May the best tanker win
If Boeing wins the U.S. Air Force’s tanker contract, it would mean 11,000 jobs at the company’s local manufacturing facilities, as [“Gregoire, Murray boost Boeing in tanker bid,” Seattletimes.com, May 10] mentioned. However, the story did not explain how European aerospace giant Airbus is attempting to steal the contract and the jobs by submitting an illegally subsidized tanker aircraft.
Obviously, local workers care deeply about this injustice. But it is a national issue as well. As President Obama launches a campaign against corporate greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street, voters are watching to see if he applies the same principles to other areas of government.
In particular, voters would be outraged if an Obama Pentagon outsources a $35 billion defense contract to a company —Airbus —that has financed its bid with $5 billion in illegal subsidies, according to a final World Trade Organization ruling. Corporate accountability should apply to Pentagon contracts as well as Wall Street derivatives.
President Obama promised French President Nicolas Sarkozy that the tanker competition would be fair and transparent. However, there could be no fair competition as long as Airbus is bidding an illegally subsidized tanker. The Pentagon should discount launch aid subsidies from Airbus’ bid and let the best tanker win.
— Don Brunell, Association of Washington Business president, Olympia