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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, August 20, 2016 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 The village’s response to tragedy It takes a village to raise his endeavors, are equally shattered. a child, to teach and watch Both teens were well- over a child. And a village loved and still are. And mourns when it loses a many who didn’t know child. them personally have We’re reminded this shared in their grief. week that Hermiston and We love living in close- Stanield are irst and knit communities, and it’s foremost villages. And they a comfort to know our are in mourning after losing Campana neighbors. That’s also why two of their own. We’re all it’s so painful, so deeply mourning. heartbreaking, to lose one. Raychel Campana, We’re also reminded by a 17-year-old Stanield this tragedy just how much Secondary School graduate, a part of our community died Monday in the hospital our police departments and after a car crash on the school districts are. The highway near Walla Walla. oficers and dispatchers James “JJ” Hurtado, and teachers and a 14-year-old incoming administrators are members freshman at Hermiston Hurtado of the community, as are High School, was killed the nurses, doctors and surgeons Thursday morning, apparently at at the hospital, the co-workers at the hands of a man who went on beauty salons, the parishioners in to shoot the boy’s mother and kill the churches and another man before the reporters at the turning the gun on himself. Both teens were newspaper. No one home at the end Raychel’s family well-loved and goes of the day and leaves and friends held a the pain behind. candlelight vigil still are. But it is the love Wednesday at the of the community Stanield track, a that holds these families in times of somber and powerful tribute to the young woman who hoped to one day grief. That pain has a purpose. It’s what makes a village better than a become a pediatric nurse. metropolis. We know, around every JJ’s family is still reeling. The dark corner, we have people who teen was a wrestler and just on the care for us. verge of beginning his high school We will miss Raychel and JJ and career on one of the best teams in help carry their families through this the state. Those who cheered him dark time. on through middle school, in all 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. YOUR VIEWS Country’s current troubles due to anti-union policies During the past few weeks political rhetoric has ramped up to a nearly unprecedented level. With hubris and hyperbole lowing freely, the fact checkers will be kept busy. There is one thing, however, with which they shouldn’t have any trouble: History didn’t begin at 12:01 a.m. this morning, nor last month, nor on January 20, 2009 (Obama’s inauguration). After World War II, when I entered the labor force full-time, jobs were plentiful and the pay was decent, thanks to passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. That, along with increasing union membership and an expanding economy, helped to built a pretty solid and secure middle class in most of the country. Over the next two or three decades businesses made money, too, especially some with cost-plus contracts with the U.S. government that coasted beyond the war years. In that same period the ratio of top business management pay was 20-30 times that of most rank-and-ile employees. Today that ratio, according to some sources, may range from 200-300 times as much. Ironically, over the last 30-40 years, many workers have voted to send people to Washington, D.C., who have pretty well succeeded in circumventing, if not actually gutting, the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, half the state legislatures (Wisconsin is the 25th) have passed laws called “right to work.” How sweet to have the right to work an unnecessary schedule, or two, in Idaho or Mississippi. This grand “right to work” movement has been dubbed “right to scrounge.” Locally, with regard to Ballot Measure 97, it wasn’t too long ago (within historical bounds) that corporate taxes accounted for a considerably larger share of the state’s revenue than they do today. The minimum wage increase that took effect July 1 won’t be kind to some small businesses. They will be squeezed from below and above, as well as by competition from across the street and down the road, and especially from businesses that employ a strip-mining business model. Although the increase is set to be implemented incrementally, still it has drawn concerted local opposition. As Matt Henry said in his letter of a few weeks ago, those who oppose minimum wages growing into living wages aren’t themselves struggling to make ends meet. OTHER VIEWS Is U.S. as great as U.S. athletes are? essimism has lavored this the world’s currency. The Food and Drug Administration is the benchmark election campaign. America is for medical standards. The American in decline. The country is on the patent system is the most important in wrong track. We’re getting our clocks the world. cleaned in global trade deals. We’re Nine of Forbes’ 10 most valuable still suffering from the humiliation of brands are American (Apple, Google, Iraq. IBM and so on). The U.S. is the The share of Americans who say leading energy producer. We have that democracy is a “fairly bad” or David “very bad” system of government