I'm thinking that Economic Dashboard you have in mind, Sam, should probably have a gauge that indicates how much of our local liquidity is being unfairly drained away--that is, how many of our retail dollars are going to 'killer' box HQs (paying their CEOs & the professional services they hire back home,etc.)
Innovation & assistance to local entrepreneurs won't be able to keep our tanks full if a huge hole in policy allows our resources to be sucked out of the region by corporations which are using killer tactics that inevitably put our own local enterprises out of business.