Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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MIKE FORRESTER
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
STEVE FORRESTER
Astoria
President
TOM BROWN
Bigfork, Mont.
Director
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
JEFF ROGERS
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
OTHER VIEWS
The power of hope is real
A
Updating gas tax will
keep our roads running
This Memorial Day weekend,
allow accurate monitoring of actual
when many Oregonians will hit the
miles driven, giving a new option for
highway for a weekend adventure,
transportation funding.
it’s a good time to think about how
Civil liberties activists see the
we pay for those roads.
monitoring devices as a potential
With petroleum prices lower for
intrusion on privacy, in effect giving
the time being and more drivers
government a real-time picture of
buying hybrid and electric cars,
where all vehicles are moving at any
Oregon is about to experiment with
given time. Oregon has responded
taxing vehicles based on the miles
by designing one option that uses
they are driven instead of on the fuel global positioning satellite tracking
they consume.
and another option that relies on a
This is an interesting and valid
simple odometer that counts passing
exercise, but one that raises a variety miles. Any records that are collected
of issues that must
are supposed to be
be addressed.
carefully controlled
Hybrid and
The basic scheme
and then destroyed
is to replace fuel
electric cars use after they have
taxes paid at the
their revenue
the roads too, served
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purpose.
1.5 cent per mile
In any event, such
and they should privacy
charge for use of
worries may
be helping to
public roads in
be pointless in a
Oregon. Up to 5,000
where smart
maintain them. nation
volunteers will start
phones can already
testing the concept
be tracked anywhere
on July 1, using
and cameras watch
small digital devices to track their
over many streets and highways.
mileage. California, Washington and
Another concern is expressed by
Indiana all are at earlier stages of
owners and dealers of hybrid and
considering the concept.
electric cars, who fear they will lose
U.S. drivers, especially those
the tax advantage they gained from
who don’t live in the Northeast
buying less gasoline or diesel. But
where there are more toll highways, the fact is that they use the roads,
are pretty spoiled when it comes
too, and should be helping pay to
to transportation costs. Generally,
maintain them.
our gasoline is taxed at far lower
As this trial of charging for
rates than is the case in the rest of
highway use moves forward, it will
the developed world. And we face
bear watching to make certain that
far fewer toll roads. Drive through
rural drivers — who are bound to
France, Mexico and scores of other
have to travel greater distances to
places, and you will be reaching for
jobs, schools, healthcare and other
your wallet every hour or so.
necessities — are no more burdened
It’s safe to say nobody relishes
than they already are by fuel taxes.
having to pay either taxes or tolls,
Anything that might worsen the
but expensive public infrastructure
state’s urban-rural divide must be
like highways and bridges is one of
avoided.
the best examples of government
Oregonians are suspicious about
providing something private citizens any changes in the tax system. We
need but are unable to accomplish on do a better job than many states
our own. Considering the systemic
of keeping it fair. People will be
changes underway in oil markets
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and automobiles, fuel taxes simply
tax. But if it works, it might be a
can’t keep up. Only in recent years
equitable way to match our highway
has technology come along that will use with what we pay.
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.
n awkward truth for bleeding
with participants randomly assigned to
hearts like myself is that
watch an hour of comedy television.
there has never been much
The forward-leaning behaviors
rigorous evidence that outside aid can
persisted in a six-month follow-up.
sustainably lift people out of poverty.
Researchers are now studying
Sure, evidence is overwhelming
whether exposure to religion might
that aid can overcome disease, boost
have a similar effect, improving
literacy and save lives. But raising
economic outcomes. If so, Marx had
incomes is trickier — and the evidence Nicholas the wrong drug in mind: religion
in that arena has been squishier.
Kristof would not be an opiate of the masses
Now that’s changing. A vast
but an amphetamine.
Comment
randomized trial — the gold standard
The graduation program is a bit
of evidence — involving 21,000
similar to the model of the well-known
people in six countries suggests that a
group Heifer International, which I’ve written
particular aid package called the graduation
about before and provides “gifts of hope” such
program (because it aims to graduate people
as heifers, goats and chickens to impoverished
from poverty) gives very
families. “There was a lot
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of excitement — with just
boost that continues after
a hint of smugness! — at
the program ends. Indeed,
Heifer at the published
it’s an investment. In India,
results,” said Pierre Ferrari,
the economic return was a
the president of Heifer.
remarkable 433 percent.
