A14| Saturday/Sunday, February 29 - March 1, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Raising the Standards of Candidate Debates
In “The Best Democratic Debate In
Years” (Declarations, Feb. 22) Peggy
Noonan is correct in saying that we
need to have a fight about socialism,
but debates of late aren’t about so-
cialism. You can have capitalism with-
out government but you can’t have
socialism without a government.
Our debates need to be about is-
sues.ThatiswhatSen.AmyKlobu-
char has been asking for instead of all
this bickering about who’s a socialist
and who is a centrist. We know noth-
ing about Pete Buttigieg’s policies or
how Sen. Bernie Sanders’s scrapping
of our system is going to work. Then-
candidate Donald Trump told us ex-
actly what he was going to do about
the border and our border policy, reg-
ulations and taxes. He told us how he
was going to get companies to bring
back money from overseas. He told us
how he was going to bring manufac-
turing back to the U.S. and how he
was going to renegotiate our trade
deals with other countries.
Those are the kinds of things we
need to know from these Democratic
debates. Can any of the socialist or
left-wing candidates explain how they
are going to keep companies from
sending work and corporation money
back overseas, or keep unemployment
low when they open our borders?
How are they going to keep Huawei
and the Chinese out of our communi-
cation systems? Our debate system
needs to get at these issues and many
more, otherwise it is a matter of
throwing darts at a board to choose a
candidate.
TERRYA.LARSON
Seffner, Fla.Take the debates away from the
networks—they have too little sub-
stance, too much focus on au courant
frivolousness such as tweet insults
and too much time spent on attempt-
ing “gotchas.” Give running the de-
bates back to the League of Women
Voters, or anyone disinterested in
network ratings.
Get rid of the studio audiences.
Please. This is serious political dis-
course, not professional wrestling.
While you’re at it, dump the “pre-
game” show. This isn’t a spectacle
and it isn’t about the networks or
whatever “expert” talking heads they
can bring in to pre-analyze.
Keep each debate to a narrower
subject or range of subjects, so there
is enough time to properly answer a
question. A minute and 15 seconds
guarantees nothing other than a pre-
packaged bumper sticker or, just as
likely, for a candidate to answer a dif-
ferent question than what was asked.
The hardest, and perhaps one of
the more difficult improvements,
would be to ask the press and re-
lated pundits to pledge to shut down
their Twitter feeds while watching
the debate, and perhaps also pledge
to write their postdebate reviews
before reading any “trending” write-
ups. Concurrent Twitter tends to en-
force herd instinct as the press piles
on and focuses on what’s hot on
Twitter, often while competing to
show they’re up on some sidetrack.
Too much is driven by the Twitter
mob as it is. We certainly can do
better.
JOHNSCHUYLER
Simsbury, Conn.LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters intended for publication should
be addressed to: The Editor, 1211 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, NY 10036,
or emailed to [email protected]. Please
include your city and state. All letters
are subject to editing, and unpublished
letters can be neither acknowledged nor
returned.“Your own parking space used
to be a status symbol.
Now you need a charging station.”THE WALL STREET JOURNALIt’s Past Time to Actively Stop Evil Hackers
Insecure communication systems
let hackers infiltrate executive ac-
counts remotely via phishing attacks
or attacks on passwords or even on
servers (“Hackers Aid Rise in Wire-
Transfer Scams,” Business & Finance,
Feb. 24). From there, they can learn
and mimic the writing style of the
target, and then masquerade as that
individual to send digital instructions
for wire transfers, file transfers, the
sharing of privileged information or
whatever else they please. Your com-
pany’s fate is in the hacker’s hands.
It’s high time for responsible en-
terprises and smart individuals to
move to secure systems of email
communication. The evolution of en-
crypted email has made that move
easy, affordable and highly effective.
