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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2016)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2016 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager OUR VIEW Be proactive in competing with Walmart, others T he other inexpensive shoe has dropped at last: After taking its first public steps toward a Warrenton store in 2009, the mega-retailer has started construction of a 153,500-square-foot, earth-toned Supercenter on the North Coast. For now, Fred Meyer’s 180,000-square-foot store will remain the king of Warrenton’s big boxes; Costco is a paltry 137,000-square-feet, though it seemed gargantuan in November 2009 when it replaced the old 72,000-square-feet facility. Home Depot is 103,000 square feet. News of Walmart’s imminent arrival has been met with a stark split in opinion between those who are delighted to have the company’s low prices and wide selection of products, and those who foresee it bludgeoning the region’s homegrown stores that sell overlapping product lines. Some of these contrasting views: “Wake up, people!! This is a black hole for labor and a source of poorly made crap from China and a threat to local retail. Never buy from them.” “I’m so excited! I am from the Small Seattle area and did all my shop- retailers ping there. The produce selection and Deli along with the grocer- already have ies are awesome! I can get twice as years of much there than Fred Meyers. They carry USA made as well as oversea experience items for the home, just like every in coexisting other retail store in our nation. in a market When you on a limited income, it is nice to know you can afford a lit- where big- tle more extra, on that last dollar in box stores your pocket for the month.” These and other opinions aren’t operate. entirely accurate but certainly con- tain elements of truth. Walmart and other large retailers do profit in part by sourcing products as inexpensively as possi- ble, and their size allows them to get good deals, including the cost of employees. But this also is true of the area’s pre-exist- ing large retailers, including Fred Meyer/Kroger and Safeway/ Albertsons. Walmart’s presence in a market tends to make its competitors more conscious of the need to keep prices low on identical or similar products. And there are indications that Walmart does respond to negative publicity, for example in recent years improving its labor practices, buying more prod- ucts from U.S. suppliers and increasing charitable giving. In any event, like it or not, it is coming. Aside from answer- ing the wishes of the most price-driven consumers, the good news is that small retailers already have years of experience in coexisting in a market where big-box stores operate. In 2009, CEDR hosted a “Weathering Walmart” forum (http://bit.ly/2flzYX5). The advice offered at the time remains relevant, starting with “Concentrate on your business, not theirs.” In other words, control what it is within your power to control. The other white people in the West By TIMOTHY EGAN New York Times News Service S ince the election, the West Coast has been abuzz with talk of breaking away from Don- ald Trump’s America — a Calexit, or a linking of the nation’s most popu- lous state with Ore- gon, Washington and British Colum- bia to form a Cas- cadia by the sea. It’s a fantasy, of course, fueled by Trump’s drubbing on the West Coast, where he got less than 10 percent of the vote in some cities. But it would also be a monumental mistake for the most prosperous and progressive part of the United States to even consider abandoning a coun- try that could be dominated by the old Confederacy. A better idea is to reach out across a yawning class divide. Peo- ple in the West could listen to their fellow Americans in the old indus- trial heartland. And people in strug- gling towns could learn something from the workable policies of the left coast. Difficult as that conversa- tion may be, it could start with some white-on-white dialogue. ‘Whitelash’ In the fast-hardening concrete of postelection analysis, the presiden- tial vote was seen as a “whitelash,” as Van Jones called it, against Barack Obama’s presidency. No doubt, race played a big part in Trump’s Electoral College win. But on Nov. 8, heavily white cities — particularly in the West — rejected Trump by huge margins. In Portland, often called the whitest city in America, Trump pulled barely 17 percent of the vote in the county covering most of the metro area, and even less in the city proper. In Seattle, which is nearly 70 percent white, Trump is on track to get only 8 percent of the vote — a historic low for a major party nominee. Denver, which is 63 per- cent white, didn’t even give Trump 1 in 5 votes. And in San Francisco, with a black population of 6 percent, Trump finished in single digits. This fortress of the forward-look- ing is not all white, certainly; Cali- fornia, after all, has no ethnic major- ity. But for the sake of preventing a certain clueless conventional wis- dom from taking hold, let’s consider the other white people. And yes, some of these vot- ers are too precious and self-in- volved. They have their six-fig- ure jobs at Facebook or Amazon, Google or the Gates Foundation. Youngstown, Ohio, is — what? — a foreign place, or like that town in “The Office.” Forgotten issues This West Coast majority cares about climate change, tech and trade. They care about where their food comes from and want fami- ly-friendly policies that don’t knock women out of their career trajecto- ries. They aren’t afraid of raising taxes to make their cities more liv- able — in fact, they just raised taxes to build new infrastructure. They don’t think lunatics should be able to buy assault rifles. And their issues were completely forgotten in the presidential campaign. “We’re a nation state,” said Gavin Newsom, California’s lieu- tenant governor, after the election. “In so many ways we are America. But we’re just ahead of the curve.” California, which went Demo- cratic by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio and is one big reason Hillary Clinton will win the popular tally by well over 1 million votes, feels particularly left out. People in the state are beating drums to the spectral rhythms of the old Bear Flag Revolt, which briefly produced an independent California Republic in 1846. Instead, California should lever- age its political clout — with almost 1 in 8 members of the House hail- ing from the Golden State — to stop Trump’s backward ideas. New jobs The biggest lesson from the West Coast is about job and wage growth. Trump wants to return to the 19th century of dirty energy. But coal’s biggest enemy is cheap natural gas, not environmental regulation. No sane company wants to build a new coal-fired electrical plant. In September, 42 percent of all new jobs created in the country were in California. At the same time, Ore- gon posted a job creation rate that was double the national average. And earlier this year, Washington state was ranked No. 1 for combined job and wage growth. Yes, wage growth. The West Coast has consistently voted to make minimum wage a livable wage — something opposed by Repub- licans in the capital. But even bet- ter jobs are there for the making in infrastructure. Trump claims he’ll put people to work building roads, bridges and air- ports, while lowering taxes on the rich. He can no more make Flint tap water into Trump wine. But there is a simple solution, adopted on Election Day throughout the West Coast: targeted tax increases. Vot- ers approved of them because the money will be dedicated to new infrastructure — expanded and ambitious light rail systems in Seat- tle and Los Angeles, for example. No burger flipping there. It was absurd and unpatriotic when Texans talked of secession rather than be led by Barack Obama. Apparently, they couldn’t handle all the job growth that came with his historic presidency. It’s equally absurd for Californians to talk of taking their Macs and walking out after Trump’s barbarians move into the White House. The United States, without the innovative West Coast, would be a yesterday country. Oh, No! President-elect Donald Trump is calling By GAIL COLLINS New York Times News Service T oday, Donald Trump as diplo- mat. We’re not talking about the big stuff, like his ominous national security appointments — I know you’ve had a hard week. Let’s take it easy and just look at his phone calls with heads of state. Most of them have been taking place in Trump Tower, although this weekend he decamped to Trump National, his resort in New Jersey. Excellent move! Trump National has two golf courses more than all of Manhattan, and as far as we know, there are no immediate neighbors trying to chisel the word “Trump” off their apartment buildings. Plus, if the president-elect gets bored, he can always arrange to have Chris Christie crawl over and keep him company. It’s tough enough for New York- ers to deal with the concept of a Trump administration without having it headquartered in their midst. Traf- fic is jammed: Fifth Avenue busi- nesses are blocked off and in shell shock. Never before has it been pos- sible to feel such sympathy for the problems of Gucci and Tiffany. In theory, this should end with the inauguration, but it’s hard to imagine the first family ever actu- ally moving into the White House. Dad isn’t the kind of guy who would enjoy living in harmony with historic preservationists. But about those head-of-state calls. Normally the State Department would work out a schedule, accord- ing to all sorts of diplomatic priori- ties, but Trump seems to just be pick- ing up the phone. One of his first conversations was with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who got Trump’s number from golfer Greg Norman. The British were stunned when Trump talked with the Irish prime minister before he spoke to any of the other European leaders. It’s not clear that he wanted to show favor- itism. The Irish-first decision was allegedly at the request of Rudy Giuliani, and the way things have been going for Giuliani, it may have been the most significant thing he gets out of the transition. Take the test Pop Quiz. When Donald Trump finally took a call from British Prime Minister Theresa May, he: A) Asked her if she’d ever played at the Trump International Golf Links in Scotland. B) Told her: “If you travel to the U.S., you should let me know.” C) Asked her if she’d ever been to New Jersey. D) Appeared to believe “crum- pets” were a breed of small, fuzzy dogs. The answer is B. Britain may have a special relationship with the United States, but so far Trump barely appears to understand we’ve been dating. The 10 minutes devoted to May was less than he spent accepting the good wishes of former “Celebrity Apprentice” winner Piers Morgan. The bottom line is that there does not appear to be a plan. “There’s security issues about doing this while sitting in your gilt-encrusted living room with your socks up on the ottoman talking on your cell- phone,” growled Norman Eisen, former ambassador to the Czech Republic. And wouldn’t you feel better if you thought that Trump’s first talk with, say, the president of Turkey, had been preceded by a briefing? Trump Towers Istanbul Pop Quiz II. When Donald Trump spoke to the president of Tur- key, he talked about: A) Turkey’s rapid and disturbing slide from democracy to dictatorship. B) The war on terror. C) Trump Towers Istanbul. D) Golf. The answer was probably B, although you can bet Trump Towers Istanbul was in the back of his mind. “I have a little conflict of interest ‘cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump said during the campaign. “It’s a tremendously suc- cessful job. It’s called Trump Towers — two towers, instead of one, not the usual one, it’s two.” Two towers, got it. Trump actu- ally made those comments during an interview with Stephen Bannon, who was then the awful head of a right- wing, misogynist, racist website, not the appointee to a powerful position in the incoming White House. This is why we’re talking about courtesy phone calls today, people. It’s the most cheerful thing we’ve got. Trump has also had a lot of vis- itors, ranging from the owner of the New England Patriots to Nigel Farage, who led the Brexit campaign in Britain. (Once again we are not- ing that the prime minister is coming in behind everybody. Really, if May ever does come to visit, she’ll prob- ably have to see the White House with a tour group.) Trump gave an hour to Bill de Blasio, the very liberal mayor of New York City, which was cer- tainly gracious given the harsh words the two men have exchanged over the last year. De Blasio said he explained to Trump how fearful New Yorkers were of his ideas. The mayor also said the meeting went great. This is good news. Maybe Trump does have an untapped poten- tial for diplomacy. Tell it to the British. Meanwhile, I am sorry to report that de Blasio didn’t suggest Trump move to New Jersey.
