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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1983)
Portland Observer, September 7, 1983 Page 5 The Unfulfilled Dream As the charts and graphs on this page show. D r. King's dream o f jobs and freedom — to say nothing o f jobs, peace and freedom — is as far, and perhaps farther, away today than it was in 1963. These graphs, using figures taken from U .S . Government publica tions, tell the story: The official rate o f unemployment up from 4.8 per cent in August, 1963 to nearly 10 percent today. Real spendable »ages down from S166.23 per week in 1965 (using 1977 dollars) to $147.05 per week in 1981 and down even further today, if measured in those same 1977 dollars. O ur share o f what we produce continues to shrink — and our share o f the feder al tax burden continues to grow. And all o f this at a time when social programs are cut in order to make it possible to squander even more money on wasteful and un-needed military spending. Add it all up and we have our bottom line: M ore than 34 million people forced to live in poverty — an increase o f nearly one and a quarter million since 1965. Our share gets smaller W orking people are victimized in three ways: As taxpayers, forced to carry an even larger part o f the tax burden. As consumers, whose spendable income falls further and further behind the cost o f living and as producers o f the goods that pro vide the underpinning o f our society. Graph " A " shows how the output per production worker in U .S. manufacturing industries changed between 1965 and 1980, the last year for which detailed figures are available. A. 5 -D O «4 SI IA 9 O 1969 equal to 31 percent o f the value added by their labor. By 1980 wages amounted to only 27 percent of value added in manufacture, mean ing that the handful o f men who own the basic industries o f our country were able to sweat even more out o f those o f us who work for a living than they had in 1963. 1980 In 1963 there were 12,232,000 production workers employed in all U.S. manufacturing industries. Their labor added $192 billion dollars to the value o f the materials used in making cars, steel, refrigerators and other things, meaning that the labor power o f each production worker created $15,700 in additional value in 1963. By 1980 the production workforce in manufacturing was 14,200,000 or 16 percent larger than in 1963. These workers produced $773 billion in added value, for an average o f $54,400 per worker. In other words, a workforce that was 116 percent larger in 1980 than it was in 1963, was able to produce values that were more than four times as large as those produced in 1963. Now look at things from another angle, as we do in Graph “ B ." In 1963 manufacturing produc tion workers received $60 billion in wages — an amount approximately by Ross Danielson. District Leader The Portland Observer's editorial o f August 31 too easily concluded that the County Democratic Central Committee had skirted responsibili ty by “ watering dow n” a resolution against the sales tax. The original resolution, which boldly threatened wayward elected officials, was poor ly worded and open to a wide range o f principled criticism. It is a won der that a positive resolution was wrung from such a beginning. The amended resolution, which was consequently adopted in oppo sition to the sales tax. requires the Party to provide all County precinct people with the voting records o f Ad • • women — one has a better under standing o f why households headed by women in general, and Black and Latin women in particular, have be come the special victims o f the growing poverty in the United Stales. Poverty In tha Unltad States In early August, the Census Bureau issued its latest study on poverty. Its report shows that there are more people living below the poverty line — the government sets the poverty line for a fam ily o f 4 at $9,862 — than at any time since 1965. vw f A i i L i O H S . 34<i 35 » Claeses now at this location 5940 N. Interstate Ave. Ptld OR 97217 Dance Ballet Modem Jazz Pat Stoppel Dance i Director. Patricia MA, Dance Formerly with Ketth Martin Dance Co. Plano Beginning and Intermediate ■ £ Keyboard • Advanced Piano Jazz Modern Electronic Keyboard Synthesizer Organ Teacher. David Sferrazza 282 9661 Trum pet and Trom bone All ages Teacher, Jack Kanstul Instructor. Mary Fowler 282 9661 289-9791 Teacher. Robin Lesch Kanstul 282-9661 Accordlan ¡ CO UPO N | * This entitles student to one free lesson with first month's registration during weeks of August 28 through Sept. 10th. p e o n e u v iN q buow -rtteRwe«™ u n í ^ o . COBI Collection Pretty colors for all faces iM i e .6 % qM P. 1 From I960 through 1965. dispos able personal income amounted to about 66 percent o f G N P . It in creased to 69 percent by 1970 and to 71 percent in 1975. By 1980 it had declined to 65 percent — and we all know that it has gone down since. I f we keep in mind that “ dispos able personal income" includes everybody and that the rich have gotten richer in recent years (As a matter o f fact, they have gotten richer ever since), then it is easy to see that, by any measure, workers and other poor people are getting a smaller share o f our nation's wealth today than they got in 1963. U nem ploym ent In August, 1963 unemployment stood at an officially counted 5.2 percent and the government adm it ted that a little more than 3,750,000 people were unemployed. By August, 1983 those figjres had increased until the official rate of unemployment stood at nearly 10 H it. o f benefits, either — nor the fact that nearly half o f all unemployed workers receive no unemployment compensation at all. They do not take into account the fact that more than 375,000 workers filed initial claims for unemployment benefits during the last week o f July. And they are silent — they do not measure the suffering — that results from the fact that the number o f people who have been unemployed for a year or more increased from 55,000 in 196910 1,500,000 last M ay — a 3,000 percent increase! However, a careful examination o f the figures makes it possible to draw some very ugly conclusions: Like the fact that every year for the