In today’s legacy systems, attackerscan remotely log in from anywhere in
the world. With well-designed, end-
to-end encrypted systems, only veri-
fied senders and recipients can com-
municate, and only from their own
devices. An attacker cannot log into
an account remotely and wreak
havoc. End-to-end encryption paired
with device-centered keys instead of
passwords and “trusted community”
defenses mean actual security, not its
illusion. We need a new mind-set
around digital communication or we
are easy marks for hackers, scam-
mers and loss. As individuals and en-
terprises, we are too far into this
new age to be cavalier about its
risks.
SANJEEVVERMA
Chairman, PreVeil
BostonHuawei Learned Its Pricing
Model From the IBM of Old
In his Feb. 15 letter Paul Shmo-
tolokha describes Huawei’s “preda-
tory pricing model...toattractcus-
tomers with the lowest entry price
and then use upgrade services to
bring up their margins.”
There’s nothing new about this. It
was once called the IBM strategy, i.e.,
Installed Base Migration. I don’t
know if IBM created it but, having
analyzed many rate cases, I do know
that it was used by Bell and the Baby
Bells decades ago in dealing with
their business customers.
RICHARDMAGINNIS
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Pepper ...
And SaltRemoving the Obstacles and
Changing People’s Minds
Amen to getting your way by re-
moving obstacles (“How to Change
Anyone’s Mind,” Review, Feb. 22). I
wanted to work for a local entrepre-
neur, and we had two good meetings,
but no offer emerged. In the third
meeting I said: “Let’s make this easier
...Don’t hire me. No salary, insur-
ance, office, etc.” I named a monthly
fee and said I would work on a trial
basis from home, 20 hours a week, for
90 days, on whatever projects were
important to him. At the end of 90
days we’d both know if it was work-
ing, and we could either part ways as
friends or change the deal. He agreed.
I started the next day, and 60 days
later he asked how soon I could go full
time. We stayed together until he sold
the company. Removing obstacles was
the key.
CHUCKCARTER
St. Simons Island, Ga.I have been in situations with many
controlling people who must be in
charge. There is an effective method I
use to get my idea across. Make them
think that it is their idea. Casually
mention what you think, in conversa-
tion at a time unrelated to the subject.
In a short while the controller will
mention it back to you as his idea.
Great! Let’s try it. It is of no impor-
tance who gets the credit. His ego
isn’t damaged, and what you want will
happen.
JAMESDANNENBERG
PhiladelphiaTrump’s Record on Leading
Epidemic Response Is Poor
Regarding Daniel Henninger’s
“Trump Versus the Coronavirus”
(Wonder Land, Feb. 27): Even after
the spread of the virus had become
clear, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention was hit with a hiring
freeze by way of an executive order on
Jan. 22. Vacancies in 125 job catego-
ries were blocked from being filled,
including several in the Center for
Preparedness and Response and oth-
ers in offices handling infectious dis-
eases. The National Institutes of
Health isn’t allowed reassignments, so
vacancies in necessary epidemiology
and virology personnel cannot be
filled that way.
President Trump’s proposed bud-
get, released Feb. 10, includes a 16%
cut to the CDC. The president has also
called for a $65 million decrease in
funding to the World Health Organiza-
tion, which would amount to a 40%
reduction in U.S. funding of the princi-
pal organization opposing the interna-
tional spread of the virus.
Sen. Bernie Sanders may or may
not have a plan that works to isolate
the virus and develop a vaccine along
with other preventive measures, but
at least he isn’t voting to hamstring
the federal services whose job it is.
STELLAFITZGIBBONS,M.D.,FACP,FHM
The Woodlands, TexasThe Virus and the Economy
W
hen markets are stampeding, anyone
can get run over. And that’s what
happened Friday as White House
economic adviser Larry Kud-
low spoke the truth that the
coronavirus threat will even-
tually pass and the U.S. will re-
cover. Equities nonetheless
fell another 1% or so Friday,
and the questions are how
much damage there will be to the real economy
and what, if anything, can be done about it.
Mr. Kudlow is right to want to prevent a
panic and buck up consumer confidence, which
has been holding up U.S. growth. He’s also right
that the foundation of the American economy
has been solid with an historically low jobless
rate, healthy income gains, and a housing mar-
ket that is gaining steam.
