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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, January 1, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW OTHER VIEWS S Slow and steady way to raise wages Oregon’s minimum wage increased 15 cents today. The new rate — $9.25 per hour — remains the second-highest in the nation, behind only our neighbor to the north, Washington. Yet several Oregon politicians already are ginning up support for a $15 minimum wage. We’re pleased to read that Peter Courtney, president of the state Senate, is lukewarm to the idea. He cautioned fellow Democrats not to overreach on the issue, saying it could jeopardize their party’s new majority in Salem. Courtney’s advice is wise for more than reasons of political power. A sharp increase in the minimum wage in a state that is still recovering from a brutal recession is risky There is scant evidence that such a economies. The economic impact of hiking the minimum wage is unclear. There are dozens of research papers on the subject and their conclusions are Some argue that minimum wage increases boost consumer spending. Others say the impact is short-term and encourages low-wage workers to take on more debt. Much depends on how employers would react to a large increase in the minimum wage. They could hire fewer workers. Or raise prices. Or lay off higher-paid employees. Again, economists disagree on the potential response. Oregon’s minimum wage is This has kept it at half the median hourly wage for all Oregon workers. That is a sound level for a wage for unskilled workers compared with employees with years of experience or specialized skills. The $15 minimum wage appears to be the new gold standard for activists, unions and others doing battle in the name of economic equality. to make the leap, though its City Council tempered the impact by phasing the increase over several years. San Francisco soon followed suit. Oregon legislators should at least wait to see how those jurisdictions fare under the $15 minimum before following their lead. As Mark Twain can distort them as you please.” BY THE NUMBERS: Oregon: Clatsop County: Umatilla County: Morrow County: Grant County: Wallowa County: MINIMUM WAGE JOBS 102,485 1,215 2,113 256 170 142 PERCENT OF TOTAL JOBS 5.7% 6.9% 6.9% 4.7% 8.1% 6.2% Source: Oregon Employment Department. Estimates are for fi rst quarter of 2014. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. The Obama recovery uppose that for some reason you decided to start hitting yourself in the head, repeatedly, with a baseball bat. You’d feel pretty bad. Correspondingly, you’d probably feel a lot better if and when you seem to have stopped tightening the screws: Public spending isn’t surging, but at least it has stopped falling. And the economy is doing much better as the kind of growth, in employment and GDP, that we should have been seeing improvement in your condition tell all along — and the public’s mood is you? rapidly improving. Paul It certainly wouldn’t imply that What’s the important lesson from Krugman hitting yourself in the head was a this late Obama bounce? Mainly, I’d Comment good idea. It would, however, be suggest, that everything you’ve heard an indication that the pain you were about President Barack Obama’s economic policies is wrong. fundamentally wrong with your health. Your You know the spiel: that the U.S. economy head wasn’t hurting because you were sick; it is ailing because Obamacare is a job-killer was hurting because you kept hitting it with and the president is a redistributionist, that that baseball bat. Obama’s anti-business And now you understand speeches (he hasn’t actually the basics of what has been made any, but never mind) happening to several major have hurt entrepreneurs’ economies, including the feelings, inducing them to United States, over the take their marbles and go past few years. In fact, you home. understand these basics This storyline never better than many politicians made much sense. The truth and commentators. is that the private sector has Let’s start with a tale done surprisingly well under from overseas: austerity Obama, adding 6.7 million policy in Britain. As you may know, back in 2010 compared with just 3.1 Britain’s newly installed million at this point under Conservative government President George W. Bush. declared that a sharp reduction in budget prices. What held us back was unprecedented turning into Greece. Over the next two years public-sector austerity: At this point in the growth in the British economy, which had Bush years, government employment was up by 1.2 million, but under Obama it’s down by crisis, more or less stalled. In 2013, however, 600,000. Sure enough, now that this de facto growth picked up again — and the British austerity is easing, the economy is perking up. government claimed vindication for its And what this bounce tells you is that the alleged faults of Obamanomics had nothing to No, not at all. What actually happened was do with the pain we were feeling. We weren’t that the Tories stopped tightening the screws hurting because we were sick; we were — they didn’t reverse the austerity that had hurting because we kept hitting ourselves with already occurred, but they effectively put a that baseball bat, and we’re feeling a lot better hold on further cuts. So they stopped hitting now that we’ve stopped. Britain in the head with that baseball bat. And Will this improvement in our condition sure enough, the nation started feeling better. continue? Britain’s government has declared To claim that this bounceback vindicated its intention to pick up the baseball bat again austerity is silly. As Simon Wren-Lewis of — to engage in further austerity, which does Oxford University likes to point out, if rapid not bode well. But here the picture looks growth after a gratuitous slump counts as brighter. Households are in much better success, the government should just close down half the economy for a year; the next ago; there’s probably still a lot of pent-up year’s growth would be fantastic. Or as I’d demand, especially for housing. And falling put it, you shouldn’t conclude that hitting oil prices will be good for most of the country, yourself in the head is smart because it feels although some regions — especially Texas — so good when you stop. Unfortunately, the may take a hit. silliness of the claim hasn’t prevented its So I’m fairly optimistic about 2015, and widespread acceptance by what Wren-Lewis probably beyond, as long as we avoid any calls “mediamacro.” Meanwhile, back in America we haven’t that baseball bat lying on the ground, OK? I’m fairly optimisitic about 2015, as long as we avoid more self-infl icted damage. austerity — but we’ve nonetheless had plenty of austerity in practice, thanks to the federal sequester and sharp cuts by state and local governments. The good news is that we, too, Paul Krugman joined The New York Times in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page and continues as professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. LETTERS POLICY OTHER VIEWS Blood donation policy still discriminates against gay men The (Coos Bay) World We’re sure that the Food and Drug Administration means well with its recommendation announced last week to end the nation’s lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. We’re certain they didn’t intend to simply recast the negative stereotype that has persecuted homosexuals throughout Western civilization. recommendation to begin lifting the ban next year was an insulting caveat — in order to donate blood, gay and bisexual men must have abstained from same sex encounters in the previous 12 months. How, by any stretch of the imagination, is that an improvement in policy? The ban was put into effect as a measure to combat AIDS 31 years ago — an age when little was understood about the devastating disease except that gay and bisexual men were its disproportionate victims. While the policy seemed to make sense at the time, it also gave an air of legitimacy to already discriminatory practices that even touched heterosexual AIDS victims. An Associated Press story on the The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. 12-month abstinence issue last week said that other countries, including Australia, Japan and the U.K., have similar policies. Studies in Australia show that, after 10 years, there was no change in the safety of the national blood supply. Like all studies that involve surveys, though, the research relies on honest responses. There is no evidence to suggest that gay men are any more honest about their relationships than any other segment of the population, 12-month abstinence in place or not. done much to insure the safety of the nation’s blood supply. All U.S. blood donations are screened for HIV. The American Red Cross estimates the risk of getting an HIV-positive blood donation is 1 in 1.5 million. The problem with this policy change is its continuing inherent discriminatory nature. What other subset of the population is being told to alter its sexual practices in order to participate in a charitable act? Heterosexuals? Not a chance, right? It is curious that the nation that heralds itself as a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world always seems to approach freedom for its own with baby steps. 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