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STAFF
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d it o r
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h ie f
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u b l is h e r
Charles H. Washington
E d
it o i
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B
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anager
Gary Ann Taylor
A sst . P ublisher
Michael Leighton
C o rt
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d it o i
Joy Ramos
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November 07, 2001
IJortlanb (Obstruct
r e a t iv e
D
ir e c t o r
Paul Neufeldt
4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin L u th e r King,
Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1
Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views
of
(Tl|v|4orthuth (Phaeruer
Economic Recovery Proposals will Fail Oregon
by
J eff T hompson
Oregon’s economy, in re­
cession with 6.4 percent un­
employment and more layoffs
to come, could use some help.
With our economy going
from top dog to just “dog” in a
year, Oregonians are eager for
government to deliver eco­
nomic stimulus.
To be effective, stimulus
should be temporary and deliv­
ered to people who will spend
it. The Republican and Bush
proposals do neither, dedicat­
ing 90 percent of their long­
term cost to tax cuts aimed
largely at upper-income house­
holds and businesses. Most of
the upper-income tax cuts oc­
cur after the recession likely
will have ended, and, like the
tax cut earlier this year, the
money will likely be saved, not
spent.
The business tax cuts are
too long-range to accelerate
investment. No strings are at­
tached, so there is no assur­
ance that any of the compa­
nies receiving hundred million
dollar windfalls will forego
layoffs or make additional in­
vestments.
The proposed one-time tax
rebate, aim ed at low and
m iddle-incom e households,
would be effective, but it is
quite small compared to the
other tax cuts.
The federal proposals also
include additional spending on
u n em ploym ent in su ran ce,
which could be an effective
stimulus.
Unfortunately, the current
proposals are practically use­
less for Oregon. The House
11th. By August, Oregon had
50 percent more unemployed
workers receiving benefits
than a year earlier. These
workers would be ineligible
for Bush’s extended and in­
’ Oregon’s Congressional
delegation and state
leaders need to put money
into the hands of people
who will spend it—low and
middle income families
V
- J e f f Thomson, Oregon Center for Public Police
proposal is just one-third the
size of the stimulus enacted
during the mild, early 1990s
recession.
States w ouldn’t have to
spend the money on increased
benefits, but could use the funds
to shore up existing unemploy-.
ment trust funds or cut taxes
on employers. The staid Con­
gressional Budget Office ex­
pects that only 30 percent
would actually be spent as ad­
ditional benefits for workers.
The adm inistration’s pro­
posal lim its additional unem ­
ploym ent benefits to w ork­
ers laid off after Septem ber
creased benefits. Even eli­
gible workers would only get
these benefits if O regon’s
unem ploym ent rises to 7.8
percent.
What can the State of Or­
egon do for us? Oregon is con­
stitutionally prevented from
deficit spending, and has no
rainy day fund to draw upon.
The Governor’s goal to boost
tourism is laudable, but with a
worldwide economic downturn
and a major military conflict
heating up, it’s hard to see how
even our best efforts will in­
crease tourism. In any event,
additional tourist dollars are not
a substitute for the high-paying
manufacturing and technology
jobs that we are losing.
Any razzle-dazzle that the
Governor’s newest task force
might muster will pale in com ­
parison to the damage already
done though deliberate inac­
tion. Not halting the $254 m il­
lion personal income tax re­
bate due by December 1 will
administer a fiscal drag on the
economy. Most of the tax re­
bate is destined for upper-in­
come bank accounts where it
will be saved, not spent.
Moreover, state spending
will be cut deeply - the exact
opposite of stimulus. The re­
bate also eliminates our ability
to leverage federal dollars, and
will trigger $35 million in in­
creased federal income taxes
next April, pulling funds out of
Oregon's economy.
A quick end to Oregon’s
and the country’s recession
will require effective fiscal
stimulus. Oregon’s Congres­
sional delegation and state
leaders need to put money into
the hands of people who will
spend it - low and middle in­
come families.
The current proposals on
the table badly miss the mark.
J e f f T h o m p s o n is a n
e c o n o m is t a n d p o lic y a n a ­
ly st w ith the O regon C en ter
f o r P u blic P olicy. H e can be
rea ch ed
at
jth o m p s o n @ o c p p . o rg .
Congress
Fails
Airline
Passengers
and
Workers
U.S. Rep. E a rl B lu m e n ­
a uer, D -O re . is s u e d the
fo llo w in g sta te m e n t T hurs­
d a y a fte r C o n g ress p a sse d
the R ep u b lica n a irlin e s e ­
c u rity bill, sa yin g it fa ils
to exp a n d the ro le o f f e d ­
e ra l law e n fo rc e m e n t a n d
ensure the sa fe ty o f a irlin e
p a sse n g e rs a n d w orkers.
“ 1 am sad d en ed th at we
m issed an o p p o rtu n ity to
w ork in a truly b i-p a rtisa n
fashion. H ad w e passed the
O b e rsta r-G a n sk e b i-p a rti­
san su b stitu te v ersio n o f
the bill, id en tical to w hat
the S enate p a sse d 100-0
three w eeks ago, w e co u ld
have had an av iatio n se c u ­
rity bill signed by the P resi­
dent tom orrow .
“T his bill is a step b a c k ­
w ard in term s o f p ro v id in g
the train in g , p ro fe ssio n a l­
ism , and un ifo rm p ro te c ­
tion that the A m erican p u b ­
lic deserv es to m ake our
skies sa fe r.”
5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3
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Portland Observer
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We Must Control Weapons to Reduce Terrorism Threat
The use of airliners and an­
thrax as w eapons against
Americans makes it clear that
certain people intend to inflict
mass casualties on the United
States - and have no moral
barriers to using the deadliest
weapons they can obtain.
That, according to Jane
Cramer, should galvanize U.S.
policy toward stopping the
spread of weapons of mass
destruction that terrorists and
rogue states could acquire.
“Thank God it w asn’t a
nuclear bomb that went off
o v e r M a n h a tta n ,” says
Cramer, UO assistant profes­
sor o f political science.
To prevent a tragedy worse
than Sept. 11, she says, the
United States must emphasize
the control of nuclear, biologi­
cal and chemical arms-which
recent administrations have not
done.
As examples, she cites fal­
tering U.S. support o f the Bio-
logical Weapons Convention
and the Cooperative Threat
Reduction Program, which was
formed to control and elimi­
nate the vast arsenal of the
former Soviet Union.
Cramei adds that the cur­
rent administration’s pursuit of
N ational M issile D efense
(NMD), along with its disre­
gard for the Comprehensive
Test Ban and Anti-Ballistic
Missile treaties, endangers the
global coalition needed by the
United States to stop terrorism
and proliferation.
“We can’t be unilateral any­
m ore,” she says. “We will
never effectively fight terror­
ism without real world coop­
eration, and NM D offends
every other country.”
Terrorists and rogue states
are unlikely to develop ballistic
missiles that NMD could inter­
cept anyway, she says, be­
cause of the prohibitive cost
and technical sophistication
, involved.
She suggests that the United
States abandon NMD and in­
stead support global non-pro ­
liferation efforts.
“Everything changed in a
big way on September 11,”
she says. “We should re-evalú­
ate our foreign policies now
that we truly need friends.”
C ram er can be rea ch ed
b y p h o n e a t 5 4 1 -3 4 6 -4 6 2 6
or
v ia
e -m a il
at
jkcmnK’r@darkwing.uoirgoiiediL
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