Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, November 7, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com MIKE FORRESTER STEVE FORRESTER KATHRYN B. BROWN Pendleton Chairman of the Board Astoria President Pendleton Secretary/Treasurer CORY BOLLINGER JEFF ROGERS Aberdeen, S.D. Director Indianapolis, Ind. Director OUR VIEW State shouldn’t spend millions to expand Madras prison The state of Oregon has plenty of uses for $9.5 million. But expanding the Deer Ridge prison in Madras should not be one of them. The Department of Corrections plan, revealed recently by the EO Media Group, runs counter to the strides being made locally and nationally to reduce the prison population. Such strides have reduced taxpayer costs, while not restricting freedom to a segment of the population that could safely be part of society. 6WDWHODZPDNHUVVDLGWKDWWR¿QG the money to expand and staff the Madras prison, they may have to take $9.5 million from funding that was designed to keep offenders from JRLQJWKHUHLQWKH¿UVWSODFH7KDW¶V DEDGGHFLVLRQDQGDVKRUWWHUP¿[ that causes a long term problem. Less spending on keeping people out of prison means we have to spend more once they get there. Before you NQRZLW0DGUDVZLOOEH¿OOHGDQG we will be building bricks and bars somewhere else. This DOC decision was necessitated because of a 2013 law pushed by then-governor John Kitzhaber to reduce the number of people imprisoned in Oregon. One solution that doesn’t include a $9.5 million outlay and another growing prison: Let’s be more successful at reducing those numbers. DOC and FDQJRWKURXJKZLWKD¿QHWRRWKHG comb. Nationally, Barack Obama has worked to release prisoners locked up for certain drug crimes. Although that is fewer than 1 percent of prisoners, it’s a start. Safety of law-abiding citizens is paramount. But this country and this state can do more to reduce taxpayers costs, treat troubled citizens and still keep us as safe as possible. Dale Primmer, Umatilla County community corrections director, is trying to do that. He said he is concerned the funding cut will gut a county program before it has a chance to show results. Umatilla County applied for a $914,251 justice reinvestment grant, which it plans to use in part to establish a program that connects offenders with treatment centers before they are released from jail. The shorter the time between jail and treatment the more likely it is that offenders will complete diversion programs and avoid recidivism, Primmer said. The fear is that the counties will start new programs this year, then lose funding in 2016 because the state needs to expand Deer Ridge, Primmer said. That kind of XQFHUWDLQW\PDNHVLWGLI¿FXOWIRU counties to plan, because they craft their budgets far in advance, he said. “Let’s not lock up the people we are mad at, let’s lock up the people who are a danger to us going forward,” Fordham law professor John Pfaff said this week on The Gist podcast, arguing for new thought on what prison is for. Pfaff believes district attorneys have more power over the prison population than police chiefs or legislators. In northeast Oregon, we know prisons are an important part of the economy and culture. Eastern Oregon and Two Rivers correctional institutions in Pendleton and Umatilla, respectively, are indelible parts of those communities. %XWZHFDQQRWEHVDWLV¿HGZLWK the status quo, nor should we be interested in expanding it. The Deer Ridge prison is currently a minimum-security operation. On the other side are 200 unused beds in a medium-security setting. Considering what it would cost WR¿OOWKRVHEHGV²ERWK¿VFDOO\ DQGHWKLFDOO\²WKH\VKRXOGUHPDLQ empty. Instead, we should fund programs that make prison less necessary. 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 What would wage hike mean for Oregon income inequality? The Oregonian Who knows who will be on the ballot for 2016 elections? Will Gov. Kate Brown have a serious opponent? Will anyone step up to run against Ted Wheeler for Portland mayor now that incumbent Charlie Hales has said he won’t seek re-election? And will Republicans choose an outsider or establishment candidate for president? It’s much easier to predict the issues that will dominate the campaigns, and income inequality sits near the top. In Oregon, the gap between haves and have-nots also is likely to drive initiative campaigns, including a ballot measure seeking to increase business taxes and a possible vote on increasing WKHPLQLPXPZDJH²LIWKH/HJLVODWXUH doesn’t tackle the issue next year. So, just how much do the top 1 percent earn in Oregon, and how much do they pay in taxes? How unequal is Oregon compared with other states? The answers to those questions aren’t easy, in part because there’s more than one way to measure inequality. But this much is clear: The