So I bought a computer through a local business, (across the street).
Paid much more, expecting good service but his service turned out
to be more expensive than Gateway or Dell and the computer has
defective parts. I leased it (bought it on time) and in four years will
have paid more than I used to pay for a Plymouth.
The computer store went out of business after fifteen years due
to the impossibility of servicing his debts (translate didn't pay
the rent). The service contract is moot while the warranty
guaranteed by his dealer turned out to be a Chinese firm
that conveniently doesn't speak English and refuses to return
my calls. Address? P.O Box.
So what does all of this mean. Economie of Scale? Well
maybe not, I should tell you about my Emerson Air Conditioner
sold by a super store. (don't ask) So my point is simply that
things are more complicated than the pseudo scientific (translate
economic) theoretical structures allow for in their stories.
I'm reminded of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Usonia" which turned
out to be a slum while his great cantilevered Masterpiece at
"Falling Water" is now falling down because he didn't put
enough steel inside the cement. So you can't beat competence
and you always pay for it and ideals are just that, ideals and
not reality.
First, a small town is not a city. My anecdotes happened
in a neighborhood in NYCity ten times the size of my hometown
in population. Wright was wrong about small towns and wealthy
folks in the forest.
In my anecdotes the population is largely rental and so is very
mobile with little personal capital to make people behave
economically as opposed to owning a house in a small town.
But "economics" is rarely equipped to take such personal issues
as "community size interactions" into account" (of course they
always register size differences but their sophistication is put
to shame next to the product analysis and consumer targeting
of today's businesses).
As I think about the last statement I am reminded that business
has a conflict of interest in stimulating such sophistication from
government and thus claims that academia and the government
"can't" do it. "If you want the job done wrong just ask the
government" is the operative script, however they are right since
neither academia or government is willing to show a sophistication
as to the practical basics of the issues. Both government,
academia and business simply act like capitalists and
communists and argue that the two are so exclusive as to be
impossible together. The Chinese will probably make fools of
them all.
But if we may consider the small community and if I am once
more delve into personal anecdote illustrate the points. Communists
talk cities while Capitalists talk towns but both are lying
through their teeth and both is just rhetoric.
So mcgl I should tell you about your ideals which were my
Fathers. They are not bad but they demand someone with
political power overseeing the workings of the system. My
Father did it because he was Superintendent of Schools and
considered that what was good for the community was
essential to the funding of the schools.
Unlike your ideal community we were on an Indian Reserve
where there were no local taxes to support the schools.
Everything came from the state and national governments.
But that contribution from the state was dependent upon
population and so his job was dependent upon the health
of the community, as for the federal government, you had
to know how to "work" them. So he did a lot of volunteer
work (translate pro bono) outside of his regular job description.
He was active politically & he built the town park from
contributions that he solicited from the local "Lion's Club"
were he was a member. He taught valuing tradition through
such little things as building the park on the sand lot where
Yankee star Mickey Mantle had gotten his start.
He strengthened the local vocational programs in the schools and
gave the students jobs on the custodial staff while having them do
community R & D (mapping housing subdivisions for the future)
for grades, (they were paid for the custodial work).
He developed a sense of community pride and volunteerism
in all of the graduates. All of this on a reservation determined
by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection as the
number one Super Fund Toxic Waste site in the country (worse
even than "Love Canal" which instigated the super fund concept).
It was thoroughly undermined by lead and zinc mining.
He used a partnership between the government (schools) and
the town businessmen within the bounds and balance of good
sense. His stress was upon the cooperation between individuals
and the belief that everyone gained from meaningful work and
that they deserved to do it and be paid for it. But "in kind"
services were the oil that greased the community and kept people
strong on pride and belief in their ability to succeed.
His job, the leadership role, was a 24 hour a day
job with poor pay but essential to the success of the community.
They had hired and fired 12 Superintendents in 12 years, my
Father was there for 12 years before he moved on with very
little financial capital but immense wealth in political and personal
capital.
Without leadership there is no community and the personal
community situation you described in my opinion requires
strong leadership to escape the bounds of provinciality.
