Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Minimum wage bill
doesn’t work for
Eastern Oregon
After an initial derailment, a
that to mom-and-pop business
proposal to raise Oregon’s minimum owners who at times forgo their own
wage is back on track in the waning
paycheck in order to make payroll
days of the state Legislature. That’s
for their employees.
an unfortunate development for
Oregon’s economy is still
businesses outside the Portland
recovering from the brutal
metropolitan area.
recession. In May, the number of
We previously editorialized
jobs in the state declined for the
against such legislation. Our
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opinion has not
the Portland area is
been changed by
the rest
Large Portland- humming,
arguments recently
of the state still is
offered by Portland
by high
area employers hampered
politicians and their
unemployment and
supporters. Their
a lack of skilled
can easily
pitch ignores our
workers. Raising
state’s economic
the minimum wage
absorb such
diversity and relies
by 37 percent over
on benevolent
payroll increases. the next few years
assumptions not
will exacerbate the
But most private- challenges facing
supported by
science or math.
small businesses.
sector jobs in
House Speaker
Rep. Kotek’s
Tina Kotek
proposal would
Eastern Oregon rescind current law
proposes to raise the
minimum hourly
to allow for some
rate to $13 by 2018. and elsewhere in cities to approve
It would be pegged
increases in
rural Oregon are larger
at $11 in 2016 and
the minimum wage.
$12 in 2017.
plays to the
found in small That
It does not matter
good citizens of
to Rep. Kotek that
business — many Portland and Eugene,
Oregon’s current
but does nothing for
rate of $9.25 per
of them family- those in the small
hour already is the
communities of
owned and run Eastern Oregon.
second-highest in
the nation. And
Oregon’s
on a shoestring. minimum wage
she conveniently
sidesteps questions
is half the median
about the potential
hourly wage for
impact of such increases beyond her all Oregon hourly workers. That
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is a reasonable level for a wage
Large Portland-area employers
meant for entry-level workers when
like Nike and Intel can easily
compared with those with years of
absorb such payroll increases. But
experience or specialized skills.
most private-sector jobs in Eastern
If there is good news for workers
Oregon and elsewhere in rural
in Oregon, it is this: “Real wages are
Oregon are found in small business
growing … Average hourly earnings
— many of them family-owned
increased 2.2 percent over the year
and run on a shoestring. Such large
for Oregon’s private-sector payroll
increases will require them to cut
employees. These wage gains were
hours, reduce staff size or pass on
above the rate of consumer price
to customers those additional costs.
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Such outcomes would hurt the very
That recent report from state
people the minimum wage hike is
government shows that the free
designed to help.
market is responding to economic
A typical response to those likely conditions without interference
scenarios is an activist rant: “The
from Rep. Kotek and her Portland
CEOs should take a pay cut!” Tell
colleagues.
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.
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.
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.
OTHER VIEWS
Cold War without the fun
L
et’s see, America is
now he’s just using the NATO threat
prepositioning battle tanks
to justify the militarization of Russian
with our East European NATO
society so he and his fellow kleptocrats
allies to counterbalance Russia; U.S.
can stay in power and paint their
and Russian military planes recently
opponents as lackeys of the West.
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NATO’s toppling of the Libyan
Russia is building a new generation
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of long-range ballistic missiles; and
Spring and the Moscow street protests
the U.S. and China are jostling in the
Thomas that followed rattled Putin, said Sergei
South China Sea. Did someone restart Friedman Guriev, the noted Russian economist
the Cold War while I was looking the
now based in Paris. “Putin understood
Comment
other way?
that he lost the Russian middle class
If so, this time it seems
and so he started to look
like the Cold War without
for legitimacy somewhere
the fun — that is, without
else” — in hypernationalism
James Bond, SMERSH,
and anti-Americanism.
“Get Smart” Agent
But Guriev makes an
86’s shoe phone, Nikita
important point. “If not
Khrushchev’s shoe-banging,
for the Western sanctions
a race to the moon or a
on Russia, East Ukraine
debate between American
would already have been
and Soviet leaders over
part of Russia today,” he
whose country has the best
said, adding that there is
kitchen appliances. And
nothing Putin fears more
I don’t think we’re going
than Ukraine succeeding in
to see President Barack
diminishing corruption and
Obama in Kiev declaring, à
building a modern economy
la President Kennedy, “ich
that would be everything
bin ein Ukrainian.” Also, the
Putin’s Russia is not. Guriev
lingo of our day — “reset
is worried, though, that the
with Russia” or “pivot to
anti-Western propaganda
Asia” — has none of the gravitas of — drum
Putin has been pumping into the veins of the
roll, please — “détente.”
Russian public will have a lasting effect and
No, this post-post-Cold War has more of
make his successor even worse. Either way,
a WWE — World Wrestling Entertainment
“Russia will be a big challenge for your next
— feel to it, and I don’t just mean President
president.”
