DT, unfortunately, that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one economic basket. Ask the people of Ulster County, NY. At one time, they had the lowest unemployment and the highest salaries in the country. Then IBM left over a decade ago. The area still hasn't fully recovered.

New York City was probably headed in a similar direction in the 1980s. It was a tourism hell, and was one of the most frightening places on the planet. However, they got Giuliani. Say what you will about him, but he helped turn it into one of the safest large cities in the world. He got rid of the squeegee men, which nobody, including me, thought he could accomplish. Times Square was turned around under his administration.

It was accomplished very quickly, too. He subscribed to a then relatively unknown theory that came out of Harvard (May be wrong on Harvard, but I think it was) called The Broken Window Theory. The theory is that if you go after so-called Quality of Life crimes, like jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, loitering, graffiti, etc., you will eventually stop other crime.

The theory is that if you have a vacant house and one person throws a rock and breaks one of the windows, it somehow gives permission for other crimes to be committed there. Other people break windows. Then someone graffitis on the outside walls. The next thing you know, it's a crack house. One small crime leads to the proliferation of other, more serious crimes.