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Page 4 Portland Observer, January 7, 1982 The economic foundations of Reaganism EDITORIAL/OPINION bv Manning Marable Budget cuts endanger future The state faces deep budget cuts in human re sources and higher education, as well as in other programs essential to the development and well being o f the population. Proposed cuts include hum an services— cuts in mental health program s fo r em otionally dis turbed children and adults, cuts in health p ro grams and health prevention program s, cuts in vocational rehabilitation fo r the injured and dis abled, cuts in programs fo r the elderly. Cuts in program s designed to prevent and treat social and econom ic program s o f the people most in need o f help and p ro te c tio n fro m society w ill lead to greater costs fo r h o sp ita l and nursing home care, mental hospital confinement and im prisonm ent. These costs w ill not go away in a few m o n th s o r years when the econom y im proves b u t w ill go on fo r years and years to come. Cuts in higher education w ill have a lasting ef fect on the state. The state w ill lose many o f its finest professionals and its brightest students. The state w ill s u ffe r fo r years to come fro m a shortage o f trained people to carry on the w ork o f the public and private economy. This type o f budget slashing is irresponsible. The Legislature and the G overnor have been to o eager to meet the dem ands o f those w ho clamor fo r property tax relief. The truly needy— the elderly and poo r who s till ow n their homes and have low incomes— are protected fro m the high cost o f property taxes by the Homeowners and R enters P ro p e rty T ax R e lie f P ro g ra m (H A R P ). Loss o f th e ir homes th ro u g h unpaid taxes is no longer a threat. The Legislature went overboard in providing fo r the state general fund to pay 30 per cent o f h o m e o w n e rs ’ p ro p e rty tax p aym en ts. Since those w ith low incomes are already protected by H A R P , this program benefits those o f m iddle and upper income. No m atter how high the in come. the homeowner still gets his tax relief. The effect o f this is to use general fund money fo r tax relief fo r the rich that should go to p ro vide education, health care and other essential services. It means that the poor and the lower in come w orkers are sa crificin g needed state and local services to pay property taxes fo r the rich. Property tax relief seems to be a sacred cow— neither the governor nor the Legislature wants to touch it. But the only wav to place the state bud get w ith in the available funds w ith o u t causing horrendous problem s fo r m any years is to re m ove ta x r e lie f fo r the m ore h ig h ly valued homes and to raise a d d itio n a l funds th ro u g h higher taxes on income. I hose who earn the money must pay the taxes necessary to support government services. WHYYOU PQOR,STARVIN(j, W WORLD.,. RERE.LET ME FILL YOUR C UP... (Continued fro m page I column 5) C o n s titu tio n from b o rrow ing to cover general fund appropriations. The Legislature will meet in special session beginning January 18th to determine how to further cut bud gets or raise additional funds. Among the Governor’s proposed cuts are: Education: M aintain 36 per cent school support but reduce payment by $16.3 million (because there are fewer children). H ig h e r education: Adds sur charge o f $12 to tuition, makes pro gram reductions. Reduces services to public o f the medical school clinic and hospitals, eliminates aid to pub lic libraries, eliminates day-time in structional television, reduces tu i tion grants. H u m an Resources: M ain ta in s public assistance standards but stiff ens eligibility requirements; reduces medical assistance; reduces investi gation o f child-care homes; elim in ates funding o f 4-C Councils; elim inates dental health program ; re duces children’ s hearing tests; ter minates mental health activity cen ters fo r clients 60 and older and nursing home clients; reduces funds for vocational rehabilitation. N a tu ra l Resources: Reduces funds for noise control, industrial waste and air pollution; reduces for est fire p revention; reduces o ve r seeing o f commercial activities. State Police: Adds 59 trooper po sitions. Transportation: Reduces scenic waterway program and eliminates enforcement; reduces port rehabili tation; shortens season for day-use facilities. This budget includes the elimina tion o f 1,100 more state positions. Portland Observer | Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association = ™ MEMBER ••»«•A» 4k The P o rtland O bterver (U SPS 959 6 8 0 1 it published every Thuredey by Erne Pubhehmg Company. Inc . 2201 North Killings worth, Portland. Oregon 97217. Poet Office Box 3137. Portlend Oregon 97208 Second clese postage peid et Portlend, Oregon Subecriptione »10 00 per yeer in Tri County tree Poetm eeter Send eddreet changes to the Portland Obterver, P 0 Box 3137 Portland Oregon 97208 hMociotlon - Found'd 1995 4. /.