Because there is more to your community and culture than increasing GDP.
A major industry moved to my local area about 30 years ago. It radically transformed a unique area into an Anywhere, USA suburbia, with tons of people coming (and going) from all over the country (and some other countries.)
Nothing is the same anymore, and most of it is objectively worse - much higher crime, for example. The tight-knit high trust community is completely gone. A lot of local culture is gone.
But there's higher tax receipts and the roads have more lanes, so uh, there's that.
A major industry moved to my local area about 30 years ago. It radically transformed a unique area into an Anywhere, USA suburbia, with tons of people coming (and going) from all over the country (and some other countries.)
Nothing is the same anymore, and most of it is objectively worse - much higher crime, for example. The tight-knit high trust community is completely gone. A lot of local culture is gone.
But there's higher tax receipts and the roads have more lanes, so uh, there's that.