The growth creates an illusion of wealth, a broad, cultural misperception that the growing community is become stronger and more prosperous. Instead, with each new development, they become increasingly more insolvent. When a city loses money over the long term on every project it does, it doesn’t make up the difference in volume. The more time that passes, the more downward pressure there is on the budget (Figure 3.3). Continuing to grow in this pattern only buys time. And time only makes the urgency to grow even greater.
