How Did Walt Disney Inspire the Prosperity States Initiative?
After the last election, it's time to think big in America - and nobody ever thought bigger than Walt Disney.
His vision of family fun involved much more than cartoons. He built a 25,000 acre resort community around the idea of delivering a seamless magical experience to everyone.
But did you know that Walt Disney World was built in a Special Economic Zone with extensive autonomy to experiment with self-government without interference from many, if not most of Florida's state and local agencies and political subdivisions?
It's true!
Disney knew that his vision could never become a reality if it were thrown into the political winds. So he helped create the Reedy Creek Improvement District to furnish him with a reliable investment environment and the freedom to bring his imagination into reality.
In fewer than ten years, the Reedy Creek Improvement District enabled him to entice tens of millions of dollars of investment capital to a largely undeveloped swampland and Disney was able to build the Magic Kingdom.
Today, Walt Disney World accounts for $18 billion per year in economic activity and one of every 50 jobs held in the state of Florida.
The ProsperityStates.org movement adopts and improves on this visionary model of explosive economic growth and job creation.
It brings the Walt Disney World model to any local community that wants it but without the risk of excessive local governmental regulation and taxes. It also offers a pathway to federal reform to stop the dozens of unaccountable alphabet agencies in Washington, DC from destroying our way of life - in addition to state and local regulatory and fiscal policy reform.
In short, the Prosperity States model policy is designed to deliver what the public policy world has been promising for decades.
Read all about how Walt Disney's vision inspired this powerful and plausible reform idea by downloading Baker Spring's Compact for America Educational Foundation's Policy Brief No. 12: Walt Disney’s Vision Inspires the Prosperity States Initiative: How Prosperity Districts Adopt and Improve on the Disney World Model.
