Letter to the Editor
Use legacy money to build a real legacy - North Dakota has a legacy of public enterprise to develop and ensure the future of our rural economies through wise nonpartisan investing. Our elected officials have become dangerously frugal, now relying on foreign and out of state corporate investors to mill our farm commodities and refine our natural resources. This frugality is costing the state and taxpayers billions in lost revenue.
The Fufeng corn crushing plant near Grand Forks was one example of the disturbing trend of foreign countries taking over the US food supply. Stopping the plant’s construction left Grand Forks without jobs and the farmers without a good corn market.
North Dakota has the State Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks which has been turning out profits for 100 years. Would it be feasible to expand the Mill and Elevator to include a corn processing plant? The profits the Chinese expected to make could be our own profits. Could we at least have a study done or action by the legislature to evaluate the possibility of expanding the mill?
Our legacy fund is around 8 billion dollars. A recent news report exposed the fact that the state has invested our Legacy money in China. China then invests the money back into North Dakota and keeps the profits to build up their industrial war complex. Let’s eliminate the middleman and invest our money in our state to create the same number of jobs, the same commodity markets for our farmers and we would also have pride of ownership.
North Dakota has five things other states wish they had: a wealth of resources including agricultural commodities, cheap energy, a lot of water, a good work ethic and 8 billion dollars in wealth. Our Legacy fund could be used to create a real legacy for North Dakotans like the legacy of the State Mill and Elevator and the Bank of North Dakota.
Surely our own state leadership has more faith in the farmers of North Dakota to work and produce a quality product than the Chinese and other foreign investors.
David Schwalbe, Bismarck, ND