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.
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iM i
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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.”
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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 ."