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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2020)
4A FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2020 The Observer OUR VIEW Time for some details about pact President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign phase one of a U.S.-China trade deal on Wednesday at the White House. After announcing the deal the president told farm- ers that they’d need to buy bigger tractors because they will be selling so much to China. But in the month since the deal was announced, no written agreement has been produced and the Chinese have not confi rmed or denied the terms released by the White House. That has led to a great deal of justifi ed skepticism that the agreement could be as rich as advertised. Under the deal the U.S. agreed to suspend a new round of tariff hikes on $160 billion worth of Chinese goods that were to go into effect Dec. 15, and to re- duce tariffs on $112 billion in goods that are already in place. China agreed to buy $40 billion — and per- haps as much as $50 billion — worth of agricultural goods from the U.S. a year for the next two years. The Chinese also agreed to reduce barriers to beef, poultry and animal feed, and to increase protections for intellectual property. China’s commitment to $40 billion in ag purchases is extremely ambitious, given its purchases have never come close to that amount. In 2013-14 it hit a record of just under $26 billion a year. Skeptics point out that in 2013 commodity prices were much higher than they are today, making it easier to hit even that mark. The Wall Street Journal reported that soybean future prices were about 40% higher in 2013 and wheat and corn futures were about double what they are today. “History has never been even close to that level,” Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, told The Associated Press. “There’s no clear path to get us there in one year.” Other analysts say that China could easily step up its purchases of American pork. Its domestic pork production has been severely reduced because of an outbreak of African swine fever. China buys $40 billion in soybeans on the world market each year. As much as a third of that has been supplied by the U.S., leaving room for additional sales if supplies exist. “The purchases should be based on market prin- ciples,” Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for WTO Studies in Beijing, told The Associated Press. “The United States should compete with other countries through price and quality.” So, the exact terms of the agreement seem ambiguous and open to interpretation. Farmers will be thrilled if the actual purchases come even close to what’s been promised by the administration. And so will tractor dealers if bigger machines are needed. But it’s time for the White House to provide a text that states in clear language exactly how much the Chinese will be buying. MY VOICE Taking action to restore trust in government, political process I n Union County, being a cyclist is dangerous. Cyclists may refuse to yield to one another, to vehicles and cutting people off at will at crossings — because they don’t trust others to give them their turn. This is just one symptom of a prob- lem that is diffi cult to diagnose: a lack of confi dence in government regulations promulgated or honesty of politicians are others. Many speculate that dwindling trust in government is to blame for seismic shifts in politics — namely the U.S. In the wake of the 2008 fi nancial crisis, low-income and middle-class Americans found themselves saddled with debt and dealing with lost jobs, homes, and sav- ings. They started to see government as dishonest, corrupt and there to serve the few, not the many. Little has changed in over a decade and certainly not in the halls of Congress or in Washington as mounting criminal activities and ethics violations are reported as the norm. But losing confi dence in government isn’t just about how people vote or view politicians — it also affects the way we and they interact with each other. What happens when citizens don’t trust their government? Losing faith in political institutions is tantamount to losing social capital — the idea that citizens agree on the rules of a society and why they matter. If people think their elected offi cials aren’t playing by the same rules, they come up with ways to game the system. When this every-person-for-themselves attitude prevails, the rules of society start to erode. And, when citizens view their government as corrupt, they are more likely to cut corners, too. Some have said that to live in Ameri- ca is to live in a society of distrust — to the point where some would not stop to help an elderly person who has fallen in the street, for fear of being blamed for pushing them. From poor manners to a About the author Write to us Randy L Knop, is the vice-chair of the Union County Democratic Central Committee. My Voice columns should be 500-700 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships. We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject those published elsewhere. Send columns to La Grande Observer, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande 97850, fax them to 541- 963-7804 or email them to news@ lagrandeobserver.com. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters are limited to 350 words and must be signed and carry the author’s address and phone number (for verifi cation purposes only). We edit letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We will not publish poetry, consumer complaints against businesses or personal attacks against private individuals. Thank- you letters are discouraged. Letter writers are limited to one letter every two weeks. Email your letters to news@ lagrandeobserver.com or mail them to La Grande Observer, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande, Ore., 97850. disregard for others’ physical safety, it’s easy to see the problem: When people do not trust others to uphold society’s norms, they don’t do so themselves. Mistrust impacts everything, from policy effectiveness to accountability to regulation. Nothing and no one are exempt. Figuring out whom to trust in the United States is harder than ever. For the fi rst time in recent history, the divide among Americans isn’t as simple as Democrat versus Republican but a chasm between what people believe to be true. When the president calls into question the morality and authority of the media — whose very job it is to serve as a government watchdog — it can be diffi cult for citizens to know who to trust or what to believe. How then can government gain citizens’ trust? It’s diffi cult to measure exactly how governments gain citizens’ trust — but here are some innovative ways to begin rebuilding trust. • Transparent policymaking: Govern- ments today should do more than pro- vide raw data on public services. They must present information in simple, easily digestible ways to show citizens what their tax dollars and public of- fi cials are doing. • Readily available data: Trust is making data — all data, on everything from pothole repairs to emergency response times — open and accessible to the public. And every elected offi cial’s fi - nancial ties to lobbyists and big corpora- tions must be a matter of public record. • Involve citizens in policy: Put power in the hands of people — big decisions via referendum in using a form of “citi- zen jury,” which enlists a random selec- tion of citizens to consult on a big policy decision. The citizen jury dissects issues in the same way a jury in a courtroom does — by looking at verifi ed facts and fi gures and hearing evidence from a range of experts and witnesses. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION STAFF Phone: SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50 You can save up to 34% off the single-copy price with home delivery. Call 541-963-3161 to subscribe. Stopped account balances less than $5 will be refunded upon request. Subscription rates per month: By carrier...............................................$11.80 By mail, all other U.S. .............................. $15 A division of 541-963-3161 An independent newspaper founded in 1896 (USPS 299-260) The Observer reserves the right to adjust subscription rates by giving prepaid and mail subscribers 30 days notice. Periodicals postage paid at La Grande, Oregon 97850. 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