Vladimir Putin of Russia’s riding horses
The Chinese leadership is not as dumb
bare-chested, although that is an apt metaphor. or desperate as Putin — and needs access to
It’s just a raw jostling for power for power’s
U.S. markets more — so, for now, China’s
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leaders still behave with some restraint in
UDWKHURIVSKHUHVRILQÀXHQFH³<RXFURVVWKDW asserting their claims in the South China Sea.
line, I punch your nose.” “Why?” “Because I
But the fact is, as the Asia expert Andrew
VDLGVR´³<RXJRWDSUREOHPZLWKWKDW"´³<HV Browne noted in The Wall Street Journal, “the
OHWPHVKRZ\RXP\GURQH<RXJRWDSUREOHP U.S.-China relationship has lost its strategic
with that?” “Not at all. My cyber guys stole
raison d’être: the Soviet Union, the common
the guidance system last week from Northrop
threat that brought the two countries together.”
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They have not forged a new one, like being
The Cold War had a beginning, an end
co-managers of global stability.
and even a closing curtain, with the fall of the
In short, the attraction of the U.S. economy
Berlin Wall. But the post-post-Cold War has
and the bite of U.S. sanctions are more vital
brought us full circle back to the pre-Cold War than ever in managing the post-post-Cold
and the game of nations. There was a moment War game of nations, including bringing
when it seemed as though it would all be
Iran to nuclear talks. We may be back to
otherwise — when it seemed that Arabs and
traditional geopolitics, but it’s in a much more
Israelis would make peace, that China would
interdependent world, where our economic
evolve into a more consensual political system clout is still a source of restraint on Moscow
and that Russia would become part of Europe
and Beijing. Putin doesn’t disguise his
and the G-8. That was a lifetime ago.
military involvement in Ukraine for nothing;
Now Western reporters struggle to get visas he’s afraid of more U.S. banking sanctions.
to China, no American businessman with
China doesn’t circumscribe its behavior in the
a brain takes his laptop to Beijing, Chinese
South China Sea for nothing; it can’t grow
hackers have more of your personal data
without exporting to America. It’s not just
now than LinkedIn, Russia is still intent on
our guns, it’s our butter. It’s why we should
becoming part of Europe — by annexing a
be expanding U.S.-shaped free-trade deals
piece here and a piece there — and the G-8 is
with Asia and Europe and it’s why the most
now the G-1.5 (America and Germany).
important source of stability in the world
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today is the health of the U.S. economy. We
shot when we expanded NATO toward the
can walk softly only as long as we carry a big
Russian border even though the Soviet Union
stick — and a big wallet.
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Ŷ
are always an enemy, no matter what system
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer
you have. When oil prices recovered, Putin
Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer
sought his revenge for this humiliation, but
for The New York Times.
This post-post-
Cold War has
more a WWE
feel to it, and I
don’t just mean
Vladimir Putin
riding horses
bare-chested.
OTHER VIEWS
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Medford Mail Tribune, June 25
After decades of controversy,
it took one racist young man with
a handgun to galvanize public
opinion around that ubiquitous
symbol of misplaced Southern
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South Carolina Gov. Nikki
Haley, reeling in the aftermath of
the massacre of nine worshipers
at a historic black church in
Charleston, on Monday called on
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Capitol grounds.
The nation’s largest retailer,
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declare it would no longer sell
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Sears, Target and eBay followed
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sales skyrocketed.
Even Oregon has been swept up
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ask?
In Wilson Park, just outside the
state Capitol building in Salem, is
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all 50 states. The Mississippi state
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in its design.
State Rep. Tobias Read,
D-Beaverton, has called for the
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Flag,” used from 1861 to 1894.
There’s just one problem with
that idea. Well, more than one.
For starters, it makes little
sense to single out Mississippi
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when several other Southern
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of Confederate imagery, while
stopping short of the familiar blue
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The Confederacy adopted a
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to most Americans, and the one
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of the Army of Northern Virginia.
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of white, or, later, white with a
vertical red stripe.
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and Florida use a red Cross of St.
Andrew, and historical documents
make it clear that design was
intended to preserve some symbol
of the Confederacy. The Arkansas
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diamond against a red background,
an unmistakable nod to the battle
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Most problematic in Rep.
Read’s proposal is that the
“Magnolia Flag” incorporates a
solid blue square with a single
white star. That symbol echoes
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over the Confederate batteries that
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the Civil War.
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symbolism, but it would seem you
cannot escape it — at least in the
South.
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be changed — and it should —
Mississippi ought to do it, not the
Oregon Legislature. Already, there
are calls in that state to remove the
offending Confederate imagery. If
our legislators feel compelled to
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should send a letter encouraging
that change. But a display of the
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Meanwhile, no one should
imagine that the racist hatred that
prompted a dead-eyed 21-year-old
to slaughter innocent worshipers
will disappear just because a
symbol of slavery and oppression
is removed from government
property. The stain of that massacre
cannot be wiped away so easily.