Business as usual? We'll have to wait and see
Rodney Harwood
Will 2017 be business as usual? The world is waiting to see if business will ever be the same with the new administration and a president that promises his Twitter account will remain as active as his policy changes.
On the plus side, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has risen 6.4 percent since the election and there's a good chance President-elect Donald Trump will persuade Congress to spend a lot of money building things like better airports and roads.
Hopefully it’s not a matter of the rich getting richer and the rest of us … well, doing what we’ve always done. But so far, it is wait and see.
As I wandered through the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Winter Carnival Business Expo Tuesday night at the Grant County Fairgrounds I began to familiarize myself with business ventures in the Columbia Basin. I have been seeing “now hiring,” signs around town and that translates into extended services. We can only hope Initiative 1433 increasing the minimum wage helps the people intended without sending shock waves throughout the working class. But one guy manning the booth at the fairgrounds did say, “Somebody has to pay for it.”
With Tuesday night’s Business Expo, was a reminder that the backbone of this country is the hard-working people.
I saw businesses promoting one another, businesses promoting the American farmer and the work they do feeding the world. There were businesses providing services, business operations working to make our community stronger, one health service booth outlined new technology to help assist early detection of breast cancer.
“We don’t have to send women 70 miles away. We can do this right here at home. This is big,” she said.
Wall Street Journal reports Trump voters harbor mixed feelings ahead of inauguration. U.S. builders, the Journal states, remain highly confident about the market for newly-built single-family homes. But their optimism slipped in January from the highest level in more than a decade the previous month. Builders are concerned about rising mortgage interest rates slowing demand for new homes. Again, it’s hard to say. Family homes and construction in general is steady here in the Columbia Basin.
Despite a number of empty store fronts throughout the downtown district, business seems to be moving forward.
Mitsubishi Aircraft has three of its four MRJ jets in town and has begun its extensive flight testing. AstaReal Moses Lake is in its second year is moving forward on a project addressing fatigue. The AstaReal expansion is also expected to lead to more jobs. What that translates in terms of the locals, again, it’s hard to say.
Sportsman’s Warehouse and Colville Fuels Half Sun Travel Plaza are scheduled to have their grand openings on Feb. 23. Both are currently hiring and the expectations are that somewhere around 100 new jobs will be generated.
WinCo Foods is scheduled to open in the next month or two. According to the WinCo website, the employee-operated supermarket offers 24-hour service throughout eight states, including Washington state.
Whether business will ever be as usual is up for debate, but the world is watching as our economic developers move forward in 2017.
Rodney Harwood is the business writer at the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at businessag@columbiabasinherald.com
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