Good jobs are created by stable companies.  Good jobs stick around for generations when they are created by stable companies with either an emotional or physical tie to an area.  Local ownership would be considered an emotional tie – availability of raw goods or materials would be considered a physical tie – both tie a business to its community for the long haul.

Business attraction – convincing new businesses to move into our area has been given considerable effort in the past.  Business retention – helping existing businesses overcome obstacles that otherwise might make them leave our area, has also been a priority.  Both of these are good economic development strategies – but they are not enough.  We are still losing jobs at an alarming rate.

What is needed is an additional strategy.  One such strategy would enable local businesses and/or entrepreneurs to satisfy local demand for products that are currently imported to the community.  That strategy would utilize two concepts – economic leakage analysis and emerging technologies.

Economic leakage is simply money that leaves the community.  There are multiple levels of leakage in a community.  For example when consumers go “out of town” to purchase goods and services – all of the money for those purchases leaves the community.  When those same consumers stay “in town” to purchase goods and services but from national chain stores or other non-locally owned businesses, some of their money stays in the community in the form of wages, expenses and taxes, but most of it still leaves the community.  When consumers purchase goods and services from locally owned businesses even more of the money stays in the community.  A locally owned business that provides a good or service with locally obtained raw materials and exports to “out of town” consumers what is not used by local consumers, keeps the maximum amount of money in the community.

Emerging technologies create new products which create new markets which create new business opportunities – which create new jobs.  Some emerging technologies require access to raw materials – biomass electric generation facilities for instance require access to feedstock or biomass from forest and/or agriculture bi- products.  Wind turbine electrical generation facilities require access to steady winds.  Photovoltaic solar electrical generation facilities require access to the sun.  Interestingly enough – we have all of these, right here in Siskiyou County.

Keeping money in the community is good for everyone in that community since the money filters through more local businesses and creates more stable jobs.  This is the multiplier effect that economic developers talk about with reverence.

There is no realistic way of keeping all of our money local.  Some goods and services simply do not lend themselves to local production.  Others cannot be priced competitively simply because we do not have enough population to create a large volume of demand.  Some businesses also cannot realistically be locally owned due in large part to the high capital dollars needed for start up and operation.

Using the results of an economic leakage analysis and applying some of our own “common sense” filters will result in a list of potential products and services that currently are “leaking” out of the area but that could thrive locally.  That list will hopefully spur some expansion or start up and in the process create stable jobs.

Once a leakage analysis has been completed it can be published so that you can decide for yourself if any of the products or services can thrive locally.  Perhaps yours will be the local business that takes on a new product line, or perhaps you are the local entrepreneur who will start up a new business based on the data that is uncovered.

For the good of the community, I sincerely hope so.

Vince Reinig
Board President, Mt. Shasta Chamber of Commerce

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The ability to support ourselves and live our lives as we see fit is also a gift that we are blessed with. It would be hard to take this gift for granted lately, given the state of our economy. Siskiyou County’s economic environment, most of us would agree, is also worth protecting.

Protecting the environment, both physical and economic, is in all of our best interests – even though we may not always find a compelling reason to do so. Those compelling reasons can be obscured, out of sight and, consequently, out of mind during the course of our everyday lives. Political rhetoric, hidden agendas, misleading marketing, intensely busy lives and our own sense of not fully understanding the issues all lead to a comfort level with the out of sight, out of mind phenomenon.

For instance, I know that the scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that advances in our modern technology have left a problem in its wake that may not directly impact our lives but certainly will radically alter the lives of future generations. Similarly, I know that economists agree that our current economic problems will likely impact future generations if we do not adequately address them soon. Yet I continue to live my life largely as if neither of these are a reality – out of sight, out of mind.

One of the great things about living in a democratic society is that we are free to choose what we think and talk about as well as what we ignore. Common ground is needed in order to have a sustained, productive discussion – to find those compelling reasons to take action on these issues. Perhaps that common ground is the desire to improve/protect both environments. By identifying and implementing solutions to the physical environmental problems that our technology has created, we will also improve the current economic environment, and vice-versa.

Technology is not likely to go away. I for one am glad since I have spent most of my adult life in technology businesses and am certain that my life is enhanced by technology of all kinds. The best technologies to me are the ones that provide lifestyle enhancement, economic opportunity and protection of the physical environment all at the same time. The question then, is does such a thing exist?

The answer, in my mind, is overwhelmingly yes. So let’s have some discussion, debate and fact finding about our economic and physical environments. I invite you to offer your opinion or expertise on the issues posted there. Perhaps these discussions will spark an entrepreneurial spirit in some of us and new businesses will be created or existing businesses expanded. Perhaps we can protect our pristine physical environment and enhance our economic environment at the same time. I am hopeful, and optimistic that you and I will find compelling reasons to not only talk but take action on these issues – right here in Siskiyou County.

Vince Reinig