Structural engineers in varying stages of their careers may have vastly different perspectives on today’s economic situation. Those who recently graduated or are recently employed as engineers are at a disadvantage: They can’t look very far back into the past for clues or trends on thriving in this industry. They have to base their views of the profession and the forces impacting it on a snapshot of time.

By contrast, in the 50 years I have been in the industry, I have been through six major economic swings resulting overall in a flattened sine-curve pattern. Engineers from parts of the country other than the Rocky Mountain West have experienced similar ups and downs. Fortunately the up cycles (the peaks of the curve) have lasted longer than the down cycles (the valleys) and been more elongated. That means we’ve experienced many more years of profit than loss. This is good news for those in engineering.

Plato, the central figure in Raphael’s famous 1510 painting The School of Athens Wikimedia Commons

If events follow past trends, the years ahead will exhibit similar economic patterns. Good times will come in abundance, I hope sooner than later, for the engineering community. That said, there is still concern about the rapidly shrinking value of the U.S. dollar. Since 1960 when I graduated from college, that value has nosedived. Today’s greenbacks are worth only 14 percent what they were just five decades ago. So if the 1960 dollar is used as the datum and its price set as one dollar, it would take more than seven dollars to equal it today.

Everything is relative. With inflation, modern conveniences and standards of living, and economically produced products, straight-line comparisons of the worth of the dollar over time may be amateurish. But the exercise does elicit wonder. Will we one day need to take our increasingly worthless greenbacks to the bank in wheelbarrows?

Many global factors such as population growth, poverty, terrorism, wars, and new inventions will certainly influence our future as a profession and create new business patterns. But they are not the only factors affecting marketplaces. The everyday actions of our elected local, state, and federal officials have a tremendous impact on the stability of our economy.

Plato warned in the 4th century BC, “If intelligent people don’t get involved in politics, they’ll soon find they are being led by the less intelligent.” Wise counsel to heed. Let’s make sure those in public office — or in the wings to be elected — know our concerns and understand our positions on issues. How well do they realize the ramifications of their actions on the well-being of our profession and our country? We must tell them!

If you haven’t been active in politics to date, the situation requires your attention now more than at any time in history. James Elmer, the 2010 national chairman of Associated Builders and Contractors, recently said: “Get into politics or get out of business! At a time when our industry is facing the worst construction economy in decades, the last thing contractors need are vast new mandates from the federal government dictating to them how they will run their businesses.” I believe this is sound advice for practicing structural engineers as well.

Why not get more engineers and contractors elected to public office? They certainly know how to solve problems and be pragmatic. As France’s General Charles de Gaulle stated years ago, “Politics is too important to be left to the politicians.”

So, take control your own destiny. Get meaningfully involved and step forward to be heard. And don’t risk being led by the less intelligent, as Plato has forewarned.

Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., is CEO and chairman of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., a Denver-based structural engineering firm. He can be reached via e-mail at rweingardt@gostructural.com.