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PORTLAND
OBSERI/ER
Voi. «, No. 36
Thursday. July 22> 1978
><* P*r C°P>
Port studies
ship yard
expansion
The Port of Portland Commission will
deride whether to seek general obligation
bond financing for a new dry dock facility
at Swan Island Ship Yards by putting the
proposal on the November ballot, at a
special meeting to be held July 26th at
8:00 a.m. at the Lloyd Building. 700 N.E.
Multnomah Street. 13th floor.
The Commission heard testimony on
July 14th, the final public hearing. A
report of the Citizens’ Evaluation Com
mittee appointed by Commission Presi
dent James B. Thayer was heard. Com
mittee Chairman William Love identified
the important points of the report.
“A new. larger dry dock for Portland is
justified,” Love said. "Such a dry dock
can be self liquidating and a future source
of revenue for the Port.”
The report recommended changes in
state law to allow revenues from opera
tion of the new facility to be pledged in
support of general obligation bonds, to
ease a potential burden on the taxpayers.
The Port currently does not have this
authority.
The committee recommendation pro
poses that the project be financed by
sharing costs between taxpayers and the
users. They recommended that taxpayer
support be provided until the dry dock
generates sufficient revenue to fund the
obligation, a period estimated to be be
tween three and five years.
The proposal, presented in February
by Port of Portland Executive Director
Lloyd Anderson, recommended the con
struction of a dry dock, 3,000 feet of berth
space and utilités to accomodate the larg
er ships now in use. Of specific interest ar
the oil tankers that will be used to carry
nil from Alaska to the refineries. C u r
rently thre is no ship yard on the west
coast capable of servicing these ships,
and if one is not provided they will be
repaired in Japan.
Private industry that leases ship yard
facilities estimate that expansion will
create approximately 1,000 new jobs. At
this üme, 37.518 jobs, or Un percent of
the jobs in the tri-county area, are related
to the maritime industry.
William H. McClendon III. m
mirrors. I Please see page 4)
/
C. F. I
ef the new
Bank opens
American S U U Bank has expanded its
poUntial to serve the community by
opening its first new branch at S.E. 28th
and HolgaU.
The branch is managed by C. F. East
abrook. EasUbrook, who has been with
the bank since its founding, has over
forty years of banking experience.
The Eastmoreland branch serves an
area of 14,500 people - an area which has
no other bank. “In order for the bank to
grow, we needed to expand. We plan to
open at least U n more branches in the
future." V. F. Booker. President of
■ of Junior Dental Institute, examines his teeth with the help of
(photos; Dan Long)
Great depression unemployment rates here to stay
___ . ____i:_____ ___.
by Paul Rosen stiel
(PNS) With the economic recovery of
ficially enuring its second year, econom
ista have some bad news to balance off
the good.
First, the good: the unemployment
rate, now at 7.5 per cent, will continue to
decline from its high of a year ago. though
at a slower rate. Administration econom
ists predict that unemployment will dip
below seven per cent by the end of the
year.
However
and now the bad news -
many economists say the decline in the
unemployment rate is already nearing an
end.
These latter experts think the days of
three or four per cent unemployment, as
in the lato 1960’s, may be gone for a long
time -• if not forever. Instead, six or seven
per cent unemployment -- last known
during the Great Depression may soon
be regarded as normal.
Explanations for such a condition are
about as diverse as the economics jrofes
sion - known until recently as the ’dismal
science." With their theory in a state of
flux following its inability to deal with the
economy’s poor performance, economists
are groping for new explanations. But for
every new theory advanced by one group
of economists, another group of equal size
and prestige is likely to tear it apart and
offer up its own.
MORE EQUAL MISERY
What is clear to everyone is that long
term high unemployment threatens to
touch some of those groups most immune
from unemployment: male workers and
white workers.
A comparison of statistics from 1969.
when the unemployment rate was 3.5 per
cent, and 1975. when it was 8.5 per cent,
shows that male unemployment jumped
more than three fold, while female unem
ployment only doubled.
