan provides a research based articulation for workforce development stakeholders to coordinate their efforts to meet employer demand and individual student/worker needs.

While new to local workforce development efforts, what Thomas and Sawyer don’t know is that solutions in web-based database technology and a coherent research- based plan are ready to go now. But such needed fundamental elements have been blocked for the past 4 years by Memphis Tomorrow, Greater Memphis Chamber and EDGE in what appears to be an ongoing assault on Memphis/Shelby County taxpayers.

Local workforce development efforts have been hobbled by a lack of a research-based plan, common job board technology, marketing plan, incomplete career navigation technology or data to quantify employer skill or knowledge demand.

Taxpayer Assault

The assault on the Memphis/Shelby taxpayer, over the course of 4 years, works something like the following. Workforce development contracts are awarded to vendors that lack meaningful domestic United States workforce development experience. Those efforts fail. Local small business proposes proven research-based solutions while joining the Greater Memphis Chamber. The Chamber kicks the small business out of the Chamber while stifling the proposed solutions to fix failed workforce development efforts.

EDGE takes over failed workforce development initiative and doesn’t hold regular board meetings while meeting every month to award excessive corporate/real estate tax incentives. Connected workforce development efforts suffer. EDGE arrogantly ignores formal state level reports in the Complete Tennessee report that documents Memphis/Shelby workforce development disconnects in June 2017. As a result, 60,000 learners go under-served for a community in need at a estimated cost of $10-15 Million in recurring Memphis/Shelby taxpayer shortfalls.

Other examples of the ongoing assault on Memphis/Shelby taxpayers can be found in a previously written blog that features the Memphis Tomorrow Fast Forward initiative that dis-served local public safety, workforce and economic development needs while using taxpayer funds.

Missed Opportunities – Low Hanging Fruit

While there are several requirements for coherent plan implementation, low hanging fruit exists to facilitate a quick start for connected 2019 Memphis/Shelby workforce development implementation. Examples include,1)  just the mere selection of a common commercially available job board such as Indeed or CareerBuilder to promote job openings and 2) a decision on the widespread use of a common occupational career readiness assessment such as ACT WorkKeys.

Its not going to get any better for connecting workforce development efforts than Indeed, the world leader in job board technology and ACT WorkKeys, the National leader, for occupational assessment. ACT WorkKeys has been adopted by the Strickland administration but unfortunately remains, for the most part, unimplemented. Other elements in robust web-based database technology are ready to go now as well.

On the other hand, CareerBuilder could be adopted for the job board. CareerBuilder works with EMSI who is part of the “shiny new” Talent Pipeline Management Washington DC, conglomeration to which Richard Smith of the Greater Memphis Chamber just punted workforce development again while stifling local small business. The challenge with CareerBuilder is that implementation costs for local business would likely be higher given the current heavy use of Indeed and the much lighter CareerBuilder use by local business. This conclusion is based on a comparison of current Memphis job listings on Indeed and CareerBuilder.

But in the end, for whatever reason, none of the above low hanging fruit opportunities were acted upon by the committee.

State Intervention / SCORE / Complete Tennessee

As previously written about, State intervention will be needed to confront that taxpayer assault of the arrogant elitist Crump like Memphis Tomorrow Corporate Community Leadership complex. The taxpayer assault looks more like kleptocractic “economic cannibalism” labeled as “economic development”. In the absence of an investigative press and more rigorous legislative oversight, taxpayers in Memphis and Shelby County lack a check on the elitist Memphis Tomorrow complex. For this reason State of Tennessee intervention is needed.

Further, social justice organizations such as NAACP and National Civil Right Museum appear in many ways to be aligned with corporate interests. In Memphis, these organizations fail to object to policy and implementation practices that go to explode economic inequality while seeming to be distracted toward more symbolic endeavors. With a majority African American population, on a local basis, both the NAACP and NCRM would likely better serve their constituency and community, as a whole, by just becoming taxpayer advocacy organizations.

As far as the statewide educational organizations of SCORE and Complete Tennessee, based on the results, those organizations need entirely new representatives for Memphis. In fact, when the Complete Tennessee report was released, nothing was done locally in Memphis to address “labor market priority” concerns. SCORE is a high level educational policy organization and Complete Tennessee promotes increasing post-secondary completion rates. See below partial Complete Tennessee report findings:

Any questions on why the workforce development disconnect exists in Memphis ?

Conclusion

There is no sense of urgency to address local workforce development concerns in Memphis all while local small business solutions to address the local need are stifled by the arrogant and elitist Memphis Tomorrow complex. Memphis Tomorrow Corporate Community Leadership lacks the will to educate its population or support local small business. And, there is no indication of an “economic opportunity for all” environment in Memphis. Any questions on why Memphis/Shelby economic development suffers and income inequality soars ?