Fortuna Palco Mill Closing

Yet another lumber mill will be closing it's doors. One hundred and one workers losing their jobs. Palco says the closure is a result of an "unreliable supply of logs". I'm sure that's true.

The Left will likely blame this on some sort of corporate conspiracy on Palco's part, the Right will likely blame it on the anti business agenda of the lefty environmentalists and state government. I'll let them argue that issue.

But I won't let go this idea that some have around here of making up for the lost jobs by trying to encourage tourism- you keep hearing this floating around by people who think we can sustain our economy just by selling trinkets to tourists. If the real solid businesses in this country, like those in the timber industry, keep getting hit, there won't be anyone left in the country that can afford to be a tourist and those trinket sellers will be waiting quite some time for someone to sell their stuff to.

As an aside, I wonder how much effect the gas prices will have on tourism this year?