But the graduation model
The heart of this aid
includes a couple of other
package? A cow. Or a few
elements.
goats. Even bees.
The graduation program
Why would a cow
starts with a cow or other
have such an effect? This
animals, as well as training
gets interesting: There’s
on how to raise them. It
some indication that
includes months of food
one mechanism is hope.
or cash support, partly to
Whether in America
reduce the need to eat or sell
or India, families that are stressed and
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impoverished — trapped in cycles of poverty
There’s a savings account (microlending
— can feel a hopelessness that becomes
has disappointed in randomized trials,
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they can achieve a better life, and that, too, can education and regular coaching to reinforce
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In the graduation program, recipients of
The study, which was just published in the
livestock were inspired to work more hours,
journal Science, found that the graduation
even in areas unrelated to the livestock. They
model was enormously successful in India,
took more odd jobs. Their savings rose. Their
Ethiopia, Ghana and Pakistan, and somewhat
mental health improved.
less effective in Peru and in Honduras (where
“Poverty is not just poverty of money or
some animals died). A follow-up found
income,” noted Sir Fazle Abed, founder of
the effects still strong three years after the
a Bangladeshi aid group called BRAC that
donation of the animals.
developed the graduation program. “We also
Dean Karlan, a Yale economist who is
see a poverty of self-esteem, hope, opportunity co-author of the study, said that aid groups
and freedom. People trapped in a cycle of
focused on very similar approaches include
destitution often don’t realize their lives can
Trickle Up, the Boma Project, Village
be changed for the better through their own
Enterprise and Fonkoze. Karlan’s students in
activities. Once they understand that, it’s like a a seminar on philanthropy were given a pool
light gets turned on.”
of money from a foundation and the challenge
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to donate it where it would do the most good;
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a
they spent the term reviewing the evidence
co-author of the study, believes that’s right.
and, in the end, voted to donate it to Trickle
“The mental health part is absolutely critical,” Up.
she said. “Poverty causes stress and depression
So bleeding hearts, rejoice!
and lack of hope, and stress and depression
Much of the news about global poverty is
and lack of hope, in turn, cause poverty.”
depressing, but this is fabulous: a large-scale
Could hopelessness and stress create
experiment showing, with rigorous evidence,
a “poverty trap” — abroad or here in the
what works to lift people out of the most
U.S. — in which people surrender to a kind of extreme poverty. And it’s exhilarating that one
whirlpool of despair? Some economists and
of the lessons may be so simple and human:
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the power of hope.
that theory, and experiments are underway
Ŷ
to see if raising spirits can lift economic
Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and
outcomes.
cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. He has been a
One study found that Ethiopians randomly
columnist for The New York Times since 2001
assigned to watch an hourlong inspirational
and writes op-ed columns that appear twice a
video ended up saving more and spending
week. He won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in
more on their children’s education, compared
1990 and 2006.
Give people
reason to hope
that they can
achieve a better
life and that,
too, can be
self-fulfilling.
YOUR VIEWS
Council’s nuisance ordinance
should consider other smells
It was with great relief Thursday when I
read in the East Oregonian that Pendleton’s
city council took the time to pass an
amendment to the city’s nuisance ordinance
banning marijuana odor. Clearly, there has
been no issue of greater importance facing the
city. Now that this important work has been
completed I hope that the council will move
on to restricting the other offensive smell that
plagues our community: farts.
While farting may be legal in Oregon,
many (including myself) are offended by
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and businesses fail to contain farts to their
property, forcing the rest of us to put up with
the smell. Some habitual farters argue that
they need to fart for medical reasons but
that doesn’t mean my kids should have to
smell their farts. The city council should stop
looking the other way and pretending not to
notice.
I’m not even going to talk about intensity
of farts. After all, as Pendleton police Chief
Stuart Roberts put it: “It’s a very subjective
standard in terms of whether people are
offended by [smells] or not.”
This issue greatly affects me as I have
a roommate whose recreational farting has
been negatively affecting my quality of life
for several months now. He claims that he
is taking steps to mitigate the odor after I
contacted the authorities.
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Pendleton’s nuisance code, it’s as if he who
smelt it, dealt it. I call on our city council
to set aside all other work and address this
problem.
LETTERS POLICY
Peter Walters
Pendleton
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.