Poverty: No easy answer to dilemma
Sunday, May 20, 2001 10:00 PM PDT
Shannon Filonczuk
For the last 20 years, Malheur County has had one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. The trend, according to Jason Yohannan, Oregon Employment Department Eastern Oregon Economist, looks to be continuing. Yohannan said the most recent data indicates employment is up and pay per job is up, but Malheur County is still behind other Eastern Oregon counties, the state and the nation. It would appear, Yohannan said, that Malheur County's economy has room for improvement. How to implement the needed improvements, though, depends on who one talks to. Tax relief for the poor, diversification of the economy, support for agriculture and educational opportunities are all proposals made by economists and representatives to stimulate economic growth and remove local residents from poverty. Tax Relief "Oregon penalizes the poor," Dist. 60 Rep. Tom Butler, said. "Our system continues to tax those people." Butler said tax relief for the poor is needed because he believes poor people are paying too high of a tax rate. Butler said he believes the income tax should be decreased and senior and disabled tax credits should be increased. "It is one way we can leave more money for those folks to get out of poverty," Butler said. "Sensible tax relief, real relief, fast relief," Josh Kardon, Sen. Ron Wyden's chief of staff, said. Kardon said Wyden would like to see tax relief that returns the federal surplus to working families where the need is greatest. Economic Diversification And Agriculture "We are a largely agricultural community ... agriculture has suffered for many, many years," Butler said. One of the primary economic problems in Malheur County, Butler said, is the agricultural economy and its dependent occupations have been in a long downturn. This slide in the agricultural section, impacts a large portion of Malheur County, Butler said. Yohannan said the Malheur County economy needs diversification so that one industry such as agriculture does not dictate the economy. Economy and politics of poverty Dist. 30 State Rep. Steve Harper believes diversification would help the local economy. Harper said dairy jobs, food processing jobs and telecommunication jobs are some of the areas which should be pursued. "If you don't have a developing, vibrant economy, then we're all pretty well stuck," Harper said. Getting from Point A to Point B, though, is not easy. "It's a very difficult situation," Art Ayer, Oregon State Employment Economist, said. Ayer's job is to look over the economy of Oregon as a whole. In reflection, he said Eastern Oregon's economy is not doing well, and has not done well for more than 20 years. The 1980s saw a reduction in forest products and now the agricultural community is also doing poorly, Ayer said. Those two industries comprise a major part of the Eastern Oregon economy, Ayer said. Sen. Gordon Smith heaps a heavy amount of blame for the sad state of affairs in the timber and agricultural communities on Washington, D.C. "Frankly, I think a lot can be done," Smith said. "First thing we need to do is admit that Washington for the last eight years has been at war with rural America." Land-use laws that prohibit, cost and constrain the agriculture community, Smith believes, have been part of the reason agriculture production costs have been on the rise. "Natural resource policies that do not make room for rural people will produce rural poverty, as surely as the night follows the day," Smith said. Other conditions that raised production prices not under farmers control include rising fuel, energy, labor and supply costs, Butler said. "There is no silver bullet here," Jim Cornelius, agricultural economist at Oregon State University, said. SUPPLY VS. DEMAND Cornelius agreed that a contributing factor to agricultural woes is the increase of imports while U.S. exports have slowed. Subsidized agriculture production in foreign countries and lower wages for laborers, makes for cheap food in the U.S. markets, Cornelius said. Cornelius said nationwide, this countries farmers are overproducing crops such as corn and wheat, driving market prices down. Eventually, Cornelius said, the large supplies of corn and wheat will drive producers to shun them and plant other crops, causing everyone else's products to be overproduced as well. We don't know how it will play out totally. The real low prices will not prevail forever. You may not be looking at an indefinite time of being at a disadvantage," Cornelius said. The beef industry, on the other hand, is doing well, Cornelius said. The beef industry is doing well because it has recognized the benefits of product differentiation marketing, Cornelius said. The rest of the agriculture could follow suit and focus on the quality, safety and dependability of local agricultural crop products, Cornelius said, and see economic benefits, he challenged. "American farmers have the gold standard," Kardon said of the quality, safety and environmental protection of national agriculture production. Country of origin labeling, Kardon said, would also help keep local produce competitive. "Domestic agriculture products should compete well if consumers are given full information on their shelves," Kardon said. Another tool for helping the local economy and removing people from poverty would be improving the local schools and colleges, Kardon and Harper said. Teachers are asked to teach a variety of subjects in the rural areas, Kardon said, and the extra teaching demands limit teacher effectiveness. Kardon said local teachers need federal fund support so that they can receive training outside of their main subject areas. Kardon also said distance learning, computer technology, and help for students who are falling behind, would be beneficial to local schools. "They get better paying jobs and get training and do better for their whole family," Harper said.
