Economist Larry Swanson: "Billings lags in city spending"

If Montana wants to position itself to capitalize on its real economic strengths, he said, it has to acknowledge that its metropolitan centers are driving the economy, and that those cities need to keep making improvements in order to maintain their leadership roles.

At least one Montana economist doesn’t find much to cheer about in the growth of the oil industry in Eastern Montana.

Larry Swanson, director of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana http://www.crmw.org , said the oil boom has created jobs in a few counties, but the high oil prices that made the boom possible have burdened the rest of the state’s economy.

By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/10/18/news/local/30-swanson_x.txt

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Gazette Opinion: Timely lesson taught at local economics talk

At a time when Billings police and fire departments have been telling the community that their forces haven’t kept pace with growth in Billings, along comes an economist whose data shows Billings local government shrinking as a percentage of the local economy.

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/10/23/opinion/gazette/50-swanson_x.txt