Brooks 15 (at least!) of the world’s top 20 universities, while Hollywood is as is rising sharply. A quarter of young Comment dominant as ever. Americans feel that way, according America is also quite good at to data drawn from the World Values change. The median age in the U.S. is 37.8, Survey. A majority of young Americans compared with 46.5 for both Germany and believe that the United States should stay out Japan. The newer a technology of world affairs, according to is the more the U.S. is likely to a Chicago Council on Global dominate it — whether it’s the Affairs report. cloud or the sharing economy. Yet when you watch According to The Economist, the Olympics, we don’t 91 percent of online searches seem like some sad-sack are done through American country in terminal decline. companies’ services, and 99 If anything, the coverage percent of smartphones run gets a little boring because on American-made operating we’re always winning! systems. And the winners have such Some American industries amazingly American stories have declined, but others and personality types (Biles, are rising. American fund Ledecky, and, yes, Lochte). managers handle 55 percent of American Olympic the world’s assets. American performance has been businesses host 61 percent of astoundingly consistent over the world’s social media users. the recent decades. With rare On the campaign circuit, global trade is exceptions, we can be counted on to win portrayed as this great national disaster. We’re between 101 and 110 medals Olympiad after being destroyed by foreigners! The Trans- Olympiad. The 2016 team seems on pace to Paciic Partnership was the central dominating win at least that many. boogeyman at the Democratic National We’re not great when measured by medals Convention, especially among people who per capita (New Zealand, Denmark, Hungary, have no clue what’s in it. Australia and Britain are the big winners In fact, America succeeds in global trade there), but America does have more medals about as well as at the Olympics. We rank than any other nation in history, and that lead third, behind Switzerland and Singapore, is widening. Moreover, America doesn’t win because we in global competitive rankings put out by have better athletes (talent must be distributed the World Economic Forum. When trade is leveled by international agreements, American equally). America does well because it has irms take advantage and win customers. such great systems for preparing athletes. As Robert B. Zoellick noted recently in The Medals are won by institutions as much as by individuals. The Germans have a great system Wall Street Journal, in the irst ive years after for training kayakers, equestrians and throwers the U.S. has concluded free-trade agreements, — the discus or javelin. The U.S. has amazing the country’s exports to those places have risen three times faster than overall export institutions to prepare jumpers, swimmers, growth. basketball players, gymnasts, runners and Over the past ive years, Zoellick wrote, decathletes. the U.S. has run a $320 billion trade surplus The big question is: Is the greatness of in manufactured goods with its free-trade America’s sports institutions relective of the partners. The country’s farmers and ranchers country’s strong institutions generally, or is it boosted exports to free-trade partners by 130 more like the Soviet Union’s sports greatness, percent between 2003 and 2013. a Potemkin show masking national rot? In one important way sports is not like Well, if you step outside the pall of economics. In Rio there are only three medals the angry campaign rhetoric, you see in each event. Global trade is not zero-sum. that America’s institutions are generally It spreads vast beneits across societies, while quite strong. Over the past decades, some undeniably hurting some businesses in narrow developing countries, like Brazil, India ields along the way. and China, posted glitzy economic growth Of course, we have to take care of those numbers. But those countries are now all being hampered by institutional weakness and who are hurt, but the biggest threat now is unmerited pessimism itself, and the stupid and growth is plummeting. fearful choices that inevitably low from it. But America’s economic success is like ■ our Olympic success, writ large. The nation’s David Brooks became a New York Times troubles are evident, but our country has sound Op-Ed columnist in September 2003. fundamentals. The American dollar is by far P American Olympic performance has been astoundingly consistent over the recent decades. Harvey Foreman Pendleton Demand truth and honesty from all our politicians What has happened with our politicians in America today? Every day, when I turn on the TV, I ask myself, “What will be the new scandal?” Recently I ran across a quote I feel its the questionable trust and honesty of our politicians, both state and national. It refers to men, but could just as readily refer to women. “The greatest want of the world is the want of men — men who will not be bought or sold, men who, in their inmost souls, are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” — Ellen G. White Let’s strive to make this our standard, at least here in Eastern Oregon, when dealing with each other. Al Olson, Pendleton 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 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.