conversation is different here than in many states. The simplest way to look at inequality is to compare the money earned by the highest-income households with the earnings of the lowest-income households. According to 2013 data from the Oregon Department of Revenue, the top 1 percent of tax ¿OHUVLQFOXGLQJMRLQWUHWXUQVLQ2UHJRQ earned $350,000 or more. The cutoff for the top 5 percent was 160,000, and it took $84,000 to make the top 20 percent. In contrast, the bottom 20 percent of tax ¿OHUVHDUQHGRUOHVV7KHWRS percent paid 67.6 percent of the personal income taxes collected, with top 1 percent paying 19.2 percent. Another way to measure inequality is to compare the top 1 percent to everyone else. Using this gap, Oregon has one of the smallest gaps in the nation, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The top 1 percent in Oregon averaged $810,196 in income, or 20 times more than the average of $40,314 for everyone else. The two methods for reducing inequality that currently are at the forefront of political discourse are raising taxes on high earners and raising the minimum wage for low-income workers. Oregon has less to gain from those approaches than many states because we already tax high income more aggressively and pay entry-level workers more than most states. Most economists agree that at some point raising taxes and the minimum wage ZRXOGEHFRXQWHUSURGXFWLYH²WKRXJK there is little agreement on exactly where that level is. Since Oregon starts DWDKLJKHUÀRRULWKDVOHVVKHDGURRPWR work with before reaching the ceiling. At one end of the spectrum, the bottom 20 percent of Portland workers earn 10 to 30 percent more than low earners nationwide. That’s at least in part because of the state’s $9.25 minimum hourly wage, which is second-highest in the nation. Those numbers could begin to shift as cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles raise their minimums to $15. None of this changes the reality that low-income households are struggling in Oregon, but it does suggest that changing tax rates and the minimum wage likely won’t be enough to reduce the suffering. OTHER VIEWS Great news! We’re not doomed I t really matters who the next hit. Second, the reduction in health president is. But there are other care cost growth seems to be global. things that matter just as much to Health cost growth has slowed in just the nation’s future prosperity. One of about every high-income country them is: What is happening to health VLQFHSRVVLEO\DVHI¿FLHQFLHVDUH care costs? passed from place to place. If health care costs start to rise Members of the Obama again the way they did before, then administration like to argue that health care spending will swallow the Obamacare has pushed things along. David economy and bankrupt the federal Brooks For example, the Affordable Care Act government. If they are contained, pushed providers into Accountable Comment then suddenly there’s a lot more Care Organizations. Instead of money for everything else, like getting paid for doing more tests and schools, antipoverty efforts and wages. procedures, providers have a greater incentive The good news is that recently health care to just keep people healthy. LQÀDWLRQKDVEHHQDWKLVWRULFORZV$V-DVRQ The law also encouraged bundling. If Furman, the chairman of President Obama’s you go in to get a hip replacement, the Council of Economic Advisers, put it in a government makes a single payment for all speech to the Hamilton services associated with Project last month, “Health that episode of care. The care prices have grown at law also penalizes hospitals an annual rate of 1.6 percent when patients have to since the Affordable Care be readmitted. There’s Act was enacted in March EHHQDVLJQL¿FDQWGURSLQ 2010, the slowest rate readmissions. IRUVXFKDSHULRGLQ¿YH There’s still a lot of decades, and those prices uncertainty about which have grown at an even side of the debate is right. slower 1.1 percent rate over The most recent numbers the 12 months ending in have indicated a scary surge August 2015.” in health care prices, and As a result of the VRPH¿UPVDUHSURMHFWLQJ slowdown in health care SHUFHQWLQÀDWLRQIRU LQÀDWLRQWKH&RQJUHVVLRQDO 2016. While parts of the %XGJHW2I¿FHNHHSV law reduce spending, other reducing its projections of parts may lead to more the future cost of federal health programs spending, especially as the industry gets more like Medicare. As of October, projections for concentrated. federal health care spending in the year 2020 And yet the weight of the evidence were $175 billion lower than the projections suggests that part of the change is permanent. made in August 2010. That would be a huge Moving away from the bad old fee-for- budget improvement. service system has got to be a good thing. The big question is