[Vision2020] Aug. 10, 2011 Moscow-Pullman Daily News: Schweitzer said lowering the minimum wage is a good idea

[Ted Moffett]

Of course Schweitzer provides jobs and an economic boost to the Palouse, and
gives back to the community, as evidenced by the United Way support:
http://www.moscowlatahuw.org/docs/annual%20report%202010final.pdf But
lowering the minimum wage is a good idea?  Since the great recession
an expanding percentage of the US work force is defined as working poor (
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/policybrief-winter2011.pdf ), and
would lowering the minimum wage make this situation worse?  Maybe he was
misquoted.
*Also, Schweitzer comments that "you can't fool the laws of physics even for
an instant" regarding fuel economy for vehicles.  Yet, in his critical
comments on the costs of the EPA regulation of CO2 emissions, does he imply
we should ignore the laws of physics regarding the radiative forcing of
human sourced atmospheric CO2 emissions raising Earth's temperature into the
range of "dangerous anthropogenic interference," to quote from a Proceedings
of of the National Academy of Sciences article I recommend everyone read: **
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full*<http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full>
*  August 31, 2009:  "Reducing abrupt climate change risk using the Montreal
Protocol and other regulatory actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions" A
short quote from the article: The potential consequences associated with
these tipping points may be largely irreversible and unmanageable
(**10*<http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full#ref-10>
*) and include widespread loss of biodiversity, meters of sea level rise,
and famine, which could lead to political instability
(**9*<http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full#ref-9>
*, **11* <http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full#ref-11>*). In a
worst-case scenario, climate change could produce runaway feedbacks, such as
methane release from permafrost
(**12*<http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20616.full#ref-12>
*). *
*-----------------------------------------------------------*
Schweitzer: Too much regulation can cause harm
http://seekingalpha.com/news-article/1623287-schweitzer-too-much-regulation-can-cause-harm
 Wed August 10, 2011 10:02 AM


Aug. 10--If lawmakers back off unnecessary regulations, the economy could
take an upward turn, Ed Schweitzer said Tuesday at a Pullman Chamber of
Commerce luncheon.

However, he not only offered criticism of government rules, but also
exhortations to fellow businessmen to believe in America and invest in it,
as he is doing with major expansion of Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories.

"Duke Energy (DUK <http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/duk>) reported that the
carbon dioxide limits that the Environmental Protection Agency put into
regulation is going to cost them $2 billion to $5 billion dollars,"
Schweitzer said. "Just for one utility of the United States providing people
electricity. Who's going to pay that? Well, who here plugs something in?"

Schweitzer, founder and president of SEL, said regulations for some
gas-efficient cars can also make a negative impact.

"It sounds good to make cars that use less gas, but you can't fool the laws
of physics even for an instant, and you can only fool the laws of economics
for a short time," he said. "As you know we're pushing a ... 56-mile a
gallon limit. ... There's estimates that that will kill 200,000 jobs and
leave us with cars we don't want."

An important step in fixing the economy, Schweitzer said, is inventing new
things, taking them to market and competing to serve customers. In addition,
he said, there should be an elimination of all the government activities
that "just plain don't work."

"Invent your future," he said. "Make it, do it, sell it, improve it ... and
once people stop looking at the capitol dome as the top of an ATM machine,
then we're going to get back on track."

Schweitzer said lowering the minimum wage is a good idea, as well as
encouraging construction of pending building permits at Pullman City Hall.

SEL itself is moving forward with both construction and production, he said.
New SEL facilities have been and are being constructed in efforts to expand
services. A facility in Lewiston will be up and running by Oct. 1 and a
90,000 square foot Solution Delivery Center being built in Pullman will be
finished by mid-November. In addition, a 68,500 square foot SEL facility
recently was constructed in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for exporting equipment
to countries all over the world.

"A few months ago we decided we were really going to step on the gas. And
why?" he asked. "We decided we're going to do it because we think the
country's going to get it right. We really believe in America."

So far, Schweitzer said, the San Luis Potosi facility has distributed to
about 30 countries, and over time Pullman has distributed to more than 140
countries around the world.

"SEL and other people are finding now is a good time to build, and this is
something we can do right here at home," he said. "We need the space, so
we're building, and right now construction costs are low. We're doing it at
about 25 to 30 percent lower than last time we built something ... and it's
a good time to hire people -- folks want to work."

SEL employs about 2,500 people worldwide, the majority of them on the
Palouse.

Kelli Hadley can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by email to
khadley at dnews.com.

___

To see more of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News or to subscribe to the
newspaper, go to http://www.dnews.com.

Copyright (c) 2011, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune
Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail
services at mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United
States, call +1 312-222-4544)

------------------------------------------

Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20110810/36bb91b8/attachment.html