June 12, 2002
Mother always said never to discuss religion or politics at the dinner table, and I have always violated that rule.
Another rule, at least in Florida, is never to discuss economic development if your goal is to make a case for improving the employment base and the lives of the people who need well-paying jobs with benefits.
While life holds no guarantees, the future is a lot brighter for retirees than for working-age people. As more and more jobs shift to low-wage, even prison-labor countries like Mexico, Malaysia or China, and as it gets harder and harder to afford decent health care, the economic impact will be felt throughout our region.
This is not a Democratic, Republican or Libertarian problem, though people of those political stripes have their views on what needs to be done. It's an American problem. If we don't solve it, we run the risk of ending up a First World nation with a Third World economy and social system.
Indian River County may be part of that dismal future unless moves are made to halt the economic decline.
Government isn't the solution; the private sector is the key. Employers must show a commitment to employing Americans, paying them decently and providing affordable health insurance so that people can raise healthy families.
That's almost blasphemy in corporate America today, where the goal appears to be to reincorporate in Bermuda, launder profits through the Cayman Islands and move all production to Hanoi and customer service to Bangalore while flying the American flag over a headquarters in the United States.
So what's the answer? It's not always tax incentives, I'm sorry to say.
Ask the city of Boynton Beach or Broward County, which threw stacks of taxpayer money at Motorola and got layoffs in return.
Ask Palm Beach County, which has been flinging taxpayer money at companies for years to grow an "Internet Coast." Most of the companies formerly there have gone the way of XL Vision and Florafax.
The best way is to encourage the growth of local businesses to help them become bigger employers that can afford to pay better salaries.
Instead of hoping, usually futilely, that a large company will relocate here, politicians and the Chamber of Commerce should be doing more for local businesses, current and prospective.
Some people who have escaped from the counties south of us, though, don't want economic growth, even if the price is poverty for so many. Too many people means too many cars, they say, which means it's harder to get to the Indian River Mall.
If things don't turn around in a few years, however, the same wrecking ball that bowled a strike at the Vero Mall will be rolling toward the Indian River Mall.
How long do you think those shopping centers on State Road 60 will remain viable when they're half-empty, when the stores currently there can't turn a profit?
If anyone out there has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.
Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com.
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