Why "destination dining" won't lift your stagnant local economy

In his recent brain-wave on bold economic initiatives, ATB senior economist Todd Hirsch posits that struggling local economies should entice celebrity chefs to open restaurants in their communities, to take advantage of the burgeoning new phenomenon of "destination dining."

This is a subset of culinary tourism discovered, or made up by Hirsch, wherein people of means fly to wherever to try out the latest offerings of a celebrity chef.

The reality is that the more famous the celebrity chef, the more likely it is that a goodly percentage of his employees are being severely screwed over. Read up on this lawsuit brought against uber-celeb chef Gordon Ramsey.

At least those folks were being paid something. Here's a peek into the kitchen of famous NYC pizza joint Roberta's. The writer apparently has no clue why anyone would object to working for nothing;

 Plenty of two-, three-, and four-star restaurant kitchens routinely take on volunteer labor, sometimes dozens of aspiring cooks at a time, to the point where there's a fair chance that a few of those behind the line, cooking your dinner, aren't actually on the books.

So Mr. Celebrity Chef comes to town, hires dozens of aspiring cooks to work for free, and this helps the local economy how?

Come on Hirsch, enough with the nonsense!

More proof that being an economist is still the bullshitters' dream job

I've sounded off on this topic before. Last time round it was all about Todd Hirsch and his plan for the rejuvenation of the American economy.

Todd had it figured out that what was stalling the US economy was the fact that way too many folks were living large on their extended unemployment benefits.

The way Todd saw it, once those malingerers were cut off the dole, necessity would become the mother of invention, and those folks were going to re-invent pizza delivery.

Or something.

Well, Todd remains a senior economist, and he is still full of shit.

Here's his latest effort.

His friend flew from Calgary to Montreal to have a meal at a restaurant.

Ergo, Todd has identified an entirely new economic category.

Destination dining.

Yessiree, that's where folks fly to a destination because a celebrity chef has opened a restaurant there. When celebrity chefs open a place, it obviously becomes a destination restaurant.

Todd seems to think that this is a recipe for economic renewal for communities that have lost their tax base. If Wolfgang Puck or Gord Ramsey had opened a restaurant in Detroit before it was too late, the entire sorry tale of Detroit's demise might have been averted.

Disintegrating communities everywhere can revitalize their economy by attracting celebrity chefs, or even better, growing their own!

Between that and all those redundant middle aged guys reinventing pizza delivery, there is a new golden age of capitalism just around the corner!

What a retard...