Month: June 2018

Whirlpool’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Maytag, a storied Iowa brand of home appliances, offers a fascinating window into international trade and tariffs. At the time of the 2006 deal, Whirlpool was the largest appliance maker in the United States. Maytag was its biggest competitor. Together, they built about half of all washing machines sold in the U.S. Federal regulators worried about their new dominance, but the company said foreign competition, primarily from South Korea’s Samsung and LG, would keep Whirlpool’s market clout in check. That certainly occurred. Samsung and LG have outmaneuvered Whirlpool for laundry equipment sales since 2006, building […]

The school year is finished, but whether we like it or not, Iowans have been sent to summer school this year. The subject for our summer education: the economics of foreign trade and tariffs. Professor Donald Trump assured us this would be really simple to master and wouldn’t take very long. But Iowa farmers and the owners and managers of many businesses are now realizing the professor might need to brush up on the subject material before he teaches more lessons. The president’s tariffs have been imposed on goods produced by many of our overseas trading partners for sale to […]

Robert Leonard recently spoke with the Polk County Democrats about his experience with reporting about rural Iowa. An occasional New York Times contributor, Leonard explains how candidates of either party should better reach out to local press. Now that the Iowa state party conventions are over, the next stage of campaigning for elective office begins. Congratulations to all successful candidates of both parties as you seek to communicate to your existing or potential constituencies why you and your party offer the best vision to help move Iowa and our nation forward. To those of you who tried and fell short, thank […]

It appears that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got exactly what his father and grandfather never could. President Trump elevated Kim, North Korea’s ruthless dictator, to a position on the world stage equivalent to the President of the United States. Posing in front of equal numbers of matched U.S. and North Korean flags gave this rogue and isolated nation a status reserved for our closest allies. Trump’s gushing praise of Kim, the leader of one of the most repressive authoritarian regimes in the world, is disgusting. Trump described Kim in the most charming terms. “He’s got a very good […]

This coming Saturday, June 16, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) State Convention will ratify the 2018 platform. The draft platform represents balanced progressive Democratic positions on hundreds of issues hammered out by hundreds of activists over several weeks. It’s critical that the convention retain that balance and prevent the insertion of any extremist poison pills. We expect that by embracing our platform it will enhance rather than harm our Democratic candidates or elected officials. Recall the shock and negative fallout resulting from the poison pill resolution inserted into the 2016 IDP platform: We support, “Legalizing all drugs.” The immediate public […]