I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Enough of sugar plums dancing in your heads and let's instead think about industrial policy.
A modern industrial economy needs lots of different minerals and metals to thrive. The more a country depends on other countries to provide these materials, the more it places itself at risk if relations go sour. The U.S. imports a lot of its minerals but we are fortunate to be rich in many, tungsten for example. But that asumes that it can be mined, which as it turns out is a big assumption.
A modern industrial economy needs lots of different minerals and metals to thrive. The more a country depends on other countries to provide these materials, the more it places itself at risk if relations go sour. The U.S. imports a lot of its minerals but we are fortunate to be rich in many, tungsten for example. But that asumes that it can be mined, which as it turns out is a big assumption.
Columnist Marita Noon writes about recent efforts to mine tungsten in Montana. It gives a good idea why the American economy stinks:
"In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While the property was successfully drilled and recognized by Union Carbide in the seventies, it is now about 200 yards inside a roadless study area. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling permit. Among the conditions were these requirements:
- The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,
- The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,
- The mules must be fed certified weed-free hay, and
- Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.
The company gave up.
How can America remain competitive in a global marketplace when we are required to use pick axes and mules? How does this help America’s heavy equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar?
No wonder we are in trouble."
You think? Hand tools? Mules? Certified weed-free hay? Amazing. November 6, 2012 is coming.
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