Not long ago, I attended a city council meeting where I heard Dr. Landeck state a very disappointing fact about our Gateway City. Actually, when I heard it, and even now, I was hoping that this was an oversight but it does seem that, as Dr. Landeck said "The manufacturing sector in Laredo is all of one candle company". If not verbatim, that was the essence of his words. Perhaps if our town still had a population of 50,000 or so, it wouldn't be as hard to fathom. With estimates of about 250,000 people calling Laredo home, it is a very real problem. I realize that this is the communication age and there is an ongoing electronics revolution in process. There has a been a definite shift in our state and country from manufacturing jobs to service-oriented, high-technology jobs.
Even with all these changes all around us, manufacturing needs to remain a part of our city, state and nation. We have to continue to produce something, even if not in comparison to the levels seen decades ago. It does not bode well for us if we are simply consumers and others control the means of production.
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