whether these trends The greater pressures providers feel to reduce will continue. Many people believe that costs have got to be a good thing, at least KHDOWKFDUHLQÀDWLRQFDPHGRZQIRUHQWLUHO\ ¿VFDOO\ temporary reasons and that over the long run Last March, Jonathan Rauch wrote a report we’re still doomed. for the Brookings Institution, arguing that the One group in this camp emphasizes that health care market is more open to normal the economy went into the tank, so of course business model innovation than ever before. people went to the doctor less often. As The quality of health care data and analytics is history demonstrates, it can take up to six improving exponentially. Pressures to reduce years for a recession’s impact to work its way FRVWVDUHUDWFKHWLQJXS3UR¿WDEOHQLFKHVDUH through the system; then health care costs JURZLQJIRUHI¿FLHQF\LPSURYLQJSURGXFWV shoot up just as before. In the past, most innovation involved Another group emphasizes that health care improving quality of care at high cost. Rauch LQÀDWLRQLVGRZQEHFDXVHJHQHUDOLQÀDWLRQLV described many entrepreneurs who are GRZQDQGRQFHJHQHUDOLQÀDWLRQLVEDFNWR providing innovations that maintain current normal, health care costs will shoot upward. quality of care but at lower cost. A third group argues that we’ve recently We seem to be making at least some had a decline in technological innovation. incremental progress toward a structural Not many useful but costly new drugs or UHGXFWLRQLQKHDOWKFDUHLQÀDWLRQ0DQ\ machines have come on the market over the Americans are feeling gloomy about past few years, but if innovation resumes then accomplishing anything these days, but so will rising costs. progress is possible. We haven’t whipped But other experts say the reduction in KHDOWKFDUHLQÀDWLRQRUGHIHDWHGRXU KHDOWKFDUHLQÀDWLRQLVSDUWO\VWUXFWXUDODQG intractable budget issues. But the evidence therefore more longstanding. Some point out suggests we’re landing a few serious blows. WKDWKHDOWKFDUHLQÀDWLRQUHDOO\EHJDQWUHQGLQJ Ŷ downward in 2003 or 2004, during George W. David Brooks became a New York Times %XVK¶V¿UVWWHUPDQGORQJEHIRUHWKHUHFHVVLRQ Op-Ed columnist in September 2003. Some experts say the reduction in health care inflation is partly structural and therefore more longstanding. YOUR VIEWS City council against marijuana to get back at gas tax voters Stop the presses! Council distraught over gas tax failure. Prices surge anyway. Southwest Perkins residents contemplate moving homes to 300 block Southwest Second Street in a move to get relief from potholes. Council retaliates with nay vote on pot. Despite impassioned pleas from medical marijuana users the Pendleton City Council turned a deaf ear on medical marijuana, and refused to let voters decide the issue. Several council members were reported to KDYHVKRZQXSDWORFDOSODVWLFVXUJHRQ¶VRI¿FH to have noses reattached though this could not be substantiated by any reliable source. Rick Rohde Pendleton The EO doesn’t know what it’s talking about on EOTEC The East Oregonian’s editorial boot continually stubs its toe and misses the mark. Last week it criticized the Hermiston City Council for voting 8-0 to contribute $600,000 WR¿QLVK(DVWHUQ2UHJRQ7UDGHDQG(YHQW Center. Yesterday they pillared the Pendleton &LW\&RXQFLOIRUWU\LQJWR¿[3HQGOHWRQ¶V roads. Today’s editorial criticized the Umatilla County Commissioners for voting 2-0 to match Hermiston’s $600,000 contribution to EOTEC. The EO editorial board claims the county commissioners asked no questions VHHNLQJMXVWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHFRQWULEXWLRQ² although yesterday’s EO article about the meeting said four proponents explained the matter to the board for almost an hour. If the EO editorial board stepped down from its ivory tower and attended meetings related to EOTEC, or talked to someone involved with it, they would understand why these contributions were made, The EOTEC process has been going on for six years, with a county commissioner at almost every EOTEC meeting. Two of the commissioners have been involved in EOTEC for years and they know the score and aggressively voted for the measure. To my knowledge, not once has an EO editor or publisher attended an EOTEC meeting, a Hermiston City Council, or Umatilla County Commissioner meeting DERXW(27(&²QRUKDYHWKH\HYHUWDONHG to a single EOTEC board member about it. The EO group sends its revolving reporters WROLVWHQ²DQGUHSRUWEDFN7KHEO editorial board never gets it right. I have a solution to all the mistakes made by the Hermiston City Council, Pendleton City Council, Umatilla County Commissioner, and EOTEC Board: Turn over governance of these bodies to the EO publisher and editors and let them run these governments. Undoubtedly then all the correct decisions would be made. George Anderson, Hermiston