United States will reap what it has sown
To the Editor,
Last week, the Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF announced that they
would be closing the Chicago Rawhide plant in Franklin. This plant has
been in Franklin for over 25 years, and at least 170 people will be
out of work because of this, with significant consequences for our local
economy.
Despite various rationalizations that will be bandied about, it is clear
that Sweden, as part of the European Union, has an ax to grind with
this president, and we are the victims.
Our foreign and economic policy is now 180 degrees off course. Every
move we have made in the area of foreign and economic policy is utterly
self-destructive.
As an economic and pro-business fiscal conservative, I am absolutely
horrified by the policies of this administration.
We have completely alienated our very best trading partners, the Europeans
and the Canadians. We have created a trade war with the only nations
wealthy and advanced enough to buy our higher-priced products. The Europeans,
as part of the G7, are among the only nations who have opened factories
in the United States, thus employing our workers. China and Mexico and
other Third World countries certainly do not. The European nations and
Canada are some of the few who are wealthy enough to buy our treasury
bonds, thus allowing us to feed our current binge of deficit spending.
Without the help of the European Union and Canada, our economy would
be a complete wasteland, and now this administration has alienated them
in an argument over some pointless exercise in futility in the Middle
East.
To make matters worse, we have belligerently embraced the WTO, NAFTA
and the FTAA in a bizarre effort to bolster our economic relations with
the very nations least likely to shore up our economy.
Third World nations are not consumers of our products. On the contrary,
we are consumers of theirs. Moreover, we have wiped out our consumer
base by exporting to them the very jobs which would shore up consumer
spending right here in the United States.
Further, we have thrown our borders wide open to anyone who wants to
saunter in here to work cheap or blow up our infrastructure. The most
basic duty of any government or nation is to secure its borders, define
its population apart from any other population group, and protect its
citizens. We have done none of that.
In short, the policies of this administration have evidently been deliberately
designed to destroy this economy, alienate the friends who can help
us and court the countries who will hurt us.
If there is one lesson from the Sept. 11 attacks, it is that we should
not be wasting our times involving ourselves in the affairs of Third
World nations at all.
The only possible legitimate economic interest we could have in Third
World countries is as a source of raw materials. That issue can best
be taken care of in bilateral trade. The old notion of "food for
oil" isn't such a bad one.
It has often been said that we are in an economic recovery; the recession
has for many months been over. False.
The data that we are being fed relates to business profits (business
"activity") and in that light reflects profits certain corporations
have reaped by cutting expenses (i.e. workers).
We are on a hell-bound train. Our economic and foreign policy is racing
us all toward absolute self-destruction. Our only hope is a complete
about-face, an all-encompassing change of course.
Patrick Holleman
Sylva
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Reason for library's decline
To the Editor:
A favorite theme for the past year has been the repeated emphasis on
the Jackson County Public Library's limited parking (19 parking spaces).
Frankly, I find this an irrelevant point since the library's present
location is accessible by all of downtown Sylva, including the adjoining
parking lots. The designated spaces are those behind the library, of
course.
However, in recent months, I have never found all of them occupied.
That is especially noteworthy since the library staff utilizes these
parking spaces. Ironically, the marked decline in the utilization of
the library in the past six months has made this issue irrelevant anyway.
Why is the library under-utilized? Critics of the downtown facility
note that the library's resources are painfully inadequate (books, computers,
magazines, etc.) Yes, they certainly are, but that may not be the primary
reason why the public is using the library less and less.
In my opinion, this under-utilization is primarily due to the library's
current atmosphere. It has become a bleak and cheerless place - a kind
of no man's land - trapped between two opposing factions and commandeered
by a petty, inept autocrat (who is usually in a meeting‚ or on
the phone). Given the current frustrations associated with a trip to
town, why add a trip to the present library?
I have previously commented on the fact that the downtown library's
diminishing appeal serves to make the Southwestern Community College
multi-purpose facility more glamorous. In other words, it is in the
best interests of Fontana Regional Library and the current librarian
to allow the atmosphere of the downtown facility to degenerate. All
they have to do is let the current decline continue.
Perhaps they could even add a few negative enhancements like broken
windows, flickering lights, skittering rats and occasional outbursts
of hysterical weeping. Eventually, the general public will be eager
to flee to SCC's expansive parking lot and its airy, sunlit multi-purpose
facility.
Further, in my opinion, what we are currently witnessing in the library
controversy is the launching of scheme designed to make the SCC multi-purpose
facility an appealing solution. If more surveys are implemented, if
additional task forces are appointed and if more feasibility studies
are authorized, (and more architects consulted), the general public
will eventually become weary, bored and/or cynical about the issue.
If they stop responding, if they stop challenging governmental arrogance,
we will lose the struggle to keep our downtown library. With no significant
opposition, the multi-purpose facility will be constructed, and the
people of Jackson County will have no choice but to be educated into
an acceptance of the solution.
I prefer to think we will persist and that the people of this county
understand the real reason behind all of this unnecessary (and costly)
prevarication.
In closing, I would like to comment on a detail that I discovered in
summary of this controversy. I read that the original recommendation
for the SCC multi-purpose center suggested that it combine a college
library with a Wellness and Fitness Center for the county. What happened
to that idea? Certainly, there is a multi-purpose center that I could
endorse!
Gary Carden
Sylva
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