A month ago, our family went East to Virginia for a family vacation. A week later, we went to Michigan. Today, I’m writing from Hesston, KS, pretty close to the heartland of America.
Everywhere we went we encountered travel delays because of road work. Bridges, passing lanes, shoulder repair, new exchanges – the jack hammers and dump trucks and people were out in force.
It wasn’t until we drove past Kansas City yesterday and saw workers re-building a mall that I realized we had seen almost no construction activity during those travels through 9 of the 50 states. No new houses. No other new office buildings.
What we saw was people working because of the massive government investment in infrastructure. And as we drove along those roads, we heard the radio discussion of the ending of the Cash for Clunkers program because it had been so successful, and moved almost 500,000 cars off dealers’ showrooms.
And I remembered the news in Elkhart County during this time. New jobs coming to Monaco Coach – Navistar because of a Federal government grant. The possibility of new jobs manufacturing energy efficiency equipment that is dependent on Elkhart County tax abatements.
Many of us in Elkhart County have traditionally been critical of government spending, or government involvement in the economy. Now, we seem to be not only appreciative of government spending, we are heavily dependent on it. Our sense of possible recovery in Elkhart County is heavily based on Federal grants for new manufacturing, State programs to re-train workers, and County tax abatements to attract new businesses.
Maybe our circumstances are calling us to move beyond the mantra that ”government involvement in the economy is bad” to the question, “How can we best use our collective resources (government money) and individual resources (private capital) to work for the public good?”
What do you think?
4 Comments
I do think it takes a combination of public and private funds to get things done, the challenge is finding that right combination. It’s like what John Wanamaker said about advertising expenditure: he knew half of it was wasted – he just didn’t know which half.
I have a firm belief that private capital can accomplish amazing things. That being said, there are times when it is appropriate for government to step in. It’s important for us to be open to whatever works and get away from the either/or mentality that can bring discussion to a screeching halt.
I like to see more of the money go towards education, and to re-training workers. It is good to have Government support, and the resources to bailout from problems. Fixing the infrastructures is great, but it is just waste of money. It is poor excuse to think it will put people back to work, or create new jobs.
I could use more of that easy government money to pay-off my credit problems, but yet it doesn’t teach any responsibilities that got me in my own mess.
Having a healthy balance is perhaps the best approach.
I would state that our social capital; our connections, our creativity, assets, and human strength are what makes it all work together. Sounds to me like Elkhart Count Works Together, eh?
I really like this line: “How can we best use our collective resources (government money) and individual resources (private capital) to work for the public good?” It made me think of our tax dollars in a way that I never have- as something more than “Gov’t money”. Your statement places an emphasis on our individual tax contributions as being more than just Uncle Sam’s chunk of our paychecks. Those dollars are our contribution, our collective resource. Shouldn’t it be used for a collective purpose? Investing in the U.S infrastructure is a fine example of this. Create jobs, create money, re-establish our economy- stronger and wiser hopefully.