The Amboy Dilemma

October 30, 2006

Today in class I mentioned some of the traumas that swept over the Islamic world from the 13th century AD on. One important event was the European discovery of a direct route to India by sea. The wealth that accrued to Egypt and other countries as important middle-men in the trade of spices quickly nose-dived. These macro-changes are an unsung aspect of world history.

It is reminiscent to me of Amboy, a tiny town in the Mojave desert. It is one of those gas-station/diner towns that lined old Route 66. Life was good, I suppose, as long as the road in front of your diner was filled with cars, but once the new highway took a slightly different course, bypassing the diner.. well, life took a turn for the worse. There is not a lot that people in Amboy can do about the situation. Being "more industrious" will hardly help the situation—there are no cars going by!

If you are lucky enough to live in the United States, and your formerly profitable diner is caput.. don't panic. You can take a loss and move back to Los Angeles.. start again. On the international scene the choices are narrower. We are talking about a whole region or country. The economy must adjust to the new situation, and individuals cannot easily change countries. In effect, a whole region becomes like Amboy.. an area which no longer gets business.

It's not hard to think of places that fit this description: Caribbean islands that produce cheap sugar or areas in Afghanistan that were once on the spice road. These and other places have been bypassed by the world economy, and since they are their own country.. with no vote in an economically important country.. that is simply too bad. And we wonder about why anger boils over in parts of our world.. I'd be upset if I had to live in Amboy for the rest of my life.