INDUSTRIES: Must create products

It always troubles me when everything from education to entertainment is called an “industry.” On April 8, the keynote speaker at the Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corporation meeting spoke of “Our Health Industry: the Heartbeat of New Jobs.”

Health care is not an industry any more than any other service business. Industries are those things that build something and create new wealth. Examples of industries are farming, mining, logging, the auto industry and all manufacturers. The rest of the economy depends on “industries.”

This is not to demean all the other businesses and services. This is to remind those endeavors that they can’t exist without the creation of new wealth and should not be called “industries.”

DEAN HAAGENSON

Hayden