SEPTEMBER 29, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Distractions in the face of tragedy
While millions of American
citizens suffer without power and
communication, millions of other
American citizens are debating pro-
tests by players, coaches and owners
of National Football League teams.
As Puerto Rico’s 3 million peo-
ple cope with the devastation that
Hurricane Maria vis-
ited upon the island last
week, President Trump
attacks
people—who
play a game for a liv-
ing—for being unpa-
triotic by taking a knee
during the National
Anthem played before
football games. The
president said he would visit Puerto
Rico next week.
Why is the suffering that Puerto
Ricans are going through any dif-
ferent than what Texans or Florid-
ians or Louisanders suffered after
Harvey and Irma? The country
opened its wallets for those states,
held telethons that raised millions
of dollars, yet, our territory in the
Caribbean is left twisting in the
wind.
Many things have gone topsy
turvy in America over the past 18
months. It’s no wonder that we
latch onto a secondary story as if it
were a matter of life and country.
Football players protesting in the
way they see best is not on the same
scale as millions of Americans suf-
fering from a natural disaster or the
fact that in the face of a rising ec-
nomy, many American still feel un-
settled and uncertain of their future.
This is especially true when the
United States is conducting a war
of words with North Korea. Does
turning a protest by a sports team
into a major controversy seem para-
mount compared to threats that our
planes might be blown out of the
sky even if it is only near North
Korean air space? Who wants to get
on a plan heading to Asia now?
Americans have been rocked and
jostled by events from the Great
Recession, to home foreclosures,
health care expenses, a constant war
in Afghanistan, fears of terrorism,
a divisive presidential election and
Tweets from the victor. We want
a break from wave after
wave of bad news we can
do nothing about—it is
only natural we will re-
spond to the things we
can understand.
Some think that foot-
ball players who take a
knee during the Anthem
are protesting America.
In reality, the protests began as a
response to police shootings of
African-Americans. The president
tweeted that they were protesting
the American fl ag and should be
fi red. That’s how situations become
full blown controversies.
All this comes down to two
words: respect and dignity. All citi-
zens should respect our nation’s
fl ag. The fl ag represents the freedom
to protest what we disagree with.
We should all strive to maintain the
dignity of all other people. A per-
son who does not share your beliefs
is not the enemy, they are a person
worthy of respect and dignity who
does not agree with you.
Americans are free to protest the
protest, but what could really show
that we are all part of one nation,
indivisible, is to reach out to our
fellow Americans. Puerto Ricans
deserve the respect of their fellow
Americans more than that they
need fi nancial and infrastructure
help.
Turn the energy of trivial pro-
tests to helping people in dire need.
We would do nothing less for
Americans in our own backyard.
—LAZ
our
opinion
Bills already circling capitol
Every few months, all the legisla- are already 32 different petitions be-
tors and lobbyists come back to the ing circulated this fall. If you would
Capitol and participate in what is like to see a full list, you can Google
the Oregon Abigail Adams
called Legislative Days.
Voter Education Project.
We have committee
A couple of the petitions
hearings which mostly
garnering the most news
are informational—we
coverage and speculation
hear from agencies on
are the petition to repeal
how they are doing on
SB719 (sometimes called
implementing bills, and
the extreme risk protec-
sometimes discuss ideas
tion order), the petition to
for bills to introduce in
repeal a recently instituted
the next session.
tax on hospitals and a peti-
This week the Vet-
to prevent a sales tax
erans and Emergency
from the tion
on groceries. There are
Preparedness Commit-
tee met. We heard from
capitol multiple petitions around
vaccinations, getting big
the state forester on how
By BILL POST
money out of elections and
the department did dur-
school access. If you have a
ing the recent fi re sea-
few minutes, it’s fascinating
son. The information
was incredible to hear and I am so to read about the issues that could
proud of our forestry department. be on our ballots in November,
They did a tremendous job fi ghting 2018.
Switching gears, I don’t know
the hundreds of fi res scattered across
our state. From the report, it looks about you, but I am excited ev-
like the fi res were managed well on ery time I drive by the Waremart
state and private lands, but the ones by Winco building that’s under
on the federal lands were the ones construction. I can’t wait to have
more grocery shopping options in
that went crazy.
