Pros and cons of growth, subsidies
By John Rajcic
It seems that some of the people who want to keep Ramona “rural” are amongst those that want the roads improved.
The best way to begin to develop an area is to improve the roads. The history of California and the entire United States substantiates this fact. Look what freeways and improving the Oregon Trail have done for the development of our nation.
It appears that some of the same people want a Target store in our town. I generally tend to err on the side of development. Years ago as a Newport Beach resident I supported a committee to stop expansion of the Orange County Airport (John Wayne). It was a tiny airport and no jets flew out of it except Sinatra’s small jet on occasion.
We argued that the expansion of the airport would diminish the quality of life in Newport and cause residential property values to decline. The John Wayne Airport had the opposite impact.
When we lived in Villa Park, we even had an orange packing warehouse that was very active. In fact, it was said that Villa Park grew the best Valencia oranges in the world.
With development, down came the eucalyptus trees that were planted as windbreaks for the orange groves. Forty-plus years ago our elementary school daughter joined a group of kids who were protesting the destruction of the eucalyptus trees. A 90-year-old neighbor came over to the house and argued that he was amongst those that did not want that “dirty-foreign” tree planted by the growers.
Most people and politicians herald the small business and say it is the engine of our economy and employs most of America’s work force. I would argue that the best stimulus for small business is big business. Look what happened to Memphis when DHL pulled out. Memphis will adjust, but labor does not move as fast as capital and people will suffer in the meantime. Just think of the jobs and small businesses an international airport in Ramona would create!
A member of the House of Representatives (Iowa) was on C-Span the other day arguing against taxes and government involvement in business. He voted for the farm bill and support of ethanol. Our farm bill has been the biggest subsidy envisioned by anyone (we do have relatively cheap food).
Where would Iowa be without farm subsidies? The entire sate of Iowa would experience a large population exodus and would have a much more difficult job keeping its young, productive people in the state.
This is not an argument for subsidies, which are an anathema to the principles of free enterprise. This is the pragmatic situation we find ourselves in. The legislatures also contribute to the growth of small businesses. Our smog control laws have spawned thousands of automobile emissions control shops.
We are a great nation and our nation will come out of this deep recession.
Merry Christmas to all.
John Rajcic is a Ramona resident.
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