But stocks don’t fall 11.5% in a week without
cause, and they are responding to clear signs
that the spreading coronavirus will hit the
global economy hard. China’s first quarter GDP
may be negative. Europe was already wobbling.
The U.S. is sturdier but not immune to global
weakness, especially if the virus causes exten-
sive quarantines; business travel restrictions
have already begun.
The 10-year Treasury note has fallen through
the floor of its historic low to 1.15%, a sign that
investors expect slower growth and Federal Re-
serve rate cuts. The price of Brent crude is
down 24% this year to $50 a barrel, on expecta-
tions of slower demand. Copper futures are
down 9% since January and were off another
1% on Friday in a sign that a manufacturing re-
covery isn’t imminent. The junk bond and lever-
aged loan markets are under pressure as finan-
cial conditions have tightened.
The rebound in business investment that
many expected with the decline in trade ten-
sions will now be postponed for at least the first
half of the year. Supply chains need to be re-
stored, and medical and economic uncertainty
will have to ease. A U.S. economy that was ex-
pected to grow between 2% and 2.5% for the
year will now likely be under that for the first
half, with hope for a second half bounce.
iii
All of this is complicated by the political un-
certainty of an election year and Washington’s
climate of relentless and extreme partisanship.
Democrats clearly see the Covid-19 disease as
a cudgel to use against President Trump, per-
haps turning it into his version of Hurricane Ka-
trina in 2005.
There’s no other way to read the rhetorical
barrage they’ve aimed at Mr. Trump no matter
what he does or says about the virus. The resis-
tance media are also piling on. This feeds the
public’s unease and turns every government de-
cision into a political battle.
Our sense is that this could still be an oppor-
tunity for Mr. Trump despite the partisan cat-
calls. Voters aren’t going to
blame him for a slowing econ-
omy caused by the virus. They
will blame him if the govern-
ment response seems inept, or
if he dismisses the problem
and it turns out to be much
worse than he has advertised.
The best posture is to tell the public the
truth that no one knows how much damage the
virus may do, while offering assurance that the
government’s infectious disease experts and
enormous public-health bureaucracy are ready
for the challenge. It’s best to project confidence
without the gratuitous boasting or attacks.
If reporters ask about some attack from
Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer, Mr. Trump
should shrug it off and say he’s focused on re-
ducing the risks from the virus. Voters will ap-
preciate the show of leadership, and score Dem-
ocrats for the rancor. Unlike the impeachment
brawl, the public cares about this one and
doesn’t want cheap partisanship.
iii
Which brings us to the possible economic
policy responses. Mr. Trump could help by im-
mediately lifting his unilateral tariffs, which
would amount to a tax cut on trade and con-
sumers. A fiscal “stimulus” is probably a waste
of time, given that Democrats would insist on
new spending or temporary tax rebates of the
kind that Mrs. Pelosi and George W. Bush nego-
tiated in 2008 but didn’t help growth.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made clear in
an unscheduled statement on Friday that mone-
tary policy is in play, with a 25 basis-point cut
in the fed funds rate widely expected in March.
We’ve been skeptical that rate cuts can address
a classic supply-side shock like the coronavirus.
Fed funds are already low at 1.5%-1.75%, so the
impact of rate cuts will also be less than if the
Fed had moved faster to normalize its policy in
the years after the financial panic and
2008-2009 recession.
On the other hand, the Fed can fight a finan-
cial virus. Stocks pared their losses after Mr.
Powell’s Friday statement, which shows the
Fed’s psychological clout. If the Fed does cut
rates as an insurance policy, it should be pre-
pared to raise them again quickly if the corona-
virus turns out to be less damaging. The Fed
kept rates too low for too long after 9/11 and
spurred the housing bubble and bust.
This week’s market selloff is a warning but
it isn’t cause for panic. We simply don’t know
how much harm this coronavirus will do. Inves-
tors who keep a cool head will be rewarded, and
voters will reward politicians who do the same.U.S. growth will take a
hit but Trump has a
leadership opportunity.
