Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Big frogging
mistake
There are two things that give a
see that mistake splayed across the
journalist great relief.
World Wide Web. And to think: Just
1.) Having an editor or
a few weeks ago we were Internet
proofreader catch a mistake in a
heroes, showing the courage and
story, headline or caption moments
temerity to publish a letter about
before the paper goes to press
farts. Now, we’re lowly Internet
and realizing you’ve dodged an
zeros, publishing unconsciously
embarrassing bullet.
about frogs.
2.) Finding a mistake in another
,W¶VFHUWDLQO\QRWWKH¿UVWWLPH
publication and
we’ve picked up an
laughing gleefully at
EO and seen a mistake,
how someone let such
from the wrong use
an obvious error get
of a word to improper
through.
grammar to just a
There is also every
plain old typo. For
print journalist’s worst
regular readers of
nightmare, the thing
any newspaper — a
that will wake you up
community monthly
in a cold sweat in the
where one person does
middle of the night.
all the work, or the Wall
That’s realizing you’ve
Street Journal where
AP/The Muppets an entire department
made a mistake, large
Kermit is embarrassed. pores over every page
or small, and it is now
being distributed to
looking for goofs — a
thousands of readers
printed mistake is not
We went
and all you can do is
uncommon. That’s the
lay there sweating in
of words and
from Internet nature
your bed.
deadlines and the lack
heroes to
And now, with the
of a delete button once
Internet and all, that
mistake has been
Internet zeros. that
mistake can go wider
pressed in ink.
than ever before.
No excuses. We’ll
Such was the case
own it. It was a dumb
in the weekend edition of the East
mistake and it got through, from our
Oregonian, where we reported on
desk to the press to the web. Surely
the young amphibious — ahem,
we’ll hear plenty about it in the
ambidextrous — pitcher recently
coming week. Then it will die down,
called up by the Oakland Athletics.
life will go on and we’ll give those
Sure, we’re a little red in the face. proofs closer looks.
It’s one thing to have a slip of the
Nights waking up in a cold sweat?
tongue, it’s another to put a mistake
They aren’t going anywhere anytime
into print, and it’s still another to
soon.
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.
OTHER VIEWS
Renovation tax credit
would rob public schools
The Oregonian
When it comes to money, the
message from Salem these days could
not be more clear: We ain’t got enough!
The Legislature’s K-12 education
budget pleased no one, and the state’s
universities and community colleges
have argued for greater generosity, too.
Meanwhile, Rep. Tobias Read,
D-Beaverton, has introduced a bill
to grab income tax “kicker” rebates
projected to top $470 million. And then,
of course, there’s the looming budget
hammer of the state’s public pension
system, which will drop painfully during
the 2017-19 biennium and beyond.
Given present and future budgetary
pressures, lawmakers this session must
take particular pains to distinguish
between wants and needs when dipping
into the public’s wallet, especially when
it comes to new programs. The same
level of scrutiny should apply regardless
of the number of zeros on a program’s
price tag or the good intentions of its
backers.
That’s a long way of saying Senate
Bill 565 should die in the Joint
Committee on Tax Credits, where
the Senate Committee on Finance
and Revenue sent it March 24 by a
unanimous vote.
The bill, promoted ardently by
WKHQRQSUR¿W5HVWRUH2UHJRQZRXOG
establish a fund to subsidize the
restoration of historic properties. The
VWDWHZRXOG¿OOWKHIXQGE\DXFWLRQLQJ
off tax credits to individuals and
businesses, and property owners would
be able to apply for up to 25 percent of
the cost of eligible renovation projects.
Eligible properties would be those listed
or deemed suitable for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places,
but would not include buildings used
primarily for single-family housing.
Total tax credits would be capped at
$24 million per biennium, and no single
project could receive more than $2
million.
A state-level subsidy is necessary,
backers argue, because seismic
vulnerability and modern code
requirements make old buildings
expensive to renovate. The costs make
many projects too expensive to pursue
even with existing subsidies, including a
federal historic tax credit that covers up
to 20 percent of eligible renovation costs.
Turbocharging the subsidy pool,
backers argue, would create jobs
and revitalize neighborhoods while
preserving structures with both historic
and aesthetic value. Everybody wins!
Except, of course, for those who lose.
That $24 million per biennium would be
pulled from public services supported
by income taxes, the most prominent
of which is public education — which,
everyone seems to agree, didn’t get
enough this session even though plenty
of tax revenue is rolling into state coffers
to trigger the kicker.
Some may argue that diverting
several million dollars per year from
public schools to historic buildings is
¿QHEHFDXVHWKHHGXFDWLRQEXGJHWLVVR
big. What’s a few million here and there,
right? Well, a few million here and there
is still a few million, and supporters of
the diversion ought to make the same
case as those seeking to divert, say, $100
million: Why is this a higher and better
use of public funds than the things the
money otherwise would support? As
much as we and others may like old
EXLOGLQJVWKDW¶VDYHU\GLI¿FXOWFDVHWR
make.
Oregonians may — and will —
debate renovation subsidies even without
a statewide tax credit. But such debates
should be local. If elected leaders in
Portland, Astoria or Pendleton consider
the redevelopment of certain historic
buildings important enough to nudge
along, they should make the case to
their constituents for the appropriate
incentives.
By contrast, the so-called Revitalize
Main Street Act operates on the
assumption that renovations in Portland,
Astoria, Pendleton — wherever — are
so important to those communities that
schools across the state should pay for
them. Really?
