The divorce rate in this country is ridiculous these days. It would seem there’s a serious shortage of desire for people to look beyond the lavish initial event to the long term. When things get tough, people just give up these days and walk away, rather than dig in and try to make it work.

IMO, too many people spend far too much time, energy, and money on the wedding and honeymoon than on the actual relationship.

So here we have new companies bringing manufacturing to town. Everyone is patting themselves on the back, trying to take credit for why something good might have happened.

(Nevermind the fact that Arizona is one of the sunniest places in the country and the obvious choice for a location to develop, build, and IMPLEMENT solar energy to anyone with common sense. Nevermind that it’s sort of embarrassing that we have to have a Chinese firm drop anchor hear, rather than our own locals stepping up to leverage what is perhaps our single greatest resource.)

I hope that these folks blowing their own horns, talking about how this is all because of them, will stick by this long term. We have a tendency to trade long term growth for the next big thing that’s supposed to somehow make us all rich.

ASU needs to focus on growing a talent pool that will provide quality employees and shareholders in this venture long term.

The politicians need to focus on making the company feel welcome and a continued part of the community so they will be flexible when the tax laws change. If the community is valuable to them, they will be more likely to deal with a less favorable tax situation down the road.

The Economic Council needs to focus on not just attracting random businesses to the valley, but on driving new industries that co-exist with a sort of synergy. Don’t stop with one Chinese solar manufacturer. Seek out others in the solar segment and bring them home to Phoenix.

The solar market is one which I’ve felt would be the perfect industry for Phoenix, yet there really isn’t much talk of it that I can see. Invest in solar power for all city and state buildings. Offer credits for private businesses that choose to run solar. I dunno.

Solar could be our bread and butter. It’s only going to get brighter and hotter out here in the future. We need to support this business and encourage other businesses to support them as well – through improved talent, more logistically convenient resources, and by nurturing the seed that grows our city into a globally recognized leader in solar innovation and application.