Will Public Unions Take Virginia?
V
irginia is a purple state, but the Demo-
cratic majority in Richmond seems in-
tent on shoving it into the blue column
for good. The Legislature
soon might authorize collec-
tive bargaining by public
workers. The debate is how
far to go.
The House passed a bill
this month to allow both
state and local employees to bargain. It also
would create a three-person Public Employee
Relations Board. One of the members, by law,
would be “selected from a list of names sub-
mitted by the Virginia AFL-CIO.” If a major-
ity of workers in a given unit signed union
cards, then no secret-ballot election would
be required.
The Senate, where Democrats hold a
smaller majority, is warier. It passed a bill
this month to allow collective bargaining, but
only by local workers if their jurisdiction
chooses to allow it. “The votes, including
mine, aren’t there for expansion beyond local
government,” Majority Leader Dick Saslaw
said this week.
But the House is standing its ground, and
a conference committee could be called. Cities
and counties are right to worry that collective
bargaining could cost millions and force local
tax increases. Even if state workers are ex-
cluded, they’ll be the rallying cry during next
year’s legislative session.
This ratchet moves easily
in only one direction, so any
deal would turn Virginia to-
ward the kind of dysfunction
typical in the places where
public unions dominate state
and city governance. Public
unions spend big to elect politicians, usually
but not always Democrats, and then they sit
down at the bargaining table and expect more
pay and job protections in return.
That’s how the public finances in Illinois,
New Jersey and Connecticut became such a
mess and seemingly impervious to reform. It’s
how pensions for union workers came to swal-
low huge chunks of Chicago’s budget to the
detriment of public services. It’s also how bad
teachers ended up lolling around in New
York’s infamous “rubber rooms” because they
couldn’t be fired.
Virginia should decline to go even a foot
down this road. “The process of collective bar-
gaining, as usually understood,” Franklin Del-
ano Roosevelt once wrote, “cannot be trans-
planted into the public service.” Taxpayers
would pay the price in tax increases for de-
cades to come.Democrats are close to
letting them collectively
bargain in some form.
Arrested in Hong Kong
W
e’re sorry to report that one of our
contributors, Jimmy Lai, was ar-
rested in Hong Kong on Friday—a
week after writing an article
for these pages saying China’s
Communist system is defined
by a lack of trust that makes
it almost impossible for Bei-
jing to deal effectively with
the coronavirus. Mr. Lai, a
media publisher and businessman, was re-
leased after being charged with taking part in
an illegal assembly last August, as well as with
intimidating a reporter from a rival newspaper
at a vigil in 2017.
Two former pro-democracy lawmakers, Ye-
ung Sum and Lee Cheuk-yan, were also ar-
rested and charged with participating in the
same protest. The August 31 march, which at-
tracted thousands though the government
tried to ban it, started peacefully but ended
with tear gas and molotov cocktails in clashes
with police.
The date marked the fifth anniversary of
Beijing’s decision to reject Hong Kong demands
for democratic reform. And it is particularly
embarrassing to the government because of
what happened at Prince Edward subway sta-
tion, where police charged in with riot batons.
The police say they were responding to vandal-
izing protestors, but the clash
exposed the gulf between the
Hong Kong public and a police
force they no longer trust.
No doubt the arrest of Mr.
Lai is designed to intimidate
him and others into silence. It
also seems to be part of a larger determination
by Beijing that it’s time to show Hong Kong
who’s boss. Beijing had signaled this earlier
this month when it appointed Xia Baolong to
head its Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office.
When Mr. Xia was in Zhejiang province, first
serving as deputy to now Chinese President Xi
Jinping, he was known for tearing crosses off
churches.
What Beijing may believe is a show of
strength has all the makings of another miscal-
culation. The mass protests in Hong Kong have
largely stopped, and the best chance for a way
forward is to let tensions subside in hopes of
creating the conditions for a return to nor-
malcy. Instead, China is apparently determined
to re-incite the resistance.Publisher Jimmy Lai is
charged for taking partin an August protest.
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
OPINION