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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Tuesday, March 27, 2018 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Trump has torn down trade deals, but hasn’t rebuilt President Trump has been busy in recent months fulfilling campaign promises on trade, which might be a good thing for farmers and ranchers if he were fulfilling all of his promises on trade. One of Trump’s favorite campaign riffs was on trade, or more specifically how the United States in general and American workers and businesses in particular were being beat up by our trading partners. “We don’t make good deals any more. I say it all the time in speeches. We don’t make good deals anymore; we make bad deals. Our trade deals are a disaster.” Candidate Trump said Mexico and Canada were getting much more from the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement than they were giving. He promised to reopen negotiations and make a better deal. President Trump reopened talks on NAFTA with Canada and Mexico. So far there’s no new deal, better or worse. Canada and Mexico are, respectively, the second- and third-largest importers of U.S. agricultural goods. They account for about $41 billion in ag exports. Farmers are understandably nervous. Do they want a better deal? Yeah. Can they afford to have no deal? No. Trump promised to reopen talks on NAFTA and get a better deal. So far he’s delivered half. As a candidate Trump liked to talk about how foreign steel and aluminum makers were unfairly dumping under-priced goods in the U.S., hurting American steel workers. Earlier this month President Trump threatened to increase tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. That made steel workers happy, but farmers are left worried that their products will bear the brunt of any retaliatory measures steel-exporting countries place on the U.S. Then there’s the Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. farmers had a big AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Friday in Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to Palm Beach International Airport, in West Palm Beach, Fla. stake in the multi-lateral trade pact with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. But it wasn’t very popular during the campaign. Bernie Sanders said TPP was a “global race to the bottom” to boost corporate profits. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton called TPP the “gold standard” of trade pacts, but candidate Clinton said that when she read the final text she couldn’t support it. Donald Trump said the deal undercut American workers and companies. All three said they’d walk away from the deal. Trump won, walked away from the deal and said he’d negotiate better bilateral treaties with our biggest trading partners. Last week the remaining 11 partners signed the TPP, sans many of the provisions insisted upon by U.S. negotiators and the U.S. itself. No word on any new bilateral agreements with countries that buy the bulk of farm exports from the Pacific Northwest. U.S. farmers export $135 billion in products each year. They have a lot riding on trade. Having walked away from “bad” trade deals, it’s time for Trump to fulfill the other half of his promises and replace them with treaties that serve the interests of U.S. farmers and ranchers. OTHER VIEWS The growing college graduation gap irst, some good news: In average inflation-adjusted wage of recent decades, students from workers with some college credit modest backgrounds have but no degree has actually fallen, flooded onto college campuses. At by 2 percent, according to a recent many high schools where going to report by the Economic Policy college was once exotic, it’s now Institute. The average wage of normal. When I visit these high college graduates is up 6 percent. schools, I see college pennants all There are surely multiple over the hallways, intended to send reasons the college-graduation David a message: College is for you, too. Leonhardt gap is growing. For one thing, And thank goodness for that neighborhoods have become Comment message. As regular readers of this more economically segregated, column have heard before, college which probably increases gaps in can bring enormous benefits, including less the quality of K-12 schools — and, by unemployment, higher wages, better long- extension, academic preparation. Many term health and higher life satisfaction. colleges that serve poor and middle-class Now for the bad news: The college- students have also suffered cuts in state graduation rate for these poorer students is funding. And tuition has risen. abysmal. It’s abysmal even though many Whatever the causes, the gap makes the of them are talented teenagers capable of United States a less fair country. Thousands graduating. Yet they often attend colleges of students who work hard, overcome tough with few resources or colleges that simply neighborhoods or family situations and do do a bad job of shepherding students well in school are nonetheless falling by the through a course of study. wayside. They’re not failing so much as the The result is both counterintuitive and rest of society is failing them. alarming. Even as the college-attendance Doing right by them would require a lot gap between rich and poor has shrunk, the of changes, in tax policy, housing policy gap in the number of rich and poor college and other areas. The Trump administration graduates has grown. That shouldn’t be clearly has no interest in these