Non white unemployment grew 117
per cent during the same period, com par
ed to a 152 per cent rate for whites. So
» in n ln v m » n t la
while ,>n
unemployment
is still
still highest
highest
among women, teenagers, blue-collar
workers and non-whites (whose unem
ployment rato is traditionally double that
of whites), the misery is now spreading
more evenly.
It is also clear, according to the Nation
al Council on Unemployment Policy - a
group of 17 of the nation's leading labor
market economists -- that aftor almost
every recession since 1948, the unem
ployment rato has receded less and leaa
from its recession high before the econo
my peaks and begins a new decline.
Most economists agree that the pro
blem of high unemployment will be tough
to beat over the next decade. According
to a survey by U.S. News and World
Report, the U.S. will have to provide an
average of more than 72,000 new jobs
every week between now and 1985 to
cope with new entries into the labor force
and to lower unemployment to four per
cent. Such a rate of job creation is nearly
state committee
G. E. RICHARDSON JR.
economists, holds that unemployment is a
necessary ingredient of capitalism.
Writing in the American Economic Re
view, economists James Crotty and Leo
nard Rapping of the University of Massa
chusetts argue that corporato profits de
dine with the unemployment rate be
cause workers gain more strength in
wage bargaining. The recent recession,
they say, was deliberatoly brought on by
government officials who had no choice
but to cool off the overheated economy
with a recession after other policies, in-'
eluding wage and price controls, failed.
They argue that for government offi
cials and businessmen, "intermittent re
cessions are a necessary condition for the
maintenance of satisfactory profits and
the health of financial institutions."
The recent recession, according to
Crotty and Rapping, was especially
severe because it was long overdue. The
high employment of the late 1960 s was
American Bank, explained that although
the bank is Black-owned and was intond-
ed to serve the Black community, the
best way to remain viable is to serve all
the Portland area. "There is no reason
that a Black owned business must be
located only in the Black community. We
must have the same opportunity to ex
pand as any other business."
The new building, which was built for
the bank. It has 32,000 square feet of floor
space, a drive-up window, two remoU
su tion s, and is the first bank in the staU
to have bullet-proof windows for the
toilers.
artificially sustained by the Vietnam War
and the Great Society programs.
Finally, most economists - including
the Marxists - agree that many of our
problems stem from a changing intorna-
tional economy in which the U.S. no long
er enjoys the dominance it once held.
‘ Third World comodity producers, such
as OPEC, have successfully demanded
higher prices and a basic re ordering of
the international economy. In addition,
the international role of the U.S. dollar,
once dominant because of a fixed ex
change rate that benefited the U.S. exclu
sively. has been seriously weakened by
the new flexible" exchange rate system.
The result of this complex change is
that the U.S. is no longer able to “export"
its inflation to foreign currencies, but
must respond to inflation by devaluing
the dollar. Some economists believe this
situation alone accounted for 15 to 20 per
cent of the inflation rate in 1975.
; ‘ J h li
Richardson joins
George E. Richardson. Jr., has been
appointed to the State Television and
Radio Service advisory board, announced
Corneilius C. Bateson. State Director of
Commerce.
Richardson's term will end June 30th,
1980. His duties will include advising the
director on policy and legislation concern
ing the regulation and licensing of TV and
radio technicians within the state.
Richardson is assistant budget super
visor for Northwest Natural Gas Com
pany.
double
between 1050
double the
the Dace
pace between
1050 and
and 1075,
1075,
cutbacks are now hitting all levels of
government. Many labor market emperts
expect government to join the long list of
declining industries in America.
Some economists, particularly conser
vatives, believe our problem is too many
people who want jobs. From this point of
view, our high unemployment originates
from the influx of new population groups,
such as women, into the labor force. Since
1947, the number of women in the labor
force has risen almost two and a half
times as fast as the female population.
This situation has led some ecnomists
to abandon Ulk of the unemployment
rate and emphasize the “employment
rate" - or what percentage of the popula
lion has jobs - which they say has re
mained fairly constant.
All these explanations assume that our
economic leaders sincerely want to end
unemployment. But a radically different
explanation, put forward by Marxist
i ef the Americas S u te
iPheto: D as Lsagl
Over 50.1