Jolt
Afternoon Jolt II: The Real Winners
Today's Real Winner: BOEING
As usual, Erica and Josh got a little wrapped up with their picayune reporting and filed an obscure Afternoon Jolt on a transit funding bill in Olympia—declaring King County Metro today's winner. But let's face it (and I love the wonky stuff too , hell, I'm a PubliCola intern), but today's real winners are the thousands of Boeing workers in Puget Sound who will benefit from the company's $35 billion tanker contract and the state's delegation which has scored a victory in their intense lobbying on this issue.
According to a press release sent out by Governor Christine Gregoire the decision is crucial "for the 11,000 aerospace workers in Washington state alone that will play a role in assembling the NewGen tanker."
Sen. Patty Murray, who has been tied most closely the tanker bid (raising a ruckus about the illegal EU subsidies for Airbus by proposing an amendment to the defense budget that would have prevented any company that got illegal subsidies—ha!—from getting the contract), said, “Even when competing against an illegally subsidized foreign competitor, Boeing’s skilled workforce proved that they have the know-how and the product that can best serve our military." Last year, the WTO ruled against both Boeing and Airbus in separate cases declaring that each had received subsidies, though the much harsher ruling against Airbus certainly was a powerful and motivating factor in the US Air Force decision today.
Murray's counterpart US Senator Maria Cantwell also sent out a press release detailing the 50,000 direct and indirect jobs that would benefit the US economy, not to mention a "nearly $693 million annual regional economic impact."
Cantwell, who has a reelection campaign to run in 2012 hailed the decision as one that was "a decisive decision" that awarded "the best plane, and the best product."
As usual, Erica and Josh got a little wrapped up with their picayune reporting and filed an obscure Afternoon Jolt on a transit funding bill in Olympia—declaring King County Metro today's winner. But let's face it (and I love the wonky stuff too , hell, I'm a PubliCola intern), but today's real winners are the thousands of Boeing workers in Puget Sound who will benefit from the company's $35 billion tanker contract and the state's delegation which has scored a victory in their intense lobbying on this issue.
According to a press release sent out by Governor Christine Gregoire the decision is crucial "for the 11,000 aerospace workers in Washington state alone that will play a role in assembling the NewGen tanker."
Sen. Patty Murray, who has been tied most closely the tanker bid (raising a ruckus about the illegal EU subsidies for Airbus by proposing an amendment to the defense budget that would have prevented any company that got illegal subsidies—ha!—from getting the contract), said, “Even when competing against an illegally subsidized foreign competitor, Boeing’s skilled workforce proved that they have the know-how and the product that can best serve our military." Last year, the WTO ruled against both Boeing and Airbus in separate cases declaring that each had received subsidies, though the much harsher ruling against Airbus certainly was a powerful and motivating factor in the US Air Force decision today.
Murray's counterpart US Senator Maria Cantwell also sent out a press release detailing the 50,000 direct and indirect jobs that would benefit the US economy, not to mention a "nearly $693 million annual regional economic impact."
Cantwell, who has a reelection campaign to run in 2012 hailed the decision as one that was "a decisive decision" that awarded "the best plane, and the best product."
