Wednesday, June 10, 1987

Leaders are selling Alaska short.

Recently, leading political figures in Alaska have been caught making statements such as, “Alaska will never produce the world’s panty hose,” and “We should not be looking into high technology or manufacturing because we do not have an innate ability in those areas.

Are Alaskans being piously forever condemned to unemployment and poverty?

Now is the time to make use of Alaska’s special advantage of possessing massive strategic mineral reserves. Combining this special advantage with our hydroelectric potential and a Strategic Defense Initiative plasma physics and ceramics institute at the University of Alaska will give us the ability to produce construction materials of competitive export quality.

Using time-proven methods of directed entrepreneurship and low-interest loans to established firms, our products could be twice as strong with half the weight and double the fire and corrosion resistance of existing materials.

Entry-level universal products such as reinforcing rods, structural steel, corrugated and cellular sheet steel, pipe and concrete can be used in local projects and will act as a stepping-stone toward producing more advanced capital goods in the future, thus ensuring stable, long-term employment.

The next time an Alaskan leader talks about panty hose or our lack of innate abilities, consider the source.

Charles E. Duncan