LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Market Reforms Shouldn't be Controversial

This Letter to the Editor was submitted by former Burien Resident, economist and educator, Gregory Rehmke.

[NOTE FROM EDITOR: Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Burien-News or Daniel Media.  If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please contact us.  We look forward to hearing from you.]

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Of course Seattle and suburbs prosper from the continued expansion of manufacturing with Boeing, PACCAR, other firms, large and small. Percent of jobs in manufacturing fell from 1980 to 2020, though value of goods increased (partly due to automation).

Mfg. by decade: https://ofm.wa.gov/washington-data-research/statewide-data/washington-trends/economic-trends/washington-and-us-wage-salary-manufacturing-employment/manufacturing-employment-percent-total 

But the huge increase in prosperity came from entrepreneurship and innovation, with firms like Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks and hundreds of others creating products and services valued around the world. Consumers in Burien, Washington, and nationwide benefit from much less expensive machine tools and thousands of other everyday goods now made in Asia.

People in China purchase hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods either made in the USA or designed and developed by US firms. The iPhone is the classic example. Taiwanese firm Foxconn earns $20 or so, goes to their Chinese workers for assembling each $800 iPhone. Most of the manufacturing costs go to dozens of companies who make the chips and subassemblies, and most of the income goes to Apple engineering and marketing, and profits to stockholders.

US manufacturing output had continued to expand over the last 30 years, though manufacturing employment has declined as automation technologies improved. Reducing state and local regulations restricting housing would enable more and less expensive housing to be built, for example. Dozens of state and national think tanks outline policy reforms that would improve the lives of everyday people. Washington Policy Center, Freedom Foundation, and Mountain State Policy Center are three. Cascade Policy Center in Portland.

Market reforms shouldn't be controversial.

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[NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please contact us.  Even if you wish to remain anonymous, please include your name and phone number so we may contact you privately.  We look forward to hearing from you.]

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