A bowl full of opinions on Boeing’s shutdown, county budget overruns and the Seahawks

Our take on this week, in abbreviated form:

Boeing: Yikes

Boeing’s stunning announcement that they are suspending production of the 737 Max airplane was coupled with a news release announcing they are giving shareholders a regular quarterly dividend. The New York Times reports that the dividend is intended to “meet Wall Street expectations.”

The company says 12,000 workers whose jobs are at risk in Renton are being redeployed to other projects in the region – but that could change if the suspension goes on very long. It’s hard to imagine how “other projects” could absorb that many employees, or what their commutes will be like. And people who work for Boeing’s many suppliers also are at risk of layoffs, making thousands more people very anxious this holiday season.

Boeing’s shares have fallen in value by 25 percent since last March, and the company has racked up $8 billion in costs related to the 737 Max groundings so far. There is nothing but uncertainty about when the airplanes will be approved to fly again after safety defects caused two crashes that killed 346 people.

With Boeing’s rising debt, and the looming danger of layoffs and hardship for thousands of workers, the decision to give shareholders a dividend sure seems like one more instance of questionable judgment on the part of Boeing’s leadership.

Sheriff John Snaza: Stop overspending

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office overspent its budget last year by close to half a million dollars, because, Sheriff Snaza says, it’s simply underfunded, even though several new positions were added in the past year.

Snaza said his budget situation is as if he asked for $100 to buy a dress, then got handed $75 to buy the dress. That’s the worst analogy we’ve heard in a long time. And it wasn’t made better by the Undersheriff explaining that Snaza meant “if that were the only dress available.”

If every county elected official or department head came in with cost overruns such as Snaza’s, the county would be in financial chaos.

Robin Campbell, the very sensible county budget guru, will sit down with the Sheriff’s budget person to start from scratch and build a zero-based budget for the department for next year. We hope that will bring some clarity and accountability. If there is really a shortage of funding for the Sheriff’s office – and if, as he contends, we still need more deputies – that’s a conversation that should include taxpayers as well as County Commissioners.

Go Seahawks

Football playoffs have a magical ability to get strangers at the grocery store talking excitedly to one another — and that is a fine thing in these divisive times.

We really hope the Seahawks play in the Super Bowl again, because we’ve seen how it brings out an amazing, community-wide unity of spirit. Football joy crosses all lines of income, education, race, religion, age and every other way we categorize each other. It becomes a universal secular religion of sorts that includes even those who know more about badminton than bowl games.

Of course we wish that spirit of unity was inspired by other things as well – like ending gun violence, governing for the public good, or nurturing every child – but hey, if it takes a football game to bring us all together, we’ll gratefully accept that joy where we find it.

Merry everything

We wish you a merry Kwanzaa or Christmas, a happy Hanakkuh, and a sweet solstice, though we’re a day late for that one. And if there’s something else you celebrate this week – we’re thinking of people with birthdays – we wish you many more.

Naturally, we think President Trump’s claim of credit for winning the war on Christmas is a sham, a hoax, and an unconstitutional abuse of power. Well, maybe not an unconstitutional abuse of power, but still, an abuse of reason. It may be the silliest one ever. And actually, it’s kind of refreshing to think of something he’s done that is just silly rather than a possible threat to democracy.

So here’s the final wish we have for everyone this holiday season: more silliness, more fun, more laughter, more love. Our warmest wishes to one and all.