The Launch Dock is your launchpad for building businesses that last—through strategy, community relevance, and real-world execution. This issue takes a hard look at modern “economic development” and why too many communities are being sold a false promise: that bringing in big business automatically means progress. We’ll explore why sustainable economic growth comes from investing in local entrepreneurs, building ownership pipelines, and ending the dependency cycle created by corporate incentive deals.

Growth Isn’t Growth If Your Community Doesn’t Benefit

Most towns have heard the same story over and over again.

A big company is “considering” the area.
Leaders talk about jobs.
Committees celebrate.
Residents are told to be grateful.

And for a moment, it feels like something good is happening.

But the longer you watch these deals unfold, the more a question starts forming in the minds of the people who actually live there:

Is this helping us… or is it helping someone else?

Because “economic development” has become a phrase that sounds good on paper, but often hides a reality that communities are starting to recognize:

Sometimes the town doesn’t grow.

Sometimes the town gets used.

The Economic Development Lie: When “Job Creation” Is Really Just Extraction

Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth:

Not all corporate recruitment is community development.

A business coming into town does not automatically mean prosperity—especially when that business is offered tax abatements, subsidies, or incentive packages that reduce the amount of revenue the community receives for years (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019).

Many corporate recruitment deals include:

• tax abatements

• waived property taxes

• discounted or subsidized land

• publicly funded infrastructure improvements

• special incentives negotiated behind closed doors

And the public is often told these deals are “necessary” to compete.

But what is rarely discussed is what happens afterward.

Because the company may hire for a while, but later it may:

• downsize

• automate

• relocate

• outsource

• restructure

• leave entirely once incentives expire

Communities across the United States have repeatedly experienced cases where economic incentives failed to deliver the promised outcomes or produced weaker returns than expected (Good Jobs First, 2023).

And when that happens, the community is left with the long-term burden.

The Real Question: Who Actually Benefits From These Deals?

Here’s the question residents should ask every time a major project is announced:

Who profits from this?

Not who celebrates it.
Not who announces it.
Not who takes credit for it.

Who profits.

Because if you pay attention long enough, patterns show up again and again.

The same individuals who support corporate recruitment deals are often connected to industries that directly benefit from corporate expansion, such as:

• commercial real estate

• land development

• construction and contracting

• engineering and utilities

• financial institutions

• consultants and project planners

This is not inherently illegal.

But it creates a major accountability problem when economic development is treated as a private pipeline rather than a public service.

The Tax Abatement Problem: When “Economic Growth” Is Built on Tax Avoidance

Tax incentives are often presented as harmless:

But if the community is waiving taxes, the community is not “investing.”

The community is subsidizing.

That means local taxpayers may still be responsible for funding:

• schools

• roads

• utilities

• public safety services

• emergency response

• infrastructure maintenance

In many cases, incentive packages reduce the revenue available for these services, while the community still must meet growing demand (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019).

This is why incentives can become a trap:

The town takes on the risk.

The company keeps the reward.

And if the company leaves later, the town keeps the consequences.

The Local Business Blind Spot: Communities Are Ignoring Their Best Investment

Here’s what’s almost unbelievable:

Many towns will spend years chasing one corporation…

…but won’t invest even a fraction of that effort into the people who already live there.

That’s like trying to import success while ignoring the talent sitting in your own backyard.

And the reality is this:

Local businesses are more sustainable than corporate recruitment.

Small businesses are widely recognized as the backbone of the U.S. economy, and the U.S. Small Business Administration has long documented their role in job creation and economic stability (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2023).

Unlike large corporations, local businesses don’t leave when a tax deal expires.

They stay.

Because they belong.

The Truth Nobody Wants to Admit: Many Towns Are Training People to Stay Small

Here’s what’s happening in too many communities:

People are raised to believe the only path is:

• graduate

• get hired

• stay employed

• hope your employer doesn’t leave

• and never learn the systems of ownership

Communities often focus on employment pipelines, but fail to invest in ownership pipelines.

And the long-term consequences are predictable:

• young adults leave town

• local wealth stagnates

• families remain dependent on outside employers

• small businesses struggle to compete with corporations

• poverty cycles persist

Communities don’t just need jobs.

They need owners.

They need builders.

They need local entrepreneurs who can create opportunity from the inside out.

