[Vision2020] Acceptable business

[Phil Nisbet]

One of the greatest dichotomies in our little burgh is the variation between 
the desires of the white collar University element and the blue collar rural 
element and those who join either camp.

Our white collar worker wants non-impactive business, something that’s nice 
and officy that pays good money for the degrees that each hang on their 
walls.

Blue collar workers are looking for industry, where their skills at hard 
work receive a premium and which are often seen as very impactive by the 
white collar clique.

In the white collar clique’s universe, the blue collar is doomed to live 
life taking jobs in retail or similar service occupations.  The wages and 
the future for these workers becomes a modern serfdom, what Dr. Aaron Harp 
called social stratification by elevation.  The high white collar earners 
move steadily up hill to buy view lots on the top of Palouse Hills and the 
blue collar earners have rented trailers in selected valleys below.

Here in Latah County, we have Moscow and then we have the rest of the 
county.  Moscow has a built in employment bonus because it draws state tax 
funds into the economy every year to fuel the University.  The Moscow 
economy has ups and downs according to the money made available from the 
Legislature, but provides good steady jobs for the 3000 people who work 
there.

The rural portion of our area does not have that advantage.  The rest of the 
county is plagued by high unemployment and gross underemployment with little 
sense that there is a future for them in the place of their birth.

University families earning 50-60 thousand a year want things like small 
shops and personal services and a small but classy clubby atmosphere.  The 
blue collar family dragging down $20,000 a year is more interested in 
getting what ever they can cheaply at Wally World.

Creating a few more jobs in white collar sector outside the university 
setting does not solve this problem.  The lone wolf business model simply 
creates a few more jobs for people headed for the top of a hill and creates 
no living wages for the blue collar.

Mark Seman has an interesting perspective on this, suggesting home 
occupation, in essence cottage industry as a means of providing higher wage 
employment for white and blue collar alike.  The skill set there is 
craftsmanship, value added through personal attention and artistry.  It’s 
not a bad small scale model, but can also be upgraded to allow similar 
businesses on a slightly larger scale.

Then there are also jobs and industries that can combine the skills of the 
knowledge center with the skills of our blue collar workers.

Latah County has trees and no wood carvers.  We have stone and no stone 
cutters.  We have clay and no brick makers.  We are adding very little to 
the value of the things we produce for export.

Training for development in craftsmanship for blue collar workers would 
increase the living wage for that sector of our economy.  Melding University 
knowledge of our materials to add value to exported products would also add 
living wage jobs.

Things like Medical Ceramics using locally sourced materials to make dental 
porcelain, joint replacements, synthetic bone and other such devices would 
seem a good fit.  Making high value porcelain in china wares or in art 
related ceramics would also be a good fit.

Nanomaterials and nanocomposite production from local feedstocks is also an 
area worthy of research for local development.

Research and development of higher value crops and value added through 
skilled organic farming is also a living wage alternative.

And of course let’s not forget slate and marble tile production, thus 
allowing us to convince Angelina that Carl has the appropriate shower to 
justify hanging out with him.

The vision that I see is one in which we have local craftsman turning out 
things of beauty side by side with people making high tech high value items. 
  It is a vision that sees the wage gap shrink and uses the skills of all 
members of our community.  Adding jobs solely for the white collar will not 
solve our problems and simply leads to eventual class conflict.

So Wayne tells us that he is not anti-business, but if we snagged somebody 
like CoorsTek to turn out medical ceramics here on the Palouse, would we not 
hear horror stories about them?  If we got Boeing to build a composite 
materials plant here are we going to hear shouts of no way?  If Quarry Tile 
built a facility to make ceramic wall tiles with a 100,000 square foot 
facility?  How about if a plant to make marble counter tops came in?

Because I think that most of us know that the minute any new business looked 
at the area, Wayne would be out there 'digging up dirt' and turning siting 
them here into the next big battle.  And most businesses know that any call 
to move here will be accompanied not by a welcome mat, but by a battle 
royal.

Phil Nisbet

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