2025 January Economic Report

This will be the last article I write as the chair of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County. After Feb. 7, I’ll officially sunset as chair, and Stuart Cavness will take up the position. I wish him the best in the endeavor.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve the community in this role as chair, and I did my best to oversee one of the leading economic advocates in our community. I believe we have helped the county, cities and outlying rural towns to make the best of funds available to improve the economic climate in Lewis County.

There is much more work to do, but I think everyone on staff at the Alliance has done an outstanding job juggling the ins and outs of reporting, job acquisitions, new inquiries, moving locations and hosting various events over the year.

And now, we are moving into a new year. Not just any new year, though, but one that is ripe with some renewed optimism that I have witnessed in many in the community.

The “Trump effect” is real. I have personally talked with homeowners and other contractors who were “on the fence” about new business prospects before the election, pending the outcome. Now that Trump is in office, I know that a lot of those people are much more optimistic about their ability to pursue new projects on the horizon.

This might only be wishful thinking that the federal election could have that much effect in our area, but business climate and confidence in the economy is a real thing that has real effects.

Love him or hate him, Trump’s policies tend to instill confidence in the economy, and that sentiment is shared by a lot of people who live in our area.

Do you struggle to understand this? Let me take a crack at explaining it.

We have grown accustomed to hating the government. Why? Because they do stupid things. Ok, maybe it’s not quite that simple, but often it is simple.

One very loud minority frequently has a majority effect on policies and legislation. This loud minority usually advocates for special programs or policies that feign concern for some downtrodden person, place, or thing.

That is all well and good to a certain degree. Let’s help those who are poor or who have gone through a rough or traumatic experience and need help back on their feet. But what I have grown very tired of is the “experts” telling you how much you should drive, or what you should drive, or whether the last couple of years of storms are all pointing to doom soon if we don’t tax fossil fuels more.

All this when unbiased evidence doesn’t support those predictions.

From my perspective, today’s climate policies are a bunch of hogwash. The government ends up mandating policies, like EV mandates, that are unsustainable and that our electric grid won’t even support.

Case in point is the Washington climate policy that has taxed businesses for some impressive revenue, yet we now have some of the highest gas prices in the country.

Where is the money going? Can we be sure it will save us from the impending doom or melting glaciers? Yeah right. We just need more taxes, right? No thank you.

Trump’s admonition to return the nation to common sense is something that I think a lot of us feel in our bones. We need to be willing to act on those senses.

Yes, I still support science and evidence-based research. But I am looking forward to Trump weeding out politically driven figure heads from our decision-making bodies. Unfortunately, we still live in Washington, so we’ll have plenty more battles in the forefront.

All that said, I’m committed to continue fighting for our local economy and the good of our neighbors and their welfare. That is what I will try to make sure the Economic Alliance does also.

I pray for peace in our time and economic prosperity for our community. I appreciate the new hope that has surfaced, and I pray you will join me in wishing the goodwill of others around you and look for common sense in your legislators and leaders in your sphere of influence.

God bless Lewis County.

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Luke Moerke was born and raised in Lewis County and owns Exodus Engineering.