«• Henderson. Publisher 283 2486 won by (he Black masses over the half century o f struggle. The rise o f Reaganism in electoral politics now has permitted the Right to openly question the utility o f de mocracy for the 1980s. W hether Reagan's supply side version o f re storing corporate profits or an alter native s ta te -d ire c te d /c o rp o ra tis t strategy emerges which calls for the state to regulate prices and allocate government contracts to c orpo ra tions which agree to reorganize themselves is almost a moot ques tio n . Econom ist Sam Bowles was one o f the first observers to note that either public policy strategy would be forced to impose massive political repression and civil terror upon workers. Following this line o f reasoning, C a lifo rn ia State Senator John Schmitz, a former Congressperson and colonel in the M anne Corps re serves. openly advanced the proba bility o f a military coup in the U.S. as “ the best we could hope fo r.” In the O ctober 30, ,981 issue o f the Los Angeles Tim es, Schm itz sketched the fo llo w in g scenario: “ Reagan’s programs fail, the econ omy disintegrates, people are rioting in the streets, the Russians plan an invasion to take advantage o f the domestic strife, the m ilitary recog nizes the threat and the coup oc curs.” Schmitz stated that the coup w ill happen w ith in several years, “ definitely by 1986.” The current economic qrisis can only be resolved by Reagan at the expense o f the civil rights and eco nomic opportunities o f Blacks, La tinos and lab o r. Unless new eco nomic strategies are forthcom ing from these groups, the logic o f Rea ganomics must in e vita b ly move toward a wide-scale reduction in our freedom s. S ch m itz’ s p re d ictio n , which may seem irra tio n a l, might become true. From resistance to sabotage Oregonians face budget cuts timated to cost between $500 and $600 m illion in 1979-1981, almost doubling the funds used for tax- relief. Tax re lie f and aid to local governments exceeded 50 per cent of the general fund in 1979-1981. The Legislature also com m itted general fund money to the State Po lice and parks that had previously been funded by the highway fund. In 1979, the growth rate o f per sonal income dropped sharply and total employment declined the next year. The recession o f 1979-1981 re sulted in a projected tax revenue shortfall o f $309 m illio n . To bal ance the budgets the Legislature met in special session in 1980, raised taxes by $100 m illion and cut $128 million from the budget. The state now faces a $237 million s h o rtfall and is prevented by its ters, from Penn Central in 1970 to Chrysler, First Pennsylvania Bank As the current recession deepens and the Hunt brothers in 1980. For this w inter, many Americans have the autom otive retail industry, in begun to question the econom ic cluding parts suppliers, service sta philosophy o f Ronald Reagan. Re tions, new and used car dealers and publicans and conservative Dem o repair shops, bankruptcies in 1980 crats embraced “ supply-side” eco rose more than 96 per cent. Personal nomics, giving b illio ns to special bankruptcies in the U .S. increased corporate interests and upper in fro m 179,223 in 1977 ,o over come groups. We have not yet un 4 5 0 ,0 0 0 in 1981, w ith projected derstood, however, the basic eco losses to creditors in excess o f $6.4 nomic foundations or reasons for b illio n . For w hite m iddle class Reagan's current policies, and the fam ilies, even their solitary hedge a u th o ritarian nature o f these p o l against inflatio n , the home, ceased icies. to provide any real security in the In econom ic term s, the early early ,980s. A fte r adjustm ent for 1980s are characterized in part by in flatio n and financing discounts, the crisis o f capital accum ulation the average price o f homes fell 10 and the steads erosion in the stan- , per cent in 1981, “ the steepest drop dard o f living o f the white middle since the Depression,’ ’ according to class. The nuinbei o f small business the N ew York Times. The number failures, to cite one exam ple, has o f mortgage foreclosures instituted reached epidemic proportions. D ur on homes financed by the Federal ing the first week o f October, 1981, Housing A dm inistration was over 468 l . S . companies— dry cleaners, 2,000 each month in 1981, a 30 per lum ber m ills, restaurants, retail cent increase over 1980. stores- closed permanently. From The economic crisis is expressed Septem ber. 1980 to Septem ber, within racial relations as a public re 1981, com m ercial and in d u stria l pudiation o f civil rights legislation failures exceeded 12,600, a 250 per passed in the 1960s and a vicious cent increase over the bankruptcy posture towards health care, we! rale ol 1978. The number o f busi fare, job training and social service ness failures in 1982 may exceed programs which benefit large num those in 1982 when 2 2.9 09 firm s bers o f Blacks and H ispanics. A were shut. M edian U .S . fam ily in- decade ago, even so m alignant a ics have grown from $7,500 in p o litic ia n as R ichard N ixon was •"> m id-1960s to over $ 22 ,00 0 in forced to promote “ Black Capital- 1981. But in fla tio n climbed from ism ’ ’ by releasing federal reserve onls 2 per cent in 1965 looser 12 per funds to Black-owned banks, a p cent in 1980, negating any real in poin ting a C iv il Rights leader, come gains. As a result, many lames Farmer, to his Cabinet, and "m id d le slass" w hues believe that expanding welfare and some social the le d e ia l g o ve rn m en t’ s d eficit service programs. Under Reagan, all spending. Keynesian economic pol stops have been p u lle d . D aniel icies since the Great Depression, and Moy nihan’s infamous ,970 memo- national, state and local taxes are randum to N ix o n , ju s tify in g “ be the reasons lo r their econom ic nign neglect” o f Blacks, has suc plight. cumbed to a public policy posture A series ol major bankruptcies »Inch threatens to smash a ffirm a and near bankruptcies threatened to tive action, vocational program s, produce a chain o f economic disas food stamps and a host o f projects National Advertising Repretantativs A m alg am ated Publishers. Inc N aw York (Continued fro m page I column 4) hovering over the area, and in the cities columns o f tanks passed regu larly