Portland Observer, February 23,1983 Page 3
Joli S o u th w all, flrot diroctor
of tho Simon Aduh Servie« Cen-
tsr, visita wtth oM Monde during
conter '• opon houee.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
Aaron Mitchefl and
Son Plumbing
* Experienced Plum ber
* Licensed and Bor\ded
Established in business for 25 years
Havp lived in the Portland Area for 40 years
WE STAND BEHIND ALL JOBS
1703 N.E. Alberta 288-4040
REP. ED LEEK
Leek meets voters
25%
Ed Leek, Slate Representative
from District IS, will hold a com
munity forum at the St. Andrews
Community Center, on Saturday,
February 26, 10a m. -I I a.m.
Topics o f discussion will include:
Is a sales tax in your best interest;
understanding the T ri-M e t tax; ex
tension of unemployment benefits;
ERA for the State of Oregon.
o ff
all New & Used
Vacuum
Cleaners
Third world nations' debt threatens crisis
(Continued from page I column 6)
from its 146 member-nations and
lends money to help them meet their
foreign debts. The current lending
pool, which is supposed to last
through 1985. is $66 billion, but the
fund is down to $15 billion.
The IM F last week voted to in
crease the lending pool by 46.5 per
cent. The developing nations advo
cated doubling; Japan suggested 65
percent and the U .S . held out for
the lowest amount—40 percent.
The U .S. quota is 20.7 percent,
which gives the U .S . veto powet
over IM F policy decisions. This con
tribution does not increase the feder
al budget because the contribution is
actually a line o f credit IM F can
draw on and when funds are drawn
the U.S. Treasury receives interna
tional reserve assets that earn in
terest. In ad dition , the U .S - has
been the IM F's second largest user,
drawing on IM F funds 25 times
since 1960. a total o f about $6.5
billion.
Even if the IM F meeting results in
a call for increased funding, the
plan will face trouble in Congress.
The House Banking Committee has
already announced that it will a t
tempt to tighten regulations on U.S.
commercial banks’ foreign loans in
exchange for the IM F increase.
Debt restructuring
A group of financial experts and
congressmen are proposing a plan
that would convert developing na
tions* loanr to long-term low-inter
est loans to avert the possibility of
default. They propose to ceate an
international organization that
would buy the developing country’s
loan from the banks at 90 cents on
the dollar. In exchange, the banks
would receive long term bonds, due
in 10 to 20 years, at lower interest
rates. The country would pay the
loan to the organization over the
same period o f time and the
organization would use the loan to
pay off the banks.
If $300 billion in short-term loans
were turned into 20- to 30-year loans
at 6 percent interest, this would save
the developing nations $13 to $20
billion a year.
Opposition comes from the
banks, which would lose 10 cents on
the dollar but would have safer
loans. The fear that a government
bailout would further “ nationaliza
tio n " o f the banks and interferes
with the banks' “ independence."
is not a man or a nation but an eco
nomic doctrine that inflation can be
stopped by shutting o ff the money
tap."
In 1947-1951, a global recession
was averted by spending vast
amounts of money in Europe under
the Marshall plan; in 1974-78 heavy
borrowing by m iddle-income de
veloping nations ended the U.S. re
cession of 1974.
“ The overall movement in both
cases was toward a more equal
world and reduced international
tensions," Jha said. "Perhaps this
is what the 'old' nations no longer
want and monetarism is a veil to
cloak their true political aims."
EUREKA ELECTRIC CO
140 N.E. Broadway»287-9420
Naw world economic order
In October of 1979, when he ad
dressed the United Nations to report
on the 6th Summit Conference of
the Movement of Non-Aligned Na
tions, Fidel Castro, chairm an o f
that movement, proposed that $300
billion (at 1977 real value, now ap
proximately $400 billion) be distrib
uted in $25 billion annual payments
for investment in underdeveloped
countries. This would be in the form
o f donations and long-term , low-
interest credits. This money could
be used for development according
.o the nation's own industrialization
ind social policies, and for educa
tion, health care and food produc
tion.
This would be accompanied by a
New W orl Economic Order which
would give T h ird W o rld nations
control over their own wealth, and
establish equity in world trade to en
sure developing nations receive a
fair price for their exports.
The Third W orld debt is a result
o f the economic policies o f the
Western developed nations. Failure
to solve this problem will drive the
entire world's economy to a co l
lapse. Prem Shankar Jha o f India
wrote: “ The high interest rates that
are driving the Third World toward
an economic breakdown are not an
act of God. Nor are they ordained
by the immutable laws of econom
ics. They have been forced up by the
concerted action o f the advanced
countries which since 1979 have
been following monetarist policies
designed to reduce the growth o f
money supply in order to reduce in
flation.
“ The ultimate criminal therefore
WHAT IF ELECTRICITY
CAMEINACAN?
r r » » ’
V /A ’
1
C.W
Imagine you
could walk into a
store and buy elec
« G 1
tricity in a can.
I
T r r r r r r t » »
month,
Then when you
zou know
wanted to light a
K l L O W A T ^ H i .)
le power
room, dry your
Control
how
much
clothes, cook your
icityyouuse,
dinner, or do any of a
you begin to see how
thousand jobs electric
you can hold your
ity can do, you’d simply
electricity costs
go to your cupboard,
down.
open a can or two, and use
So the next time
some electricity.
you
turn on a switch,
Interesting thought, isn’t it?
dry your laundry, or
After a while, you’d know about
bake a cake in an electric oven, think
how many cans oi electricity you use
what it would be like if you bought
each month. And since you’d have to
your power in a can.
buy more cans when you ran out, you’d
You just might see the value of elec
probably be careful about how much
tricity in a whole new light.
electricity you use.
CKAIUTS «IT
JEFFERSON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
MARCH 3-4-5, 8:00 P.M.
Adulta S3, Students & Senior Cltizana . *2 .
Ticket» Stevena & Sona Lloyd Cantor. Motor & Frank, Downtown;
Jerierson, 2:30 - 4 : 3 0 . . . Monday - Friday.
THE PEOPLE AT PACIFIC POWER
net toll
f («•Mr«
S