Surrounded by a bus full of high-powered developers and real estate investors, I had not felt so out of place since I attended an all-day motivational sales seminar starring Rudy Giuliani.

We were touring 12 current or future development projects around the Highline area as part of a Seattle Southside economic forum.

It was fun to munch on my box lunch ham sandwich while listening to conversations between developers and municipal leaders:

"So when you declare eminent domain on that widows and orphans home, we can bulldoze it and build that 3,000-car airport parking lot."

(Oh come on, I'm kidding!)

After experiencing decline and fighting airport expansion, economic development is the new Holy Grail for Highline cities.

Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler noted that in this business climate, public-private partnerships are the only way to go. That's fine with me as long as the risk isn't all socialized while the profit is all privatized.

As my old Highline High classmate and now business tycoon Dave Sabey said at the forum, the advantages of this area are the same as when we were kids. It's close to downtown Seattle and an international airport while still feeling like a suburb.

"You are sitting in a really great place that has been under marketed," Sabey observed.

We've concentrated on the down side of having an ever-expanding airport in our midst. But it is here and in a global economy, we should make the most of it.

The bus tour highlighted the distinct advantages for developers and investors in each of the Highline cities.

SeaTac is next to the airport with a future light-rail station.

Tukwila has the massive Southcenter shopping area as well as both commuter rail and light rail stations.

Des Moines has a marvelous waterfront marina as well as great Sound views, even from Pacific Highway South.

Burien has gotten the jump-start on a town square and renovated main street and auto row.

At the forum, Burien Town Square developer Dan Rosenfeld related how downtown Seattle bankers turned down his request for financing. They stereotyped Burien as old, tired and too blue-collar.

But when he presented Burien's benefits in New York, he quickly received four proposals.

It is time for Highline to shake off the old labels and prosper again.

As you can see from the above comments, I am all for reasonable economic development.

But when I suggested two weeks ago that the balance between employers and their workers has tipped dangerously toward companies, Ralph Nichols linked my views to The Communist Manifesto.

What I envision is workers receiving a fair wage and benefits for a fair day's work. The employer prospers using his profits to expand the business and hire more workers.

The worker is able to earn enough for a comfortable middle class life and possibly buy the owner's products making the owner even richer.

I discussed last week how business conservatives divert working class evangelicals with the promise of enacting the evangelicals' social agenda.

Maybe this is just another tactic.

When liberals talk about fairness and point out working class conservatives are not acting in their own economic interest, business conservatives shift the conversation to Karl Marx or some road to serfdom.

Still another tactic is to rewrite history. Ralph claims when President Franklin Roosevelt took over from Republican Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression, Roosevelt made things worse by using government resources to benefit workers.

(See, for those readers tired of Ralph and me squabbling over the 1960s, we have moved on to fight over the 1930s.)

Despite Ralph's revisionist history, the consensus of historians is that Democrat Roosevelt put the country on the road to recovery. Many historians conclude Roosevelt saved capitalism from itself.

Ralph asks if government helps people, who will put the brakes on to keep us off that scary road to government serfdom.

I have a clear answer-We will.

If we don't want to pay more for schools, we will vote against school levies. If we don't want government funding for roads and transit, we will vote against them.

We will write letters and call our congressman with our concerns.

We will vote the bums out and elect representatives that hold our positions.

Our government is a democracy. Corporations are not.

Eric Mathison can be reached at hteditor@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1855.