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Leadership Seminars: Hie Virginia General Assembly already has appropriated money ostensibly to spur the Southwest Virginia economy through “a leadership development seminar series to recognize and encourage forward thinking leaders in the region,” in the words of a report issued by the Southwest Virginia Regional Development Commission. Apparently, forwardthinking leaders won’t step forward unless they’re first inspired by a state-sponsored rap session.
A major problem with these proposals is that, unlike private business projects, there is no easy way to demonstrate their success. Political leaders tend to take credit for all of the jobs “created” by particular projects, but there is really no “bottom line” by which they can be judged since state governments do not go bankrupt when they engage in boondoggles.
The state government, after all, does not have to compete against other business ventures for investors’ dollars; it simply takes the money through taxes. As a result, it is hard to know whether the money would not have been more wisely ' spent if it had been left in the private sector to fund other ventures.
Given Gov. Gerald Baliles’ proclamation of 1987 as “The Year of Trade,” Virginia exporters should also realize that foreign governments may well come to regard these types of subsidies as “unfair trade practices” that would entitle them to levy tariffs or take other punitive action. The United States already set a precedent last fall when the Commerce Department decided that Canadian provinces’ timber pricing practices entitled the U.S. to levy import duties on Canadian lumber.
In addition to specific economic development projects, there’s the favorite proposal of Democrats and Republicans alike: spend more money on public schools. Though a legislative commission has even suggested that Southwest Virginia schools in particular could stand improvement, the enthusiasm for spending money seems to be accompanied by few proposals to ensure
(See DEVELOPMENT, 14)
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