About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2018)
5A OPINION ®he £ntics gainesvilletimes.com Monday, December 10, 2018 Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. LETTERS Republicans should return to party of George H.W. Bush The greatest honor this country can pay to the memory of George H.W. Bush would be to return the country to the civility that his life embodied. The country has just paid tribute to our 41st president — and some of us old enough to remember were reminded, and those too young to remember were shown, what our president should look like. I am not talking about what his politics were, or if he leaned conservative or liberal, or if his tory will record him as a good president or not so good. I am talking about how the man ran his life, how he treated family, how he served his country, how he showed respect to all, allies or opponents. He was truly someone who lived his life truly respecting the lives and opinions of all the people he governed. He certainly did not give everyone what they wanted, but he gave respect to their point of view. I know through some personal experiences with people who saw him when the cameras were off and no one was watching, he was the same person he appeared to be in the spotlight. He was open, friendly and respectful to all he encountered. The contrast from his time in office and where the country is now is startling. We now have a president who does not seem to respect anything but money and power. A president who only sees people as tools he can use to get what he wants, or enemies that need to be crushed. It is time for the Republican leaders to own up to what President Trump is and what he is doing to the country. President George H.W. Bush was a Republican; the party leaders need to return to the party that he represented. The voters need to also return to a country where a different opinion does not come from an enemy, just from another American who sees things from a different point of view. If our republic does not get back to the basic goodness, acceptance and compromise that got us here, our future and the future of our children and grandchildren may be in jeopardy. Tom Vivelo Flowery Branch To submit letters Send by email to letters@gainesvilletimes. com (no attached files) or use the contact form at gainesvilletimes.com. Include name, hometown and phone number; letters never appear anonymously. Letters are limited to one per writer in a month’s time on topics of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit of 500 words). Letters may be rejected from readers with no ties to Northeast Georgia or that address personal, business or legal disputes. Letters not the work of the author listed or with material not properly attributed will be rejected. Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters and other commentary express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times. Your government officials U.S. government President Donald Thimp, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500, 202-456-1111,202-456-1414, fax, 202-456- 2461; www.whitehouse.gov Sen. Johnny Isakson, 131 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224- 3643, fax, 202-228-0724; One Overton Park, 3625 Cumberland Blvd., Suite 970, Atlanta 30339, 770-661 -0999, fax, 770-661 -0768; isakson.senate.gov Sen. David Perdue, 383 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224- 3521, fax 202-228-1031; 3280 Peachtree Road NE Suite 2640, Atlanta 30303, 404-865-0087, fax 404-865-0311; perdue.senate.gov. D.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 1504 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515,202- 225-9893; 210 Washington St. NW, Suite 202, Gainesville 30501,770-297-3388; dougcollins. house.gov Georgia state government Gov. Nathan Deal, 203 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334; 404-656-1776; www.gov.georgia.gov Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, 240 State Capitol, Atlanta 30334,404-656-5030; www.ltgov.ga.gov Gainesville city government City Council, 300 Henry Ward Way, Suite 303 P.O. Box 2496, Gainesville 30501,770-535-6860, www.gainesville.org, citycouncil@gainesville. org. Mayor Danny Dunagan, 770-718-7877. Council members Barbara B. Brooks, 678- 858-0305; Ruth Bruner,770-532-7207; Sam Couvillon, 678-316-9711; Zack Thompson, 770- 534-0041; George Wangemann, 770-534-5861 City Manager, Bryan Lackey, 770-535-6865 Hall County government Board of Commissioners, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, P.O. Drawer 1435, Gainesville 30503, 770-535-8288, www.hallcounty.org. Chairman Richard Higgins, rhiggins@hallcounty. org; District 1, Kathy Cooper, kcooper@ hallcounty.org; District 2, Billy Powell, bpowell@ hallcounty.org; District 3, Scott Gibbs, sgibbs@ hallcounty.org; District 4, Jeff Stowe, jstowe@ hallcounty.org. County Administrator, Jock Connell, jconnell@ hallcounty.org Planning Commission, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, 770-531-6809. Parks and Leisure Services, Director Mike Little, 4175 Nopone Road, Gainesville, 770-531 -8280, mlittle@hallcounty.org Library System, 127 Main St., Gainesville, 770- 532-3311, circdesk@hallcountylibrary.org Huawei reveals real trade war BY NOAH SMITH Bloomberg News If you only scan the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking that the U.S.-China trade war is mainly about tariffs. After all, the president and trade- warrior-in-chief has called himself “Tar iff Man.” And the tentative trade deal between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was mainly about tariffs, especially on items like automobiles. But the startling arrest in Canada of a Chinese telecom company executive should wake people up to the fact that there’s a second U.S.-China trade war going on — a much more stealthy con flict, fought with weapons much subtler and more devastating than tariffs. And the prize in that other struggle is domi nation of the information-technology industry. The arrested executive, Wanzhou Meng, is the chief financial officer of telecom-equipment manufacturer Hua wei Technologies Co. (and its founder’s daughter). The official reason for her arrest is that Huawei is suspected of sell ing technology to Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions. It’s the second big Chinese tech company to be accused of breach ing those sanctions — the first was ZTE Corp. in 2017. The U.S. punished ZTE by forbidding it from buying American components — most importantly, tele com chips made by U.S.