Vaping’s Lesson for ‘Economic Development’

Good news for Albuquerque’s vaping community: Los Angeles-based Firebrand has opened a shop on Eubank. The company’s “flagship e-liquid boutique” is the first of what “could be as many as four locations in Albuquerque by the end of 2016.”

But you’ll find nothing about the company’s plans on the websites of the various local and state bureaucracies that claim to foster “economic development” in Albuquerque and throughout the Land of Enchantment. Vaping is well along the path to demonization, so the corporatism crowd wants nothing to do with electronic cigarettes.

The process works the other way, too. When a business or industry is fashionable with government and media elites, no amount of subsidization is too much. “Green jobs” have been peddled by corporacrats for many years. The results have been lousy, but that hasn’t kept the grants, tax credits, infrastructure giveaways, and loan guarantees from flowing.

Real economic development doesn’t play favorites — it neither rewards trendiness nor penalizes political incorrectness. It keeps taxes low and regulations reasonable. Most importantly, it focuses the public sector on its proper role: the protection of lives, liberties, and property.