If religion, as Karl Marx once wrote, is "the opium of the people," in Utah it is the amphetamine. Thanks largely to the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the Mormons -- Utah has become the envy of its neighbors. Other states are bogged down in recession, but Utah's economy is racing. Other states around the country are raising taxes and cutting services to balance their budgets, but Utah is enjoying a third straight budget surplus. Other states are having trouble attracting job- creating businesses, but in Utah they are flocking in from all over. What Utah proves is that church and government can work together to usher in good times.
That the rest of the country has cause to be jealous of Utah is an oddity. Established by the Mormons as a religious refuge in 1847, Utah applied for statehood six times before it was accepted into the Union. The locals even went so far as to name a county (Millard) and a town (Fillmore) after the 13th President in an unsuccessful attempt to get him on the side of Utah statehood. Not until 1896, when the Mormons formally abandoned polygamy, did Utah finally make it.
Even after that, most Americans tended to regard the state as a remote and mysterious place notable only for the Great Salt Lake, striking desert landscapes and the multiple marriages of some of its inhabitants. But while outsiders snickered, Utah was working a quiet revolution. It now boasts the nation's youngest, best-educated and most productive work force. It has launched an aggressive economic development program to create new jobs at a rate of 30,000 a year. About 80% of these positions were started by local entrepreneurs. But Utah has also lured such companies as Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments and Sears' Discover Card.
The Mormons deserve much of the credit for Utah's economic vibrancy. Two- thirds of the population of 1.7 million belongs to the church, which has helped to shape the boom in both direct and indirect ways. In business terms, the church is an $8 billion-a-year conglomerate that employs about 10,000 people. Bankrolled in large measure by tithes from its members, the church has vast holdings in real estate, financial services, broadcasting, publishing and insurance. The church's strict morality (it forbids premarital sex, gambling and the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs) reinforces the hardworking nature of Utah's people. A Wall Street bond trader puts it succinctly: "All they do there is breed, pray and make money."
The Mormons' proselytizing tradition has made Utah attractive to companies in the U.S. and abroad. Each year the church sends out thousands of young men (and some women) to live abroad and preach the Mormon word -- in the local language. As a result, Utah has a disproportionately high number of people who are fluent in foreign languages, a prime selling point in the global marketplace. Compeq, a Taiwan-based computer-board maker, decided to open its first overseas plant in Utah in part because its managers knew Utah has hundreds of Mormon missionaries familiar with their country's culture and language. For similar reasons, American Express chose West Valley City as the location for the telephone service of its traveler's-check operation, which handles customer inquiries from around the world.