The Range and the "Recession"

The good and bad thing about the Iron Range economy is that it operates somewhat independently from the national economy. Pretty much, our fortunes follow the international steel market. While the so-called mortgage crisis has some reverberation here, people are strangely more optimistic about the future on the Range than they are in the Minneapolis/St. Paul suburbs. Believe me, it’s a weird thing to hear people weeping about the recession on CNBC and hear Johnny Ranger say “Boy, I think I can get the bigger truck this year.” Behold the following, published in Thursday’s Hibbing Daily Tribune:

Disclosure: I know Tom Anzelc well and ran his 2006 campaign. I think he’s right about this, but that his statement about the Range’s “immunity” from recession was played up a bit too much. If the national economy stinks for too long, everyone is hurt. Ultimately, I think that’s what he meant.

Anzelc predicts flush times on Iron Range
Calls region immune — for now — from recession
By Mike Jennings, Editor

BALSAM TOWNSHIP—A booming mining sector is likely to prevent the Iron Range
from joining the state’s and nation’s slide into economic recession, at least for the time being, says Rep. Tom Anzelc.

“Quite frankly, on the western Mesabi as well as on the entire Iron Range, I think ‘08 is going to be a very good year,” Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, said Wednesday. He said mining exploration and mining development are flourishing in the region.

Anzelc said the Iron Range forms an exception to the recessionary pattern described Wednesday by Sens. David Tomassoni and Tarryl Clark. In a joint press release, Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, and Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, called for Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s help in passing an economic stimulus package to counter the state’s negative job growth and high rate of unemployment.

“It is time for the state to make strategic investments in sustainable job growth, before more Minnesotans find themselves in the unemployment line,” Tomassoni said in the press release.

Anzelc said in an interview that the legislature’s principal tool for stimulating the economy this year will be bonding.

“You need to invest, invest in people when your economy starts to slide,” he said. “And a large bonding bill puts people to work — construction people first and then other jobs to follow.”

Anzelc said the Iron Range seems poised for a cycle of growth, thanks to new ventures such as Minnesota Steel Industries, planned $1.6 billion taconite-to-steel plant in Nashwauk, which lies in his district. The wood products industry, another staple of the region’s economy, is unlikely to have a good year, however, he said.

“The linchpins of our Northern Minnesota economy have always been our natural resources,” he said. “And we boom and then we bust. … Wood prouducts appears to be in the bust cycle.”

Clark, the assistant Senate majority leader, pledged that economic development would be the top priority of lawmakers during the legislative session that convenes Feb. 12. As part of that effort, Anzelc plans to introduce a $67 million bonding bill to help pay for such essentials as gas lines and road and rail access at the Minnesota Steel plant.

He said he also supports vigorous investment through Iron Range Resources in mining communities’ water and sewer systems and other basic needs to heighten their appeal to entrepreneurs. The region would also benefit from fresh investment in its community colleges, he said.

Anzelc said he’s also seeking a $4 million appropriation to dewater the Canisteo Pit, which he called a threat to the towns of Bovey and Coleraine.

If the state’s recession deepens, its effects will ultimately reach the Iron Range, Anzelc said.

“And being a progressive person, I believe that economic stimulus packages proposed by government in cooperation with the private sector historically shorten recessions,” he said. “It’s all really about creating jobs and keeping people here.”

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