Recent history has been giving conflicting signals: From 1970 to 1976, the Region experienced a catastrophic decline; among other things, had that trend continued, there would have been zero jobs in Manhattan and zero subway ridership by 2005. It was this kind of shock that stopped construction on the Second Avenue subway and created the no-growth syndrome that still clouds the foresight of many people. At Regional Plan Association, we did not believe that the decline could continue, and in our 1977 report Power for the MTA, forecast a resurgence in 1977. We were lucky - the date was correct.