Some of the other issues being our community. I was honored to
heard in the building this week are: host a town hall on the lack of op-
Carbon cap and trade; the Equi- tions and had conversations with
fax data breach; moving election the Winco team as well as Mayor
dates; and, gubernatorial appoin- Cathy Clark—and to the best of my
knowledge it may open before the
tees.
Oregon is unique in many ways end of the year.
I always enjoy hearing from you,
and one important thing we do
that not every state does, is allow please don’t hesitate to drop me a
for citizens to repeal laws that the line (900 Court St NE, Salem, OR
legislature has already passed, or put 97310).
in place laws that the legislature re-
( Bill Post represents House Dis-
fused to deal with. I think it’s indic- trict 25. He can be reached at 503-
ative of the disconnect of this par- 986-1425 or via email at rep.bilpost@
ticular group of legislators that there oregonlegislature.gov.)
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Can we avoid a health care horror?
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
It is diffi cult to decide which is
the worst aspect of the Republicans’
latest try at repealing Obamacare:
the irresponsibility, the cruelty or
the lies.
There is only one reason the
Senate is even consider-
ing a vote this week on
the catastrophically fl awed
proposal from Sens. Lind-
sey Graham and Bill Cas-
sidy. The GOP base wants
repeal. So never mind
what happens to Ameri-
cans with modest in-
comes who have cancer, diabetes or
heart trouble. Politics matters more
than giving serious thought to a bill
that would upend one-sixth of our
economy.
It has been two months since the
last repeal bill was defeated. Did the
GOP’s House and Senate majori-
ties use the time to hold hearings
on the bill that’s being considered?
Did they bring in doctors, nurses
and insurers to help craft something
sensible?
Of course not. They scheduled
a quickie, last minute hearing this
week for show. Since this vote is all
about appearances, who cares about
expertise? President Trump and his
party want “a win.” They’re willing
to wreak havoc on the insurance
markets, state governments and
people’s lives to get it.
If they had engaged in any seri-
ous deliberative process, they would
have had to grapple with the views
of the bipartisan National Associa-
tion of Medicaid Directors on Gra-
ham-Cassidy’s approach of marry-
ing block grants to severe cuts. The
association’s statement last week
called the bill “the largest intergov-
ernmental transfer of fi nancial risk
from the federal government to the
states in our country’s history.”
“Any effort of this magnitude,”
the Medicaid directors added,
“needs thorough discussion, exami-
nation and analysis, and should not
be rushed through without proper
deliberation.” No kidding.
This was Sen. John McCain’s ad-
mirable rationale for
voting against the last
repeal bill. And even
though Graham is his
best friend in the Sen-
ate, he stuck to prin-
ciple and announced
Friday he was voting
against this bill, too.
Here’s hoping he eased the path
for other Republicans to oppose this
legislative contraption whose cruel-
ty is obvious. There has always been
something deeply wrong about our
country’s failure to provide health
insurance for all our citizens, which
every other wealthy industrialized
nation does. It’s not OK for people
to face bankruptcy simply because
they are doing everything they can
to stay alive. Obamacare was a cau-
tious, market-friendly attempt to
make the system a bit kinder.
Since the Republicans launched
this year’s repeal offensive, many
Americans who thought of the Af-
fordable Care Act as a vague sort of
failure have heard the compelling
stories of those with pre-existing
conditions and serious illnesses who
are far better off today because of
the law. A Washington Post-ABC
News poll released Friday showed
Americans preferred Obamacare to
Graham-Cassidy by 56 percent to
33 percent.
Many who believed Trump
and other Republicans when they
promised to pass something bet-
ter than Obamacare now know
that this pledge was a sham. What
the GOP really wants is to spend a
whole lot less government money
other
views
helping people get health care. But
they can’t admit it because it sounds
heartless.
So instead, they lie outright about
what their bill does. Slate’s Jamelle
Bouie provided one of the best
compendiums of falsehoods being
offered on behalf of this bill. Jimmy
Kimmel called out Cassidy for fail-
ing to live up to what the senator
himself called the “the Jimmy Kim-
mel test.” Kimmel described this as
a pledge that “no family should be
denied medical care, emergency or
otherwise, because they can’t afford
it.” Cassidy, Kimmel charged last
week, “lied right to my face.”
Trump insisted in a tweet: “I
would not sign Graham-Cassidy if
it did not include coverage of pre-
existing conditions. It does!” Ac-
tually, it lets states undermine this
coverage.
