Many KC area politicians, development lawyers, business executives and especially others have built their livelihood on contending that economic development is a war that has to be waged, with the spoils going to the victor — even though all this fighting has emptied large parts of the core, fueled costly sprawl, and drained hundreds of millions of tax dollars from schools, roads, parks and other public services.

Newspapers in Brazil displayed produced some sad front pages in the wake of the national soccer team’s big loss Tuesday in the World Cup.