Paul Gessing

Albuquerque

President and Writer at Errors of Enchantment

Host at Tipping Point New Mexico

President of New Mexico's free market think tank, concerned citizen, husband, and father of three girls.

Articles

OPINION: Arizona policy runs circles around NM

1 week ago | abqjournal.com | Paul Gessing

Recently, a group of Albuquerque business and economic leaders traveled to Phoenix to get some ideas on why the Phoenix economy is so much stronger than New Mexico’s. Ideas were exchanged and I’m sure a good time was had by all. But, the trip was a waste of time. You don’t need to travel to see why Phoenix is more economically prosperous than Albuquerque or why Arizona does better than New Mexico.
Matthew Mitchell's presentation/conversation on economic freedom in New Mexico

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

Matthew Mitchell of the Canadian free market think tank Fraser Institute (Matt lives in Angel Fire, NM) recently made a compelling presentation on economic freedom (or the lack thereof) in New Mexico at a Rio Grande Foundation sponsored event in Albuquerque. You can find Matt’s highly informative slides here. While we don’t have a recording of his presentation, earlier that morning Matt was interviewed by Bob Clark. You can check out their conversation below.
Tipping Point NM episode 718 Mayling Armijo - Candidate for Mayor of Albuquerque

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

On this week’s interview Paul sits down with Albuquerque mayoral candidate Mayling Armijo. Armijo has been involved in economic development at various levels of government and has filled out the RGF mayoral candidate survey which highlights her views on economic development. Although new to electoral politics Armijo has plans to bring significant change to Albuquerque. Don’t miss this important conversation.
Social Security Reform Would have made Americans rich (and the program solvent)

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

So many of our efforts at the Rio Grande Foundation are focused on New Mexico and its myriad problems, but Social Security is a major issue for all Americans. Alas, when America had a chance to reform the program back during the George W. Bush Administration the effort failed. American Enterprise Institute did a full report and the following chart was put together by our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
Episode 717: “No Kings Rally”, Route 66 Visitors Center, “Beat The Heat Fiesta” and more

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

Paul stopped by the No Kings rally in ABQ on Saturday. He offers a full report. Route 66 visitors center highlights failure of government. We have received a few candidate surveys back. They can be found at ErrorsofEnchantment.comNew Mexico (stupidly) joins California lawsuit over EV mandate repeal. RGF “beats the heat” attending “fiesta” in Albuquerque. New Mexico NPR/PBS stations among the most dependent on federal $$:We talked last week about NM’s 50th ranking in Kids Count.
RGF highlights MLG's plan to delete emails faster

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

Many thanks to Daniel Chacon of the Santa Fe New Mexican for covering an issue that we highlighted. The following is from Chacon’s recent Roundhouse Report article. Emails deleted by the executive branch will disappear faster than they have in the past. The New Mexico Department of Information Technology has implemented a new email retention policy in which deleted emails will now be “permanently purged” after a month, a major change from the previous one-year retention policy.
Phoenix trip a waste of time: we know why Arizona does better than New Mexico

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

Garbage in, garbage out. That would be a good way to describe the “analysis” of a group that recently traveled to Phoenix to figure out why Arizona’s largest city (Phoenix) is so much more successful than New Mexico’s (Albuquerque). While the head of the Rio Grande Foundation has indeed been to Phoenix (and other parts of Arizona) many times, he didn’t need to take a trip to Arizona State University to figure out the situation.
RGF "Beats the Heat" attends "fiesta" in Albuquerque

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

According to the local weather folks June 16th was the first 100 degree day of 2025. So, it only makes sense (not really) that folks behind the proposed “Heat Rule” in New Mexico (Healthy Climate New Mexico) were outdoors in the middle of the hottest day of the year for their first “Beat the Heat Fiesta.”As usual we at the Rio Grande Foundation dropped by to check things out. We stopped by around 2:30 for the 2pm to 5pm event. It appeared that most people were “beating the heat” by staying home.
ABQ Mayoral Candidate Survey: Mayling Armijo

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

As part of our work to better inform voters (in this case those in the City of Albuquerque) about the issues in this fall’s election, we are surveying candidates for mayor and city council. The survey below is from mayoral candidate Mayling Armijo. Armijo has primarily worked in economic development over the years. You can find out more about her and her campaign here. You can find a PDF of her candidate survey here.
Pics and thoughts from No Kings rally in Albuquerque

1 week ago | errorsofenchantment.com | Paul Gessing

As they did all across the country this past Saturday (which was also President Trump’s birthday AND the 250th anniversary of the US Army) protesters in Albuquerque came out in droves (perhaps 3,000 or so) at Albuquerque’s Mariposa Basin Park. Given the location an easy bike ride away from my house (and thus not requiring sitting in traffic or parking) RGF president Paul Gessing felt that he “needed” to check out the situation. Pictures are below.