I wish I were as optimistic as Warren Buffett.

The brilliant and amazingly-successful businessman behind Berkshire Hathaway’s vast fortunes believes so much in Western New York that he lent his services to Explore Buffalo Niagara 2007, an economic development summit held last week in Buffalo with the ultimate goal of attracting new business to the area. Prominently featured in a pro-WNY video sent to more than 1,500 CEOs the world over, Buffet’s iconic figure helped launch the program and was intended to facilitate serious interest.

It didn’t help. Only thirty CEO’s showed up for this intensely-promoted $750,000 undertaking.

Considering Buffett was twice listed on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world one would think his undying support for the region would have brought in many, many more business leaders. But, alas, as powerful and genuine as Buffett may be, the political-economic scene in New York State is so disastrous that not even he could bring them in.

The turnout was sparse because we have a stigma that we can’t get rid of, one that is well-deserved and worsening. Any out-of-state CEO worth his salt probably did his homework and discovered that the cost of doing business in the Empire State is so vast that it would make no sense whatsoever to move or start-up operations here. Out-of-control taxes, high utility rates, and vast insurances all contribute to a cost structure that places NY at a 4% to 5% disadvantage versus the rest of the United States. Add to that hang-up the burden created by oppressive regulations and an entrenched political system that is ignorant to the world around it and we have an economy that is more conducive to contraction than it is to expansion.

It’s that jumbled mess that far overrode the positives spun by the well-intentioned groups behind Explore Buffalo Niagara. The program made note of eight key factors that make WNY special, touting our limitless fresh water, strategic location, technologies, skilled workforce, affordable housing, educational opportunities, and quality of life. The eighth factor they used - available and affordable electricity - is a lie, a recycled mistruth commonly promoted by our politicos. Regardless, the rest of the list is a solid offering that does show why our area is quite unique and at least worth a look, a look we couldn’t get.

It’s almost ironic that the number eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture (it’s synonymous with prosperity and wealth), because even these eight special items could not pique the curiosity of the wealthy. They had the financial wherewithal to see "prosperity" and "Western New York economic climate" do not go hand-in-hand.

Sadly, Explore Buffalo Niagara 2007 could be deemed a failure. It could not approach even the most conservative of its original intentions. And it wasn’t from a lack of trying. The fact that a team of ardent, mostly-private sector WNY supporters working with our most visible businessman could sell only 30 CEOs on the wonders of our home speaks volumes of our regional, if not statewide, decline. It’s quite obvious that those in the know – from all around the globe no less - look at the area as a joke, a tired, rundown, expensive place in which to make (lose) a profit.

One would hope this debacle proves to be a wake-up call to all of the elected officials and bureaucrats who are behind the scenes engineering our demise. But, my aforementioned lack of optimism tells me they won’t, and the exploration of the Niagara Frontier will continue to be a thing of the past.