On the Reserve, it is that outreach into the world that has
been missing over the years since my Father left. As a
result the opportunities have built locally to some degree,
but the imagination necessary for building the personal
ego strength to confront the modern world is missing.
One light of hope in it all is the internet which the local school
is participating in. Now if they can dialogue with the rest of
the world, this could all turn around and you might see that
community you envisioned.
I still believe that you are downplaying the difference, especially
in NYState of the value and essentiallity of the large cities.
New York State is more enlightened than most of the rest of
the country on this issue and what you are describing as a
cure could be a step backwards IMO.
A good example is the recent welfare bill crafted by theory
and rhetoric by small town politicians who were manipulated
by their city bretheren into creating a bill that was impossible
for the small town poor to meet. Due of course to the lack of
transportation in the small towns.
A smart leader could enroll these folks in his party and
create havoc but that didn't occur to the small town advocates
any more than selling rocket knowledge to the Chinese was
given a second thought by the private/public Corporation
partnership.
Regards,
REH
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> A community organization has much more influence and power in their local
>communities, than they do lobbying public officials in Albany, or the District of
>Columbia. Political power is not a necessary condition for economic advance.
>
> Wealth in a community is created more through the recirculation of money within the
>community than through a large employer employing the residents. Every dollar you
>spend in a local business establishment, as opposed to a national chain store, keeps
>that dollar in the community. The more times that dollar recirculates within the
>community by being exchanged for other locally produced goods and services, the
>wealthier that community will become. This is how wealth is created.
>
> For example, a landlord hires painters, carpenters and other trades, suppliers and
>services. A community organization can approach local landlords and encourage them to
>hire local tradespeople (painters, carpenters, etc.). These tradespeople and
>suppliers can be encouraged and trained from among the community residents and their
>children as they pursue their education and become adults. A painter needs painting
>supplies, this creates an opportunity for the development of a paining supply
>business, which again can be initiated by the residents of the community. The owners
>of these businesses themselves are encouraged to live in the community, and use their
>profits to pay residential and business rent and purchase other locally produced
>goods and services. Similarly, with every other existing business enterprise and
>economic want and need among the residents, business enterprise can be developed to
>serve these opportunities from among the community itself.
>
> If one surveys the businesses that operate within your neighborhoods, one will find
>landlords, grocery stores, small manufacturers and suppliers, and other service and
>dry good businesses opportunities. Each of those businesses purchase supplies and
>services of different kinds. If energy is invested in finding ways for those
>businesses to purchase their supplies and services locally, many opportunities will
>be created for business formations and jobs, the cumulative effect of which will be
>to generate large amounts of wealth.
>
> A community organization can become the nexus through which people communicate with
>each other, connections and referrals made, opportunities pursued, and community
>norms and values reinforced. Such community organizations can intercede in resolving
>conflicts thereby assuring a positive business environment for everyone. For example,
>such a community organization can assist landlords in assuring that tenants pay their
>rent on time and ameliorate domestic disputes, as well as monitoring and assuring the
>quality of the work performed by local trades people and suppliers of goods and
>services. In return, the landlord agrees to purchase local services and supplies.
>
> The more connections among people and businesses that are created, the more
>businesses formations will develop. The effective education of children becomes more
>important in order for them to own and competently pursue these businesses
>opportunities. The educators in the schools could also be encouraged to be residents
>of the community, thereby expanding the integration among residents, business and
>service providers. The more a community organization builds connections among its
>residents and local business and service providers, the greater will be the
>accumulation of wealth within the community.
>
> Each dollar one spends in a national chain store or any business that is not
>directly connected to the community is a dollar that leaves the community and is lost
>for the purpose of multiplying the generation of wealth. The primary goal of a
>community organization is to keep dollars recirculating within the community for as
>long as possible. A broad based community consciousness can be developed around these
>basic economic and social values, and to that extent build cooperative social
>relationships that will contribute to everyone's education and prosperity.
>
> The development of economically and socially integrated communities will influence
>voter participation rates, the ability to build connections with adjacent community
>based businesses and organizations, and ultimately increase political and economic
>power and influence.
