The best book about New Mexicos future

By Wally Gordon
New Mexico is in a mess and theres no existing road out
of it. That is the tragic and unintended message of New
Mexico 2050, a vitally important book published this
month by the University of New Mexico Press (352 pages
in paperback, $19.95 on paper). If you only read one book
about the future of New Mexico, this should be it.
Edited by former U.S. Sen. Fred Harris, New Mexico
2050 contains contributions by 14 leading New Mexico
experts examining the states economy, education, health
care, politics, environment, water, American Indian
communities, the arts, transportation and planning. Harris
had requested the contributors to include an optimistic
scenario for 2050, but, despite their best efforts, most fail.
The tone for the volume is set in an introductory poem by
Hakim Bellamy, former Albuquerque poet laureate, who
contrasts the states stagnation with the nations
dynamism, saying New Mexico is:
Just like the bottom of the ocean
unmoved by the waves.
In the preface, Harris writes, Weve got our problems.
Everybody knows that. He adds that the problems were
made by people so they can be solved by people, too.
Thats what this book is about. A blueprint for New
Mexicos future.
The interesting fact, however, is that is not what this book
is about. Writer after writer carefully elucidates current

problems, the problems deep roots in the near and distant

past, and what would be necessary to solve them.
However, with a few exceptions, the authors do not find
any significant sign that the state is ready to move
forward. Not a single policy of the governor, the members
of the governors cabinet or the leaders of the Legislature
addresses the numerous problems dramatically delineated
and diagnosed in New Mexico 2050. While the writers
do describe dozens of theoretical changes that could
reverse the states decline, in most cases they fail to
detect evidence that the sates leaders are willing to adopt
them.
New Mexicans deserve better. This is the opening
sentence of the books first and most important essay, by
economists Lee Reynis and Jim Peach. Like most of the
other authors, the economists call for major changes in
state and local policies as a precondition for stemming
the disaster that has caused New Mexico to lose an entire
decade. Current predictions are that 2007 levels of
employment will not return until 2017 or 2018.
New Mexico, they find, is not only one of the poorest state
in the nation but also highly unequal. They denounce the
growing poverty as morally repugnant and unnecessary.
Here is the key paragraph from the economists:
New Mexicos economic problems are not insoluble. But
the solutions require a new approach to economic
development, a number of policy reforms, and substantial
investment in both human capital and physical
infrastructure. Without such changes, New Mexicos
economy in 2050 is likely to have fallen further behind

national norms for per capita income, employment and

population growth.
Later in the essay, they repeat the theme: Without a new
directiona new strategyNew Mexicos economy in
2050 could look surprisingly like the New Mexico economy
of 2014i.e. a disaster.
Subsequent essays fill in the interstices in the economists
analysis and further buttress their picture of failed policies.
New Mexico is in crisis! New Mexico is in crisis!! New
Mexico is in crisis!!! Thus begins the essay on education
by Veronica C. Garcia, a former school superintendent
and former state public education secretary.
There are a few glimmers of hope, but they have little to
do with the states political and governmental leadership.
Health care is booming, but due almost entirely to the
infusion of federal dollars under Obamacare to finance a
dramatic expansion of Medicaid to cover poor adults.
Hispanics in New Mexico have a level of political
involvement that will lead the way nationally.
V. B. Price, noted Albuquerque poet, journalist and
publisher, praises the cultural attainments of city residents
and genuinely believes in the Duke Citys artistic future.
And a new collaboration called Innovate ABQ under the
leadership of the University of New Mexico is bringing
together several major interest groups to promote
technology and innovation in downtown Albuquerque.
But otherwise, this state is in a world of hurt. Its laid-back
attitude of letting oil, natural gas and the federal
government carry it along on a rising tide is failing, as
almost every expert knew it would sooner or later, and

political and government leaders are making no effort to

create a new economy, let alone a new state. So what
you see now, may, alas, be what you will get.