Very true, ADR. It takes skilled labor and I doubt Penasco has much of it. But, like anything else (and as you say), if you build it, they will come. So will the benefits that can be passed on for generations to come. Penasco has always made its living from the sea. They still do, but not by directly going out and catching fish these days. Catching the gringo fish that want to be near the sea is certainly more profitable. But, as the past few years have shown, tourism fates can be fickle when the winds of international politics, economics, and public safety change direction. Not so much with a strong industrial or technical base.
I still think about it every time I pass it between Sonoita and Penasco -- the little abandoned industrial park. Somebody had an idea at some point in time!!
On Edit: Back in the day, when I was just out of the Navy, I was a Field Engineer in Washington, D.C. I installed and repaired computer equipment. Back when computers occupied entire rooms, entire floors of buildings. Your remark "Granted most parts were made elsewhere (China) but then assembled into the awesomeness that is the Dell PowerEdge T420." harkened me back to an incident that made me laugh.
We were competing for a large government contract and had set up an impressive display of our equipment in the Capitol building for Congressman and Senators to see, touch, feel, kick the tires, whatever. This was a HUGE sales event, they don't get much bigger, with millions and millions in contract money on the line. After I installed all the equipment and got it connected and running, Sales insisted I stay on site, just in case anything burped and needed to be fixed. Okay, boring, but I can do that.
Some big frumpy Senator (wish I could remember who) and his entourage came into the room. The head Sales guy jumped up, shook his hand, went into his spiel about how great and economical our equipment was, etc. when the Senator basically shut him up. He looked at me and said "I want to talk to this young man over here." pointing in my direction. The Senator walked over and shook my hand; I introduced myself to him, and he looked me right in the eye and asked me "Son, there's really only one thing I want to know about this equipment -- is it made in the USA?"
I could see head Sales guy shitting a massive brick. I looked square back at the Senator and said "Yes sir, our equipment is built in our factory in Tempe, Arizona." He asked "What about the parts?" I answered "Well sir, like most electronics, some of our chips and individual components come from all over the world. In Tempe, we take those components and build our own circuit boards, power supplies and other major components and assemble them into the units you see here today. So yes, this equipment is built in the USA and provides several thousand jobs for our workers that build it."
Head sales guy now seemed to be shitting something a lot larger than a brick, perhaps a boulder. I reached out to shake the Senators hand and asked him "Sir, is there anything else I can explain about our equipment?" He smiled and seemed perfectly happy "No son, you've answered the one thing I needed to know. You'll be hearing from us soon." And off he and his entourage went, back to the important business of running the country, I guess.
Head sales guy bowed down at my feet and kissed them. I just looked at him and laughed "It's a good thing he didn't ask me to remove the covers; it's like a trip around the world inside one of those boxes!" But hey, I told the truth. The equipment truly was assembled in the USA! :usa:
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