las: 20, unemployment among Black workers has been nearly double the national average and considerably more than twice the rate for white workers. The same disproportionate bur den has been forced on Black teen agers who, even by official measu- ures, have suffered a rate o f unem ployment that has dropped below the 20 percent level only twice since 1963 and have averaged more than 25 percent every year since 1969. When one considers the rising rate of unemployment among women workers — and the special burden born by Black and > *•’" The Census Bureau says that, o f the nearly 34.5 million people living in poverty, 23.5 million are white, 9.7 million are Black and 4.3 million are Latins. And, in what may be the most damning statement in the study, the Bureau says that 2.6 million people were driven into poverty in 1982 — and that 9.9 m il lion people were hammered below the poverty line between 1978 and 1982 There's more to the ugliness of poverty: W hile it's bad enough that 12 percent o f all white people live in poverty, it's even worse than that for Blacks — at 35.6 percent — and Latins — at 29.9 percent. Further proof of the racist nature o f poverty in the United States is found in the fact that 47 percent o f all Black children are living in poverty. W K iT C MCN elected State officials pertaining to sales tax and other legislative pri ority areas adopted by the Oregon Democratic Party. This inform ation will be provided to precinct people at least 8 days before precinct peo ple cast ballots for endorsement of candidates in the spring primary. Taking issue with the Observer's editorial, this action by the M u ltn o mah County Democrats is a big deal By taking this action, any rep resentative or senator who has “ erred" on the sales tax issue and is challenged by an opponent in the primary elections will have great d if ficulty capturing the Party's en dorsement. Endorsement requires winning either three fourths o f all County precinct people or at least half o f all County precinct people and three fourths o f the precinct people in a specific district voting in the P arty’s endorsement decisions. T o further strengthen the Party’s opposition to a sales tax, the County Democratic Executive Comm ittee .4 . last week resolved to appoint a com mittee on state revenue issues, and this committee w ill conduct polls o f representatives and senators relating to the sales tax question. O f course any action by the Party would be even a bigger deal i f the Democrats' endorsement comes to mean more than it has in the past. But for this to happen, the Party needs more o f some o f the items mentioned in the Observer's editori al — money, volunteers, committees, coalitions, and grassroots move ment. Against a background o f previous efforts to strengthen the Party, the current Party action is a good step forward which should be supported instead of derided. A t the same time, it should be recognized that the Party suffers from many weak nesses that can only be overcome by greater rank and file involvement, improved leadership, and new ideas. In this respect, the Portland Observ er’ s attention and critique o f the Party are most welcome. CALL THE COBI HOTLINE “ I think it was unjustifiable. Especially those families on the plane. There were other ways to go about it besides shooting it dow n.” FQR FURTHER INFORMATION (5 For Hair and Skin 7 27 SW T 2fh Ave Poftland. OR 3 7205 (503) 228-0038 by Lenite D uke and Richard Brow n g o t t i ‘y o u r w TOTAL PACKET VALUE $145.00— ALL FOR ___________________$99.00____________________ Street Beat Jam es Faison Landscaper wrr'OtvM. Free expert skin analysis and makeup application during the month ot September with the purchase ot your very own dream deluxe model s make up case to fulfill your cosmetic fantasies soft or intense exquisite colors to choose from and key brushes tor perfect o- application a travelers delight featuring wipeable lightweight convenient kits COBI Collection the newest and prettiest colors in the great northwest pretty colors tor all faces from vorv to ebony Reprinted fro m Labor Today. j K District 18 News When signed, the opinions are those o f the author. When unsigned, this column represents the viewpoint o f the officers o f District 18 Demo crats. Address comments to Ross Danielson. District 18 Democratic Leader, c /o the Observer. ou © l$ P O S A 6 L t PCAS0WAL INCOME I960 1963 The Keyboard and Dance Arts + ■ M«'v L « » FowMt. Center, Inc. sc^ d - c ,™ Graph ' C " compares the total disposable income o f all people living in the United States with the gross national product (G N P ). TVoAxctiew » x s k a /i^ taTok VaJU* n a j i j g V«Jk* «44*4 per ueskex* percent, with some I I million people counted as unemployed. As with all figures, there is more to the unemployment figures than meets the eye: In the first place the official figure does not count “ dis couraged" workers — those who have given up looking for non-exis tent jobs. They do not count those who are forced to work part-time because there are not full-tim e jobs for them. I f these were counted then the rate o f unemployment would be about 15 percent and more than 15,000,000 people would be consid ered unemployed. The official figure does not take into account those who have run out Beginning ita 5th year The downing o f a South Korean plane in Soviet airspace last weekend made and has kept the headlines. The Street Beat team asked, “ What was your reaction when you heard o f the downing o f that aircraft?” Shirley McCoy Sheer "T h e re is no rhyme or reason as to why it was done. It could have been handled better w ith out all that d eath ." Klmo Hooga Roofer " I can't explain hate. I don't care what the reason was. There is no excuse. I'm afraid if I saw a Russian in front o f me I'd pound his head in ." Art Fuller Retired Rick Brown Tire Store O w ner " I couldn’t they would do deal. W e are wasn’t worth that it cost." understand why it. It was a bad all human. It the human life " I t was bad. There is no reason for killing all those peo ple. Things like that just brings on w a r." Robin Qreiner Health was horrified. I couldn't believe it. I don't think they had any reason to d o it ."
