Re: god of development

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Dan:  Intwined in your discourse are fundamental issues of moral and 
spiritual values,which most business economists today reject as not 
bearing on decision-making about effectiveness in and profitability from 
investments in material production and services.  If one can separate the 
two in deciding on public policy, then we go back to Adam Smith. But he 
did not forsee most of the "bad" consequences of industrial development, 
due not to bad economics but rather to the greed and insensitivity of 
some business people. The list of unsavory consequences is legion, if you 
want to look for them. Public policy that is sensitive to human need and 
suffering then  intervenes and legislates. Is there an alternative to 
political intervention? Undoubtedly, but it is grounded in society's 
moral and spiritual fiber. When I point to some reformist thinkers, I 
don't do so in a partisan, sectarian sense, but rather in terms of ideas 
that, when utilized, would avoid most political solutions to social 
problems. If one has never read John (Jean) Calvin's "Institutes" on 
relgious behavior, then one has missed a major critique of Western 
economic development. Most economists see only the so-called Protestant 
ethic of self-fulfillment through faith justification. Rather, his views 
on moral responsibility and freedom from greed and avarice are still very 
appropriate. One could go further and select many passages in both the 
Old and New Testaments which inform humans about the level playing field 
and doing what is morally right by one's neighbor. The Q'uran (Koran) 
also has something to say here. Who's reading or listening? Are we 
intellectually bankrupt in this domain of human affairs? Is the profit 
margin the only margin?
   What these instructions have to do with adequate health services for 
all citizens, and for enterprises like Alturas Technology Park, are 
matters for each one to decide.  I was a youngster during the "Great 
Depression", and I saw bread and soup lines; I heard about Gen. 
MacArthur's Army troops standing in readiness to open fire against a 
civilian 'army' of hungry jobless men in Washington, DC; and I saw my mom 
make sandwiches for hungry 'hobos' who road the rails across this country 
searching for work and food. Were they lazy, shiftless or undeserving.? I 
saw whole families with their earth's belongings packed onto old cars 
trecking across the continent to escape the "Dust Bowl" caused by bad 
uses of the land. When it comes to these things, an economic system needs 
fixin'. But why does it come to that? Probably because our moral and 
spiritual fiber is worn thin, and we need a transfusion of love, and 
dignity, ethics and integrity in order to get back on to our national 
purpose.  Maybe this 'preach' will help a little -- it's up to each one 
of us.    Ken M..

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William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com