Back in the good old days, in the late ‘60s, when I was in college in the San Francisco Bay area, I remember the worry and consternation that was imagined when Lockheed Sunnyvale (remember Lockheed Aircraft) lost a huge missile contract. Politicians, engineers, mayors, all predicted dire results.

Well, all those “laid off “ engineers used their talent and went back to their garages, and the next thing we know, Memorex and IBM evolved into the Silicon Valley. HP, Intel and all the rest of these chip companies evolved from the Lockheed layoffs.

When Boeing leaves for less-expensive states, many of the laid-off engineers will retreat to their garages and very soon new and even more profitable businesses will be created. Business which will not need tax subsidies that Boeing is currently receiving.

Boeing is holding us back. We no longer need Boeing. Let us use the talent that Boeing has no more use for and create new businesses.

The sooner Boeing leaves, the sooner we all will be better off.

Robert Charles

Enumclaw