Then there is the much-repeated
lie that ACA repeal bills are about
giving states and individuals more
“choice” in health care. Right, and
I have the “choice” of buying a fl eet
of Rolls-Royces. The bottom line:
No money, no choice.
And if Obamacare is so bad,
why are Republicans reportedly
trying to buy the vote of Sen. Lisa
Murkowski with a special provision
that would, in effect, allow Alaska to
keep the Affordable Care Act pretty
much as is? Why not give every state
this option by killing Graham-Cas-
sidy altogether?
This week is a testing time. It’s a
test of whether the movement that
successfully defended the ACA this
summer can rally once more. And
it’s a test of a handful of Republi-
cans who claim to take the health
care issue seriously. No one who
votes for this bill can ever make that
claim again.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Tax cuts won’t create booming economy
By GENE H. McINTYRE
Americans of modest fi nancial
means may want to withhold their
cheers over President Trump’s latest
declaration, the one where he wants
to reduce the corporate tax rate
from 35 to 15 percent. It’s an urban
myth that a former U.S. president
said, “What’s good for General Mo-
tor is good for Ameri-
ca,” but it just as well
be ascribed to President
Trump as he, personally,
and his wealthy pals, are
those who enthusiasti-
cally greet this plan and
will benefi t from it.
But look at the facts
in this latest of issues to
hit the fan: Trump and company ar-
gue that the additional money go-
ing into the coffers of U.S. corpora-
tions would free up valuable cash for
them. Then, these companies could
use the money to increase their in-
vestments, increase employees’ pay
and earnings, accelerate corporate
hiring and move the economy into
greater growth. Additionally, it’s ar-
gued by Trump, corporations that
now deposit trillions overseas to
keep from paying U.S. taxes would
bring the money home and thereby
compete better with rivals from
countries with lower tax rates.
Meanwhile, American econo-
mists, tax experts and business own-
ers believe that this tax adjustment
is unlikely to doubtful to fulfi ll what
Trump promises. Here are some rea-
sons: (1) Preferring not to hire ad-
ditional employees, companies may
use much of their savings to buy
back their stock or simply increase
dividends to their wealthy inves-
torsl. Many companies have already
been able to borrow money at very
low rates in order to grow but have
not been inclined to add employees;
and (2) Corporate tax cuts will pro-
vide small overall benefi ts because
the general health of the
current American econo-
my is low unemployment
at 4.4 percent and remains
in a slow steady upward
turn where big tax cuts
would deliver nothing or
next to it.
Two examples from
recent corporate tax cuts
serve to inform. The state of Kan-
sas, in 2012, exempted thousands of
its businesses from corporate taxes
and cut individual rates but then
faced a devastating revenue short-
fall with an anticipated growth that
didn’t happen, all resulting in public
services, including education at all
levels, realizing destructive conse-
quences. The Bush administration
provided a tax “holiday” in 2004
in hope of bringing profi ts back
to America but later discovered that
tax revenues declined while U.S.
companies stashed their cash over-
seas in wait to receive a tax discount.
Currently, those savvy in this
matter, including the non-partisan
Tax Policy Center, comments that
what will happen regarding the
Trump plan is that the federal defi -
cit will swell like a bumblebee sting.
Those folks tell us that even if all tax
guest
column
breaks were eliminated, the corpo-
rate rate could not drop below 26
percent without sending the defi cit
further into the stratosphere.
Of course, one of Trump’s chief
advisors is a guy who’s ensconced in
the White House. Gary Cohn, very
rich, argues for the big corporate tax
reduction. He says small businesses
would especially benefi t. His point
is that planned tax cuts on profi ts
would “double” owners’ personal
income and free them to hire more
employees. Full of misinformation,
the Cohn doctrine assumes business
owners want to increase their pay-
roll rather than enjoy higher profi ts
and personal income.
The ever-shrinking number of
Americans still receiving their in-
come from traditional “defi ned
benefi t” pensions do not, by the
way, receive more money if the
stock market rises. And, any argu-
ment that proposes corporate tax
cuts are a path to benefi t the Ameri-
can worker or retiree is now and has
always been proven to be the sink
hole of the “trickle-down” prom-
ise to every U.S. worker myth and
the old lump of coal in what’s tried-
to-be-sold as a Christmas bonus.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
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