Waylon Hedegaard

Bismarck

I have to take issue with Representative Kevin Cramer’s laughable “rocketship economy” commercial. Sure North Dakota has a low unemployment rate, and there are certainly jobs to be had. But is this a “rocketship”?

Does everyone really feel better off than they were before? Are wages so much higher and farm incomes more secure?

No!

It is not a “rocket ship” when so many… work so long… for so little. It’s really a “rowboat economy” and working people are the ones pulling the oars while corporations get the benefits. In a “rocket ship economy,” workers would earn high wages and decent benefits from their hard work. In the economy we currently have, there are plenty of low status jobs pulling the oars, but not much else.

Unfortunately, with the low wages and benefits that most jobs offer, many people need two jobs just to feed their families and keep a roof over their head. Many North Dakotans are barely getting by whether they are working for wages or laboring on family farms. They struggle paying the rent and affording healthcare for their families. The truth is that the oil companies get the “rocket ship.” The rest of us are stuck rowing Kevin Cramer’s rowboat.

North Dakotans need action and not just words. They need elected officials who will work on real futures with real security, not someone running across the plains of North Dakota pretending their rusty toy boat is a rocket ship.

Hedegaard is president of the North Dakota AFL-CIO