What Economic Development SHOULD Be Doing: Cultivation Over Recruitment

If economic development councils were serious about building wealth, their main focus would not be attracting companies.

It would be producing business owners.

That means building a pipeline for entrepreneurship and business literacy.

The easiest place to start?

High schools.

Why High Schools Should Be a Core Economic Development Strategy

High school students are already entrepreneurs—they just don’t have systems.

They’re already:

• reselling items online

• building social media brands

• offering small services

• working side hustles

• creating products and content

But they aren’t being taught how to do it legally, sustainably, and profitably.

Imagine if economic development councils partnered with schools to teach:

• how to start a business legally

• how to track income and expenses

• how to price products and services

• how profit works

• how taxes work

• how to build business credit

• how to market locally

• how to create a basic business plan

• how to scale without debt

Because if a kid graduates knowing how to build a business, they graduate with something most adults never receive:

A future they control.

And It’s Not Just Kids—It’s the Whole Community

Economic development committees should also be serving:

• single parents who need flexible income

• retirees who need additional income

• tradespeople who want to work for themselves

• community members with skills but no road-map

• young adults who want to stay local

Most people don’t need a loan.

They need knowledge.

They need a plan.

They need mentorship.

And when that knowledge is gate-kept inside private councils and boardrooms, the community stays dependent.

Facts & Statistics: Why Local Entrepreneurship Creates Stronger Towns

Small businesses play a critical role in the U.S. economy, representing a significant share of total employment and job creation (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2023).

At the same time, watchdog organizations and policy researchers have repeatedly documented that large corporate subsidy deals often fail to deliver the full economic outcomes promised to communities (Good Jobs First, 2023).

This is why local entrepreneurship matters:

When your economy is built on one employer, your community is fragile.

When your economy is built on thousands of local owners, your community becomes resilient.

Real World Solution: The Local Wealth Pipeline Plan

If a community truly wanted long-term economic growth, here’s what it would implement immediately:

The Local Wealth Pipeline

Step 1: Entrepreneurship education integrated into high school curriculum
Not optional. Not “career day.” Real business training.

Step 2: Monthly community workshops for adults
Topics like:

• starting an LLC

• budgeting and taxes

• pricing for profit

• marketing without money

• building business credit

• separating business and personal finances

Step 3: A mentorship network
Local business owners matched with students and adults.

Step 4: “Start Without a Loan” business training
Service-based business models that can start with minimal capital.

Step 5: Micro-grants
Small startup grants for supplies, licensing, and marketing.

Step 6: Local vendor fairs and buyer opportunities
Helping new entrepreneurs land their first customers.

Step 7: Public transparency
Annual reports that show:

• which corporations received incentives

• what they promised

• what they delivered

• what the community gained

• what the community lost

That is economic development with integrity.

That is economic development that builds wealth—not dependency.

Call to Action: Stop Protecting the Gate—Start Building the Ladder

If you are a community leader, committee member, or someone with influence, ask yourself:

Are you building ladders for the public…

or protecting the gate for insiders?

Because communities don’t rise through secret meetings and private deals.

Communities rise through education, opportunity, and ownership.

And if your town is giving away incentives to billion-dollar companies while local residents don’t know how to start a basic business…

that is not progress.

That is failure disguised as leadership.

Closing Reflection: A Town That Invests in Its People Doesn’t Have to Beg for Jobs

The future of thriving communities will not belong to towns that recruit the most corporations.

It will belong to towns that produce the most business owners.

Because when local people learn how to build something of their own:

• they stop depending on outside employers

• they create local jobs

• they stabilize families

• they keep money in the community

• they build generational wealth

• they build pride and identity that no corporation can ever replicate

Gate-keeping isn’t leadership.

It’s fear.

And fear has never built a legacy.

But empowered people?

Empowered people build everything.

In solidarity,
Lyndsay LaBrier
Merchant Ship Collective | The Launch Dock

References

Good Jobs First. (2023). Subsidy tracker. https://goodjobsfirst.org/subsidy-tracker/

Pew Charitable Trusts. (2019). How states are improving tax incentives for jobs and growth. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2019/08/how-states-are-improving-tax-incentives-for-jobs-and-growth

U.S. Small Business Administration. (2023). Small business economic profile. https://www.sba.gov/document/report-small-business-economic-profile