Frequent readers of this column know Indiana’s economic development is a major concern. Recently, I asked five regular luncheon mates, “Where should Indiana put its money for economic development?”
I expected the usual three answers to that question:
a) Where the market is currently growing,
b) Where the market has a good chance of restoring economic prosperity, or
c) Where the market has abandoned communities we call “rural,” and have significant public and private infrastructure decaying.
Objections to and justifications for each alternative are readily available. For instance, the market has favored Indianapolis and its hostile suburbs with an abundance of opportunity over the past several decades. This has led to persistent envy by other Indiana cities and counties which then conspire to deny that struggling metropolitan area relief from its diseconomies of scale.
Through both neglect and active disdain, the General Assembly has made Indianapolis and its suburbs congested, increasingly polluted, inefficient, and disrespectful competitors for whatever goodies are available near the bottom of the development barrel.
However, the laissez faire, do what ye will, policies of our state government, have failed other metro areas and smaller cities. Almost all development dollars come from the federal government. They have been administered often by state legislators and bureaucrats ignorant of the capabilities and limitations of our diverse localities.
If you doubt this assessment look at the decades of “progress” in Terre Haute and the Three Sisters of US 24 (Logansport, Peru, and Wabash). All four of those cities, like others in Indiana, have had major highways built around downtown, leading to decay of the central city and delayed modernization.
Finally, consider our “rural” areas. They subsist by happenstance, at the will of foreign companies who grace us with their investments. Subsidized extensively by a fawning state development agency, these firms benefit from local governments cajoled into giving away tax monies that support education, protective services, health care, and numerous other functions.
Then we proclaim, “Nobody wants to live in a place as dull as Knox, Linton, or Crothersville.” But none of these towns would be decaying or dull, if counties would join forces and develop activities, institutions, and interactions which take advantage of modern transit and technologies that can liberate the mind and spirit.
At that lunch, I was surprised by the first response to my question. “Invest in the people.” Forget subsidies to business. Help our citizens understand that what lies beyond our self-imposed boundaries is attainable. Watch TV that is meaningful and read books. This will stimulate imagination and independent action. Ultimately, people will yield the best return on our investments.
-30-