[R ecently,] we have read in The Sun News how Gov. Mark Sanford, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and other organizations are working so hard to improve tourism.

If they would work that hard to bring a few factories into the area, it would increase the economy and bring in good jobs. How many tourism jobs pay between $23 and $26 per hour with time-and-one-half for all hours over 40 per week and double time for Sunday and holidays?

[Recently,] I read an article about Ford Motor Co. Ford has a transmission plant in Sharonville, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, and outgrew it, so a new plant was built in Batavia, Ohio, a few miles north of Sharonville. When business became poor, Ford sold half of the Batavia plant to a German company.

The article did not say what the German company produced. As business improved, Ford decided to manufacture a transmission for front-wheel-drive cars, and it need the whole plant, which is 1.8 million square feet. It did not say how many people it would need, as it would depend on how many workers from the German plant would transfer to Ford. I would guess that if Ford could make the deal to buy the plant back, they would need more than 1,000 skilled workers.

Keep in mind that even in a slow economy, the average wage in the auto industry is now $23.05 per hour, which is down from a few years ago when it was over $26 per hour.

Does that not sound like a more stable force for a good economy?