LETTERS POLICY
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. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers
Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
Fighting the derp
W
hen it comes to economics
constantly accused of just looking for
— and other subjects, but I’ll
reasons to expand government.
focus on what I know best
But derp isn’t universal. There’s
— we live in an age of derp and cheap
also plenty of genuine, honest analysis
cynicism. And there are powerful
out there — and you don’t have to be a
forces behind both tendencies. But
technical expert to tell the difference.
those forces can be fought, and
I’ve already mentioned one
WKHSODFHWRVWDUW¿JKWLQJLVZLWKLQ
telltale sign of derp: predictions that
yourself.
just keep being repeated no matter
Paul
What am I talking about here?
Krugman how wrong they’ve been in the past.
“Derp” is a term borrowed from
Another sign is the never-changing
Comment
the cartoon “South Park” that has
policy prescription, like the assertion
achieved wide currency among
that slashing tax rates on the wealthy,
people I talk to, because it’s useful shorthand
which you advocate all the time, just so
for an all-too-obvious feature of the modern
happens to also be the perfect response to a
intellectual landscape: people who keep
¿QDQFLDOFULVLVQRERG\H[SHFWHG
saying the same thing no matter how much
Yet another is a call for long-term
evidence accumulates that it’s completely
responses to short-term events — for example,
wrong.
a permanent downsizing of government in
The quintessential example is fear
response to a recession.
PRQJHULQJRYHULQÀDWLRQ,WZDVSHUKDSV
And here’s the thing: If you look at
forgivable for economists, pundits, and
what Romer and many other Keynesians
SROLWLFLDQVWRZDUQDERXWUXQDZD\LQÀDWLRQ
had to say, none of those telltale signs were
some years ago, when the Federal Reserve
SUHVHQW7KH\DGYRFDWHGGH¿FLWVSHQGLQJDVD
was just beginning its efforts to help a
response to a severe downturn, not a universal
depressed economy. After all, everyone makes elixir, and the measures they called for, like
bad predictions now and then.
infrastructure spending and budget aid to state
But making the same
governments, were designed
to be temporary rather than
wrong prediction year after
a permanent expansion
year, never acknowledging
(and the 2009 stimulus
past errors or considering
did, in fact, fade away on
the possibility that you have
schedule.)
the wrong model of how the
So derp isn’t destiny.
economy works — well,
But how can you —
that’s derp.
whether you’re a pundit,
And there’s a lot of derp
a policymaker, or just a
RXWWKHUH,QÀDWLRQGHUS
concerned citizen — protect
in particular, has become
yourself against derpitude?
more or less a required
7KH¿UVWOLQHRIGHIHQVH
position among Republicans.
I’d argue, is to always be
Even economists with
suspicious of people telling
solid reputations, whose
you what you want to hear.
professional work should
Thus, if you’re a conservative opposed
KDYHPDGHWKHPVNHSWLFDORILQÀDWLRQK\VWHULD
to a stronger safety net, you should be extra
have spent years echoing the paranoia of the
skeptical about claims that health reform is
goldbugs. And that tells you why derp abides:
about to crash and burn, especially coming
it’s basically political.
from people who made the same prediction
It’s an article of faith on the right that
last year and the year before (Obamacare derp
DQ\DWWHPSWE\WKHJRYHUQPHQWWR¿JKW
UXQVDOPRVWDVGHHSDVLQÀDWLRQGHUS
unemployment must lead to disaster, so the
But if you’re a liberal who believes that
faithful must keep predicting disaster no
we should reduce inequality, you should
matter how often it fails to materialize.
similarly be cautious about studies purporting
Still, doesn’t everyone do this? No, and
to show that inequality is responsible for many
that’s where the cheap cynicism comes in.
of our economic ills, from slow growth to
True, the peddlers of politically inspired
¿QDQFLDOLQVWDELOLW\7KRVHVWXGLHVPLJKWEH
derp are quick to accuse others of the same
correct — the fact is that there’s less derp on
sin. For example, right at the beginning of
America’s left than there is on the right — but
the Obama administration Robert Lucas, a
\RXQRQHWKHOHVVQHHGWR¿JKWWKHWHPSWDWLRQWR
Nobel laureate at the University of Chicago,
accused Christina Romer, the administration’s let political convenience dictate your beliefs.
Fighting the derp can be hard, not least
chief economist, of intellectual fraud. Her
DQDO\VLVRI¿VFDOSROLF\KHGHFODUHGZDVMXVW because it can upset friends who want to be
reassured in their beliefs. But you should do it
“a very naked rationalization for policies that
anyway: It’s your civic duty.
were already, you know, decided on for other
Ŷ
reasons.”
Paul Krugman joined The New York Times
In general, anyone practicing some kind
in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page
of Keynesian economics — an approach
and continues as professor of Economics and
that, among other things, correctly predicted
International Affairs at Princeton University.
TXLHVFHQWLQÀDWLRQDQGLQWHUHVWUDWHV²LV
The first line of
derp defense
is to always be
suspicious of
people telling
you what you
want to hear.
YOUR VIEWS
Smart to add solar panels to
Hawthorne learning center
I would like to commend the Pendleton
School District for having the foresight to put
an array of 200 solar panels on the roof of the
new Hawthorne Early Learning Center.
What a wonderful way to save costs that
will go well into the future. With 12 panels on
my own roof I generated 298 kilowatt hours
of electricity last month; a panel of 200 could
generate close to 5,000 kilowatt hours. How
wonderful.
I sincerely hope that the school district
will also be putting solar panels on the new
Washington and Sherwood elementary school
buildings. Any use of clean renewable energy
saves our environment, lowers energy costs
and adds to the value of buildings.
Thanks for being a leader, Pendleton
School District. Here’s hoping more new
construction will also use solar panels when
possible.
Marge Normington-Jones
Pendleton