The City on the Hill - A Fairy Tale for Our Times

Once upon a time there was a prosperous city high in the mountains. The reason the city was prosperous was that the surrounding hills had deposits of precious gems and gold. The people of the city were greatly admired from afar for their prosperity and the wisdom of their rulers. Many people would try to venture through the dangerous mountains to live in the city; other cities sought to emulate their advanced ways.

Of course, the wealth of the city resulted, in part, from miners who worked the rich veins of precious metals in the surrounding hills. And ordinary citizens benefited greatly when miners returned home and bought things in local stores and paid taxes. With a steady, reliable stream of wealth flowing through the city, citizens found that they could safely buy on credit, knowing that their prosperity would not abate.

Alas, no good thing lasts forever and that was the case for the city on the hill. Over time, a few of the miners grew ever wealthier and began to buy out small mining outfits. After a few years, there were just a few very large, and very powerful, mining companies left. And these companies came under pressure from their owners to generate ever more profits. Some of these profits were spent locally and so everyone was happy.

However, eventually the veins of gold were exhausted and the companies had to start looking elsewhere.

So imagine their surprise and delight when they discovered rich, untapped veins directly beneath their city. At first, the companies mined the veins on the margins of the city and didn't tell anyone what they were doing. However, inevitably the easy veins were tapped out and they had to probe deeper under the city. It was only a matter of time before citizens became aware of the growing sounds of tapping beneath their feet.

A town meeting was convened and some citizens argued that the mining companies should be prohibited from mining below the city. “They'll destroy the city!”, they argued. Others suggested permitting limited mining that wouldn't endanger the city.

The mining companies had a different perspective. They pointed out to everyone that their employees spent their earnings in the city and that the companies paid taxes* to the city government. If the city restricted their activities, they would have to move their operations . . . and money . . . elsewhere. Besides, didn't everyone know that the mining companies had a great safety record and hadn't had a major accident in nearly 80 years. This was true, but the companies didn't mention, and people had forgotten, that the city council had imposed strict safety standards after that tragic accident.

What do do? The city elders were perplexed. They didn't want citizens to get mad at them (especially with an election coming up); but they certainly didn't want to “kill the goose” that provided so much prosperity. Also, over the years, the mining companies had quietly given city elders a share in their companies and had helped them retain their lofty positions through periodic gifts.

So, the city elders sat the mining company owners down and explained the situation.

“Not to worry!” replied one owner. 'Our engineers are the best and they will make sure that our mining operations won't jeopardize the city.”

“Trust us!”, declared another. “We live here too and we would never do anything to endanger the city we love.” The speaker saluted the city's banner to punctuate his point.

And so the city elders explained to the public that the mining companies could be trusted and that government efforts to limit them would only muck things up and, in fact, might make matters even worse, because everyone knew how incompetent government bureaucrats were. And since no one really wanted the wealth to stop flowing, most everyone decided not to push the issue further.

But an odd thing happened. Over the next year or two, many of the mining company owners sold their holdings and moved far, far away (actually, they purchased some rather large islands in the Caribbean – but that's another story).

Meanwhile, back at the city on the hill, strange cracks showed up in the walls of buildings, floors began to tilt and the sounds of drilling grew ever closer.

And, one day, it happened. A section of the city collapsed into the cavern that had grown beneath it. While most of the city was intact, all mining operations had to be severely restricted. Suddenly, the survivors had to contend with the fact that the money coming into the city had declined precipitously. Making matters even worse, many of the citizens who had bought on credit couldn't pay their bills and several merchants went out of business. The merchants' employees who had lost their jobs stopped spending money and this in turn hurt the remaining merchants. The city's economy steadily spiraled downward. A formerly prosperous people were forced to live in reduced circumstances and over time, the city on the hill looked more and more like a dilapidated slum.

The citizens were furious with their leaders and forced them out of office and elected new leaders – some of whom were the same people who had warned about the dangers of mining under the city. But it was too late. Even thoughtful and competent leaders could only moderate the damage that had been done and the city continued its decline.

And the former city elders? Well, they still had their shares in the mining companies and they weren't forgotten by the mining company owners who provided them with very nice homes in their new island havens.

Epilogue

Not surprisingly, the people in other countries who had admired the city on the hill realized their folly. “That whole city was built on a bed of sand”, they declared. The once beautiful city became a laughingstock and, eventually, a cautionary tale about greed. But eventually, even the cautionary tale was forgotten.


*Actually, the mining companies paid less and less in taxes over time. They successfully persuaded the city elders that taxes reduced their profitability and that they would move elsewhere unless they were lowered.