to and from the mines. Sources in the area report that ev erybody living close to the mines has been evacuated, leaving the miners isolated in the shafts. For the first ten days their only contact to the world ou tsid e— except for the arm y’ s negotiators' — was a priest, who has been lowered into the mines once a day to say the mass and de liver the sacrament. No one dared guess how the situa tion would end or when the striking workers will have to give up from lack o f food and water. Five days earlier the same city was the scene ol regular fights between striking coal miners from the W ujek mine in ihe center o f Katowice and members ot the para military security forces, tbc so-called " Z O M O s .” The fights around the W u jek mine arc the only case where the army has officially admitted killing workers But no details o f the fight have been released. According to local residents the W ujek strike began December 13. immediately after the military take over, as 5, (XX) workers occupied the m ine. For the firs , tw o days the army tried to handle the situation. But by December 15, the haled se curity force, the Z O M O , took charge o f the situation. Fights broke out within hours. The Z O M O s smashed the b arri cades and the walls around the mine with tanks and armoured cars and started attacking the workers. E x pecting a violent assault, the coal miners fought back with iron poles and homemade spears in a bloody siege that lasted six hours. Polish sources who have spoken to doctors and other hospital per sonnel that treated wounded Z O MOs say that the police were under heavy influence o f alcohol and pos sibly drugs. A ll eyewitnesses agree tha, the Z O M O s acted w ith im mense brutality, even dragging ou, seriously wounded workers from the ambulances to continue kicking and beating them. When the battle had ended, seven people were dead, and later fou r more died in the hospital from their wounds. Several more were report edly seriously wounded and under going treatment. 1 hroughout Poland, Ihe most ob vious feeling among people is fear. Several persons I talked to cried. Those who had fam ily in western countries asked me to mail letters to them when I returned home. A l ways, the contents o f the letters were the same: “ Do no, come back. Stay where you are. Things arc terri ble in Poland now.” “ P ray fo r u s,” a priest said. “ That is the only thing to do at the moment. Pray that all arrested peo ple will get out again and that no more will ge, killed___ ” E verybody was a fra id to speak and during all conversations they kept saying: “ D o remem ber to change all names and lilies, so that we arc not recognized.” Twice people whom I was to meet “ fo rg o t” an appointm ent — from fear o f being seen with a foreigner. Only the children seemed to over come their fears as they begged for chocolate, candy and fruits. Everyw here people fear the a r rests will continue, though perhaps on a reduced scale. In Poznan, a city o f some half- million people, sources connected to Solidarity claimed that about 1,000 local members o f the union are locked up in an old Nazi prison situ ated in the swamps around the town o f W ronki, north o f Poznan. In the K atow ice area, where about 2 m illio n people live, all sources say that the number o f peo ple arrested is “ at least 2 ,0 0 0 .“ Many claim that the prisoners were first gathered at the city stadium and that some o f them are still there, living in tents because the pri sons are crammed. While no reports on the prisoners’ co n d itio n have been confirmed, it is known that the stadium is heavily guarded, a pe culiar fact in itself since the army has p ro h ib ited all public sports events, A Danish photographer, Heine Petersen, who was arrested Decem ber 21 when he took pictures o f tanks standing in a square in K a towice. said that the arrested people were far from giving up hope: “ A, one tim e the others in the cell shouted ‘ facists* and 'bandits' at the guards, and one o f them constantly refused to eat food handed out by the guards. “ I, was d iffic u lt to talk to the four people with whom I shared a three-person cell, but one o f them spoke a little G e rm a n , so we got along fine by means o f signs and gestures. “ Once (when) I came back to the cell after an in terro g atio n , one o f the others asked if I had been beat en. I said no, but many o f the others told that they had.” Petersen said. He was released after 24 hours, hav ing paid a fine o f 5,000 sloty ($150). Prisoners are not allowed to con tact their fam ilies and no, even priests are permuted to enter the pri sons at the moment. Nobody knows for sure where the arrested people are, bu, in K atow ice the m ilita ry command has officially guaranteed the local bishop, Bednorz, that all prisoners are still in Poland and that almost all o f them rem ain in the local area. However hopeless the situation seems now, there rem ains among the Poles an abiding belief that in the long run the people in power cannot refuse to continue some o f the reforms that Solidarity has put through. A journalist expressed that com mon attitude when he said: “ Things will never be the way they were three or four years ago. People learned things they will remember no matter how the situation develops. Now we will have to live with this new situa tion and sec what happens. S o li darity was the voice o f the nation. I ha, voice no longer exists, but the ideas and the visions are still there.” Receive the Observer by meil. Only 110 a yeer. Subscribe nowl Name _ Address Z ip Send check, payable ,o the Portland Observer, to: Portland Observer P.O. Box 3137 Portland. OR 97208
