Nigel Jaquiss’ May 15 article about Gov. Tina Kotek’s Prosperity Council was as one-sided as the council itself. Made up of 14 business representatives and two labor representatives, there was no doubt that the results would be the same old talking points out of the Chamber of Commerce and business lobbyists.

The three paragraphs that briefly mention the input and remedies proposed by the two labor representatives did provide an important link to their report to the council: The High Road to Prosperity for All Oregonians, presented at the April meeting that rejected the council’s negative framing of the economy. Please read it!

The report contrasted the labor representatives’ findings, the “high road,” with the business representatives’ findings, the “low road”:

High road: High skills, high wages, high productivity, high innovation.

High road: Helping businesses be more productive and grow versus luring them in through tax breaks. Support quality education and training, great quality of life, predictable and efficient regulation (without surrendering health, safety and environmental goals).

Low road: Cut taxes, slash services, compete on cost with Alabama, India, Mexico.

The low road is a trap — it grows the economy temporarily but doesn’t improve lives; it undermines assets needed for long-run growth.

Think about it. As suggested in the high-road presentation, we need to amplify the support for quality of life to attract and retain talented workers (affordable housing, health care, child care, public transportation). Kotek’s charge to the council, “to accelerate Oregon’s economy,” is missing the main actors in the economy: consumers and labor. 

Twila Jacobsen
Eugene