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Jennifer Huard's weekly column appears in
the Rio Rancho Journal section of the
Albuquerque Journal newspaper every
Thursday.
Email her at
jhuard@abqjournal.com
Feed the Grizzly,
not the Panda. 1/17/07 |
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What if there was no Intel
Corporation in Rio Rancho to donate $40,000 to our library’s new
electronic resource center? Or the National Hispanic Cultural Center
never received their gift of $2 million? What if Intel wasn’t here to
donate $1 million in cash and in-kind donations to Explora! Science
Center and Children's Museum of Albuquerque? And the Corrales
Recreation Center never received their $30,000 donation? Lest we
forget to mention our entire school system or all of the jobs Intel
provides. Contributions from big healthy corporations like Intel are
immeasurable. What kind of shape would our community be in if Intel
wasn’t here to contribute so generously year after year? It’s a
wonderful life, Rio Rancho. You don’t know how lucky you are.
It used to be this way for the people who lived in communities thirty
years ago in the mid west, specifically the heartland of the American
auto makers. Having seen first hand what happens when an industry dies
a slow death and the trickle down effect eats away at the community
that once was so strongly supported. I grew up in a Michigan town
where General Motors plants were as common in the local vernacular as
ice scraper, rock salt and red pop. Malleable Iron, Grey Iron,
Steering Geer, Central Foundry and Fisher Body were a few of the
bustling GM factories that employed the majority of the population
full time and the cute high school boys part time every summer. These
immense forces of life were the heartbeat of our town, providing
contributions and donations much in the same way Intel does to Rio
Rancho and Albuquerque. Our towns flourished because Americans were
buying American cars. Our libraries and public schools enjoyed
generous donations. New cultural centers, parks and town centers
sprang up everywhere.
There was an article in USA Today last week that really saddened me.
For the first time in history, forecasters are stating the top three
American automakers GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler combined will
capture less than fifty percent of the new vehicle market this year.
This is an unprecedented milestone. Unfortunately, it quietly slipped
in without much fanfare because it is simply following the trend it
has been following for the last twenty-five years. According to James
R. Healey and Chris Woodyard of USA Today “Ford, for instance, expects
to have eliminated 38,000 hourly workers by September, half its hourly
workforce, and to have shed 10,000 white-collar jobs in addition to
4,000 sliced last year”. Tragic is the word that comes to mind.
One could argue the industry has lost millions due to circumstances
besides foreign competition. Union issues, faulty marketing campaigns
and internal business errors have also helped contribute to its
demise, but in the end, consumers have a choice. If there is no demand
for American cars, first and foremost there is no need for the hourly
line worker bees or the white-collar bees for that matter. Keep going:
factories close, dealerships close, tax dollars and donations go away.
The bottom line is: when you don’t buy products made in your own
country, its effects eventually show up in your own back yard, just
like they have in Michigan.
I wonder what would happen if one day Americans decided Intel chips
weren’t so cool anymore. Maybe some Asian company comes out with a
cheaper version of the same chip. Then some advertising agency adds
its spin to it and plasters hip colorful advertisements all over the
radio, newspaper and television. Americans may start to gobble them up
like potato chips and Intel begins its turn on life support. There is
a lesson here, folks. We need to feed the grizzly bear rather than the
panda bear.
Quote of the Week: “And it’s up to me and you, To do the best that we
can do, And let the voice of freedom, Sing out through this land, This
is our country” – John Mellencamp
Jennifer Huard’s column appears each Thursday. E-mail her with your
comments at jhuard@abqjournal.com. |
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