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.
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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.”
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