Trouble in the Evergreen State

By Bill Horton
3/13/05

Yesterday morning the wife and I were discussing
the economics of the Great State of Washington. A
discussion of that topic would not be complete without
of mention of agriculture and the Boeing Airplane
Company.

Washington has created itself one large problem.
The corporations in this state have been arm-twisted
into creating roads and various infrastructure
improvements to secure their presence. Eventually, as
in everything else, the slave becomes the master.

Tax "incentives" and other forms of compensation
have kept Boeing here but the state is in trouble and
liberals run it. Economics 101 pop quiz: what do
liberals do when they can no longer give money to the
bums on the street? I know, too easy! They raise
taxes!

Boeing has already moved their headquarters
from Seattle; it’s original home, to Chicago. The
labor market in Seattle is much more expensive than
say St. Louis Missouri, what will they do next? I am
getting a vision, the single highest paid union in the
state will be "collectively" unemployed, they will not
be able to strike against a company that will have cut
it’s losses and moved on. There is no sweet end of
year bonus when one has priced himself out of a job
and voted for the very people that want to chase the
industry that pays them out of the state!

Anyway, agriculture and the Department of Defense
employ good many folks here in Washington but there
are no more "Scoop" Jackson’s or Warren G. Magnuson’s
to be had. The extreme left owns Seattle. The
extreme left also drives the legislature so the very
industries that provide the sustaining cash flow for
the state are always the first targets of the folks in
charge! The lefties are out to wipe out farming and
heavy industry, i.e. Boeing, they inherently hate the
"military industrial machine" (a.k.a. The Defense of
Department and it’s contractors).
Farming is on the block because the folks in
Seattle want to ensure open land and make it as
pristine as it was 150 years ago. Sorry Charlie but
it was not likely as pristine as you idiots seem to
think, regardless, Washington farmers produce the food
that feeds much of the country and the world. That
creates jobs and provides revenue.
The farmers are the stewards of the land not the environmentalist
wacko that lives in his luxury apartment on 1st Avenue
in Seattle whose only "environmental" contact comes
when he or she walks out and allows his dog to take
care of business on a tree planted in the sidewalk!
Never the less, these are the very people that
are screaming so loudly to make sure folks in rural
King County cannot build on the land they own, and
they swarm in on other places to foist their ideals on
folks that are the backbone of the state.

Folks, Washington is in trouble. Tax and spend
is the order of the day here and the cash cows are
getting tired. Chase out agriculture and the land
will go bad with hippie communes. Chase out the
industries and there will be no more Boeings to build
your highways. Chase out the DoD and there goes your
second largest employer!

Washington is a beautiful state. Her residents
are as diverse as her scenery. Be warned though, if
the current trend continues Boeing, agriculture and
the Defense Department, which are the providers of
life to this state will be gone.

The bases alone are not the issue, though they
provide revenue to their respective communities, the
support complex, i.e. shipbuilding and aircraft
production provide many jobs. It seems odd to me to
watch liberals realize where their bread is buttered
and suddenly come on board to save bases rather than
force their closure to convert such bases to
"institutions of higher learning".
Perhaps there is yet hope for the Peoples Republic of Washington.