Trees, Jobs and the Environment

The irony of the situation in the Northwest is that President Clinton has been confronted with some of the portent that lies in his “jobs, jobs, jobs” policy. He’s been presented with a textbook example of what can happen when people let their jobs do their thinking for them.

An economist once commented on this unfortunate version of “job placement.” Specifically, he warned that in such cases what is economically convenient too often and too easily becomes sacrosanct. Thus in the Northwest, all the forests and all the trees proved to be very convenient. And the job of cutting them down, accordingly, became sacrosanct. As a consequence, today in the Northwest there are many holy people. And fewer and fewer trees.

BILL COLESON

Meiners Oaks