changes. happening. Instead, it’s pushing an agenda that will The surge in poorer students going worsen inequality. to college hasn’t led to any meaningful But improving college graduation rates change in the number of college graduates does not, for the most part, depend on the from poorer backgrounds. Among children federal government. It’s an area where born to low-wealth families in the 1970s, people who want to help fix our economy 11.3 percent went on to earn a bachelor’s — people in the nonprofit sector, in state degree. Among the same category of and local government and, obviously, on children born in the 1980s, only 11.8 college campuses — can play a meaningful percent did. role. The picture is very different for people Some colleges have started to make who grew up in the wealthiest one-fifth of impressive changes. Georgia State has families, according to the study, by Fabian raised its six-year graduation rate sharply. Pfeffer of the University of Michigan. A network of 11 universities, including The number going to college fell slightly Kansas, Michigan State and the University over the same time period (which may just of California, Riverside, are working be statistical noise, given how high their together — imagine that — to share attendance rates already were). But many student-success strategies. In New York, more of them emerged with degrees. community colleges in the CUNY network This growing gap has big consequences, have created a program that nearly doubled because the benefits of college come largely graduation rates. I’m convinced that the college- from graduating, not merely attending some classes. Graduation allows students to graduation problem is one of the big barriers to economic mobility — and complete a program and be prepared for a job. Graduation has intangible benefits, too. yet also one on which we can make real progress. In the coming months, I will You can think of college as adulthood’s be telling some of the unknown success first obstacle course. People who complete stories in higher education. I’ll also look at it learn how to overcome other obstacles campuses that should be doing better. as they go through life. People who don’t There are few things I find more finish suffer a blow to their confidence. inspiring than listening to teenagers from They also typically have to repay college difficult backgrounds talk about their debt without the extra earning power of a future, usually with optimism and ambition. degree. It’s the worst of both worlds. The rest of us owe them a little urgency. If anything, the consequences of failing ■ to complete college seem to be increasing, David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist as the economy becomes ever more for The New York Times. technologically advanced. Since 2000, the F YOUR VIEWS President Trump’s silence speaks volumes I think President Donald Trump’s decision to take refuge at his Florida resort while hundreds of thousands of students marched on Washington speaks volumes about the person he is and his presidency. Rather than stay in Washington to at least display deserved respect to the student organizers of the march, Trump chose once again to exemplify that when it comes to the important matters before our nation, the priority he’s most concerned with is himself. Nevertheless, one of the student speakers at the march — Emma Gonzalez — astutely summed up what must become a priority for our nation, when she movingly concluded her remarks with the words “Fight for your lives, before it’s someone else’s job.” Indeed, Emma — very much so. And on so many other important fronts which Trump — dangerously — shows such little if any genuine concern about, let alone even a faint understanding that rings true. Les Ruark Arlington Unadoptable wild horses should be slaughtered Your story about the teenager taking a mustang from wild to mild was truly inspiring. The responsibilities of rearing and training this horse for eventual adoption was in the words of the girl’s mother a Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. win-win-win. The article also states there are unadoptable horses rotting in corrals at containment centers. There are over 45,000 of these horses costing us over $50 million in taxpayers dollars per year. I don’t think rotting is a good choice of words for this lose-lose-lose situation. I have long advocated these unadoptable horses be slaughtered and the meat be provided to poor families. Spending $1,000 per year per horse to be held until they die, often more than 10 years, while poor families cannot provide their children a nutritious meal is abhorrent. Nutritional analysis of horse meat has shown it to be more nutritious than beef The 72,000 horses roaming BLM lands, mentioned in the article, exceeds the 27,000 animals range scientists advocate for good range health. The herd is continuing to increase at 15 to 20 percent per year. Removal of animals for adoption and for programs like the one these kids are involved in should be a priority. The $100 fee should be waived. After all, they would be saving the government $1,000 per year. Those animals not suitable for adoption should be slaughtered and the meat provided first to poor families. If there are not enough poor families, the meat should be offered to the general public interested in a healthy, nutritious, lean source of protein. This could be a real win-win-win. Carlisle Harrison Hermiston 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. 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.