-based Qual comm Inc. Those purchasing restrictions were eventually lifted after ZTE agreed to pay a fine, and it seems certain that Huawei will also eventually escape severe pun ishment. But these episodes highlight Chinese companies’ dependence on critical U.S. technology. The U.S. still makes — or at least, designs — the best computer chips in the world. China assembles lots of electronics, but without those crucial inputs of U.S. technology, products made by companies such as Huawei would be of much lower-quality. Export restrictions, and threats of restrictions, are thus probably not just about sanctions — they’re about making life harder for the main competitors of U.S. tech companies. Huawei just passed Apple Inc. to become the world’s second- largest smartphone maker by market share (Samsung Electronics Co. is first). This marks a change for China, whose companies have long been stuck doing low-value assembly while companies in rich countries do the high-value design, marketing and component manufactur ing. U.S. moves against Huawei and ZTE may be intended to force China to remain a cheap supplier instead of a threatening competitor. The subtle, far-sighted nature of this approach suggests that the impetus for the high-tech trade war goes far beyond what Trump, with his focus on tariffs and old-line manufacturing industries, would think of. It seems likely that U.S. tech companies, as well as the military intel ligence communities, are influencing policy here as well. In fact, more systematic efforts to block Chinese access to U.S. components are in the works. The Export Control Reform Act, passed this summer, increased regulatory oversight of U.S. exports of “emerging” and “founda tional” technologies deemed to have national-security importance. Although national security is certainly a concern, it’s generally hard to separate high-tech industrial and corporate dominance from military dominance, so this too should be seen as part of the trade war. A second weapon in the high-tech trade war is investment restrictions. The Trump administration has greatly expanded its power to block Chinese investments in U.S. technology compa nies, through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS has already canceled a bunch of Chinese deals: The goal of investment restrictions is to prevent Chinese companies from copying or stealing American ideas and technologies. Chinese companies can buy American companies and transfer their intellectual property overseas, or have their employees train their Chinese replacements. Even minority stakes can allow a Chinese investor access to indus trial secrets that would otherwise be off- limits. By blocking these investors, the Trump administration hopes to preserve U.S. technological dominance, at least for a little while longer. Notably, the European Union is also moving to restrict Chinese investments. The fact that Europe, which has opposed Trump’s tariffs, is copying American investment restrictions, should be a signal that the less-publicized high-tech trade war is actually the important one. The high-tech trade war shows that for all the hoopla over manufacturing jobs, steel, autos and tariffs, the real competi tion is in the tech sector. Losing the lead in the global technology race means lower profits and a disappearing military advantage. But it also means losing the powerful knowledge-industry clustering effects that have been an engine of U.S. economic growth in the post-manufactur ing age. Bluntly put, the U.S. can afford to lose its lead in furniture manufactur ing; it can’t afford to lose its dominance in the tech sector. The Trump administration’s recent moves against Chinese tech — and some similar moves by the EU — should be seen as the first shots in a long war. "And you can trust what we say, folks. It's not like we 're making political promises!" JIM POWELL I For The Times Health care merger a poison pill BY ANTHONY GALACE Tribune News Service Big corporations often tout their merg ers as promoting efficiency and helping consumers, but too often the public ends up with fewer choices and higher prices. That seems likely to happen again with the latest health care megamerger. CVS Health and Aetna Inc. recently finalized a $70 million merger, combin ing one of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains with one of its largest insurers. The companies promise a new and inno vative form of health care, with cheaper medication and shorter wait times. But even though the deal has won approval from the U.S. Justice Depart ment and 28 state regulators, physicians, patients, economists, and advocates aren’t buying it. The American Medical Association, American Antitrust Institute and leading economists across the coun try warn that this merger will do nothing to curb rising prescription drug costs, stagnating health coverage rates or dete riorating quality of care. In fact, they say it may worsen health care disparities between disadvan taged communities and more affluent populations. CVS’s newfound power could signifi cantly reduce competition by driving independent pharmacies out of busi ness and forcing other large pharmacy chains to consolidate — driving up prices and increasing premiums and out-of- pocket costs for seniors and low-income patients. Furthermore, this merger will likely force patients with health coverage through Aetna to purchase their medica tion from a CVS pharmacy, taking away their right to choose. Earlier this year, testifying before the California Department of Insurance, CVS claimed that its acquisition of Aetna would result in “efficiencies” (read: savings/profits) worth $750 million per year, allegedly by streamlining adminis trative expenses and negotiating better prices with pharmaceutical companies. But when asked at the hearing I attended whether these savings would be passed along to patients, CVS was mum. The company’s rep also could not say how it planned to make medication more accessible to low-income and under served communities, especially those located far from a hospital or clinic. We also asked whether they would expand their contracting with minority- owned businesses, diversify their gov erning board and senior executives, and add stores in low-income neighborhoods. Their response: Ask us after our merger. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Jus tice under the Obama administration blocked two high profile health insur ance mega-mergers — between Aetna (yes, the same one) and Humana, and Anthem and Cigna. Both would have obliterated competition in insurance, giving patients and providers across the country little choice but to accept their prices and payments. These merg ers would have likely priced many low-income Americans out of health coverage. In retaliation for blocking their merger, Aetna pulled out of the Afford able Care Act exchanges entirely, aban doning thousands of patients. Now they expect us to believe they’ll do better. Color us skeptical. All this comes on the heels of another recently approved merger between another large pharmacy chain and health insurer — Express Scripts and Cigna. Given the growing trend of consoli dation among health care companies, expect these companies to continue to sell the same old story that has never come true: Give us more power, and we’ll be better, we promise. Advocates and regulators shouldn’t buy such promises. Anthony Galace is health equity director at The Greenlining Institute, based in Oakland, California. This column was written for the Progressive Media Project, affiliated with The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service. She Srtucs Founded Jan.26,1947 345 Green St., Gainesville, GA 30501 gainesvilletimes.com EDITORIAL BOARD General Manager Editor in Chief Norman Baggs Shannon Casas
