Executive Secretary's Report: Each must invest equally so we all gain

The unraveling Enron scandal confirms our worst fears about private sector involvement in our core infrastructures. The drive for profits undermines infrastructure because it supplants the societal objective — the common good — with private objective: profit-taking. We learned this during airline deregulation. We’re relearning it as our health care system is collapsing from the weight of drug company and health insurance greed. Even our education infrastructure is at risk.

Locally, the Seattle Times and the business community are clamoring to undo prevailing wage laws as our legislators negotiate a transportation package. Like Enron, builders seem unsatisfied with the traditional very large profits of a very large construction project. This "Enronesqe" tendency to confuse common with private good is especially dangerous to a society that relies heavily on our infrastructures.

In the case of transportation, the objective is to provide a means to move people, goods, and services around the region so our economic engine gets revving again to everyone’s benefit. There are plenty of rewards for all sectors if we rebuild transportation. However, the fragility of infrastructure is that all relationships are interdependent. Investments founded on greed are doomed as any Enron investor or employee can attest. When it comes to infrastructure, each party must invest equally so we all gain. -Steve Williamson