May 2001 - VOLUME 22 - NUMBER 5
T H E L A W R E N C E S U M M E R S M E M O R I A L A W A R D
May 2001 - VOLUME 22 - NUMBER 5
T H E L A W R E N C E S U M M E R S M E M O R I A L A W A R D
THE LAWRENCE SUMMERS MEMORIAL AWARD*The May 2001 Lawrence Summers Memorial Award* goes to the Georgia Highway Contractors Association. “Environmentalists are telling us how to live our lives, preventing us from driving cars, forcing us to live downtown. In America, these are still personal choices. Tyranny didn't win in South Korea. Don't let it get a foothold here.” -- A Korean war veteran appearing in a TV commercial for the Georgia Highway Contractors Association, in an ad to counter anti-sprawl initiatives.
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| *In a 1991 internal memorandum, then-World Bank economist Lawrence Summers argued for the transfer of waste and dirty industries from industrialized to developing countries. "Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs (lesser developed countries)?" wrote Summers, who went on to serve as Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration. "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that. ... I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is vastly inefficiently low [sic] compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City." Summers later said the memo was meant to be ironic. |