Elkhart area officials went groveling to Washington this week seeking taxpayer money -- $50,000 to be exact -- to study the long-term future for the RV industry.
Apparently, the local officials want to get some university professors to ask RV manufacturers a few questions and then compile data commonly available from the Census Bureau website into a fancy looking report they can then show off at some county board or city council meetings to reassure people the RV industry will be coming back.
What a colossal waste of taxpayer money and time.
I understand that the Elkhart area has been hit hard by the downturn. But, are we to expect that the federal government will shell out $50,000 every eight to 10 years to study the future of one industry or another that is caught up in a cyclical market?
Where will the federal government cough up this money? Or is $50,000 just a miniscule drop of red ink in an ocean of federal deficits?
A whole lot of money can be saved along with scads of time if elected officials in Elkhart simply extract themselves from positions in front of TV cameras and do a little research themselves. They might even be able to get a high school junior to conduct the same research online and have the report ready before school starts.
Of course the RV industry is coming back. It will be bigger and better than ever before. The demand has not diminished one iota -- just ask campgrounds. The demographics favor our industry to the tune of 12,000 potential buyers turning 50, the prime RV buying age, every day. Manufacturers galore are announcing plans to release a series of lightweight travel trailers that can be towed by just about any truck, which will appeal to fuel-conscious “green” RVers.
The last thing we need are some out-of-touch college professors spending money dreamed up by out-of-touch federal employees to do ordinary research in order to tell out-of-touch local elected officials what is obvious to anyone who has been following this industry with even a passing interest for the last 10 months.
If Elkhart-area officials are going to invest $50,000 on anything it should be for lessons in common sense and basic economics.