Some time ago, a friend told me a story that a friend of his father’s had told him. His father’s friend spent WW2 escorting POW’s from New York to their camps. As their train passed the extensive factories of New York and New Jersey, the German prisoner said to his American captor: “I know you are a patriotic American and I don’t want to be insulting, but if you have seen the industries of the Ruhr Valley, you will know that Germany will win the war.”
The American didn’t say anything, as the train’s probable journey took them through the chemical plants along the Delaware River and then Philadelphia. Numerous steel and coal towns of Pennsylvania followed before the blast furnaces of Pittsburgh. From there, they probably traveled through Youngstown, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. Both the American and his prisoner kept their gaze out the window at what was once America. South Bend and the mills of Gary, Indiana preceded South Chicago. Then the farm implement factories of Central Illinois, with St. Louis and Kansas City following. As they neared their destination of Fort Leavenworth, the German turned to the American and said: “I owe you an apology. America will win the war.”
What would this story be like if it happened today? We have de-industrialized. Catherine Austin Fitts, as both a former Washington and Wall Street insider, documents this story on YouTube and on her website. A few years ago as a planner in Sacramento, I was on a panel dispensing federal design grants. In what they saw as a good thing, the City of West Sacramento applied for a de-industrialization grant to tear down warehouses and grain elevators for condos and cafes. In the second quarter of 2014 our economy grew 4%, but 1.7% of that growth, or 43% of those dollars spent, were for imported goods.
But many people consider me an alarmist, or even a conspiracy theorist. They keep assuring me that we can have a sound economy and a secure nation based on ecotourism and the like. Better get in line for those jobs in the wild and scenic white-water rafting industry now.
The American didn’t say anything, as the train’s probable journey took them through the chemical plants along the Delaware River and then Philadelphia. Numerous steel and coal towns of Pennsylvania followed before the blast furnaces of Pittsburgh. From there, they probably traveled through Youngstown, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. Both the American and his prisoner kept their gaze out the window at what was once America. South Bend and the mills of Gary, Indiana preceded South Chicago. Then the farm implement factories of Central Illinois, with St. Louis and Kansas City following. As they neared their destination of Fort Leavenworth, the German turned to the American and said: “I owe you an apology. America will win the war.”
What would this story be like if it happened today? We have de-industrialized. Catherine Austin Fitts, as both a former Washington and Wall Street insider, documents this story on YouTube and on her website. A few years ago as a planner in Sacramento, I was on a panel dispensing federal design grants. In what they saw as a good thing, the City of West Sacramento applied for a de-industrialization grant to tear down warehouses and grain elevators for condos and cafes. In the second quarter of 2014 our economy grew 4%, but 1.7% of that growth, or 43% of those dollars spent, were for imported goods.
But many people consider me an alarmist, or even a conspiracy theorist. They keep assuring me that we can have a sound economy and a secure nation based on ecotourism and the like. Better get in line for those jobs in the wild and scenic white-water rafting industry now.
Copyright 2014, Mark L. Bennett
Mr. Bennett,
ReplyDeleteYour article is very true, and at our local level Amador County's young families should be put on the radical environmentalists 'endangered species list". Young families are being squeezed out due to two very different "tourist economy" loving groups. Young families require a county that is vibrant and can provide job incomes above the minimum wage "tourist economy" jobs. Those well paying jobs can't just be government jobs. If you took away the federal, state, county, incorporated city, and school district jobs what would you have left that could support a family? How many private sector jobs in the county actually pay well over and above minimum wage. The end result is that high school grads leave and college grads never come back. No young families mean consolidation and closing of schools in the school district, and that is a current discussion going on now. Young families that try and stay often end up being dependent on social services, etc.
The first wage killing "tourist economy" group is obvious. For years the radical environmentalist agenda has worked, with great success, to eliminate Amador's traditional jobs that involved the use of natural resources. Logging, milling, mining, quarries, etc have been killed or are always on the chopping block. Any corporate business is also off limits to this leftist anti-capitalist group. The same environmentalists have bought into the "no rural growth" mantra as presented by UN Agenda 21. Thus, water use as in "Wild and Scenic", metering wells, controlled grazing, controlled use of agriculture land, etc is the agenda of the Foothill Conservancy and their allies, many of which live outside the county. Their dream of a "tourist economy" sustained by rafting down a dam controlled "Wild and Scenic" river is a death toll for young families and the viable future of Amador County.
The second wage killing "tourist economy" loving group is not so obvious. For a number of years, especially before the downturn, Amador has attracted well off retirees looking for the good life. Large homes, golf course "country club" lifestyle, wine country experience, and Upcountry skiing are just some of the attractions for this group. They want nothing to do with young family jobs. They want "boutique" shopping with minimum wage employees. No "dollar" or similar stores for them. It would't present a proper image for high end living. By the way, wineries, rafting, skiing are all nice, but how many high paying jobs do they really provide for our young families. Corporations like Dollar General do their homework. They know the demographics of Amador County.
We may be beautiful to look at, but we are a truly low income and rapidly approaching impoverished for the young people who choose to stay here. Let's not become a Disneyland where no one really lives, and people go and visit and then go home with a few trinkets sold to them by a low wage worker.
Wow, it's hard to know where to start. Let's take the last points first. So, well off retirees don't create jobs, or business opportunities? You must be joking, or maybe you've never been to Palm Springs, in fact the entire high dessert region.
ReplyDeleteIf these new oldsters are so well off, why is our county still so poor? The fact is that most of them aren't so well off, and often those who are leave, especially when their health suffers, because we simply lack the services old people need, even though there are twice as many as in the rest of the state. Nonetheless, the county tries to attract more of them, with practically no thought to what they'll need. This makes no sense at all.
Agriculture and tourism are California's main industries. As climate change threatens the world with a major food shortage that is not far off, covering up the world's best farmland with polluting (including air and noise polluting) industries is about the dumbest thing we could do in the state at this time as it would threaten the budding "industries" we have starting up here now, not to mention the quality of life we all try to enjoy here. In fact, I'd enjoy it a lot more if I weren't almost 70 now, and so aware that I'll probably have to move elsewhere to get the services I'll need down the road.
Industries must be compatible with what's there already, but unfortunately most are irresponsible and very poor neighbors, which is why we have so much regulation. What sane person would trust or long to attract them, given their long, shameful history?
And Mr. Bennet, if you truly believe that chemical plants, steel, coal, blast furnaces and factories are such great things to have in your neighborhood, you're living in the wrong place for sure. I don't believe you'd actually live in any of those places you laud above. Who would, if they had any choice?