Because nobody got rich by spending on the poor. It's the lie at the heart of every trickle-down scheme and corrupt charity: that all we need to do is give weal

Because nobody got rich by spending on the poor. It's the lie at the heart of every trickle-down scheme and corrupt charity: that all we need to do is give wealthy people a little bit more, and we'll all somehow benefit from it. Absent a vocal minority, wealthy people spend their money in ways that make them more money or get them more political power. They don't build communities, they build dynasties. From an introductory pdf [1]: "A qualified Opportunity Fund is a privately managed investment vehicle organized as a corporation or a partnership for the purpose of investing in qualified opportunity zone property (the vehicle must hold at least 90 percent of its assets in such property)". Okay, so here's my prediction: a series of shell corporations will be constructed so that the investors are essentially moving their money around on their own plate. Those funds will then look for the most efficient way to produce a return on that investment, which will probably consist of purchasing real estate, pumping up its value (increasing housing costs in the region), and then dumping it at the end of the 10-year term so that the investors can get out without any tax liability. The affected communities will end up with artificial housing cost inflation followed by a slump that will leave them in just as bad of shape as they are now, at best. It's raw, seething cynicism, yes, but it also closely matches something that's already happening right now. Communities across the country are seeing artificially high commercial rents coupled with empty storefronts in heavily-trafficked areas because real estate owners have discovered that they can make a little extra money by keeping some of the spaces empty and using them as tax deductions, instead of lowering the rent to market rate and putting a small business in there. [2] [1]: https://eig.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Opportunity-Zones-Fact-Sheet.pdf https://eig.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Opportunity-Zones... [2]: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20161006/jefferson-park/vacancy-fraud-allowing-tax-breaks-for-empty-storefronts-under-fire/ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20161006/jefferson-park/vaca..., for one example.