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M arch 29, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver P age A2 wc / J t w .. f you are tire d of Republican hypocracy about the fe d e ra l budget deficit and debt--i.e., those primarily responsible for deliberately creating deficits acting like they're actually concerned about them; and if y o u ’re tired of Dem ocratic hypocracy--i.e., alleging to protect surplus Social Security fund when they have already been spending them on the budget deficit; then maybe you're ready to read this week's JaxFax. David Stockm an. Ronald Reagan's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, revealed, first in The Atlantic Monthly and later in his book, that the Republican strategy in 1081 was to deliberately create huge budget deficits and dra matically drive up the national debt as a way of forcing cutbacks in do mestic spending. For Perspective: For over 200 years, from George Washington through Jimmy Carter, the accumu lated national debt was $908 billion. After just 12 years of Reagan Bush economic policies-i.e., huge tax breaks for the rich (originally S750 billion)—the debt actually quadru pled to nearly $4 trillion. One expert has estimated that tax cuts enacted since the late 1970s for the richest 31 1 lì IN IB Ifl iW AT IC )N AI C O A L IT IO N Balancing The Budget l°o o f families cost the federal trea sury $164 billion in 1992—i.e.. $84 billion in decreased revenues and $81 billion in interest on the accumu lated debt. The Reagan Bush fiscal policies which, on the one hand allowed the rich to pay less than their fair share of taxes, on the other hand forced the government to borrow from them to finance the debt-a double bonanza for the rich. The deficit must be put in per spective. Deficit fixation and attempts to cut the deficit too deeply and too quickly can paralyze efforts to bring about much needed domestic change, drag the economy down, increase unemployment and actually increase the deficit itself. Borrowing per se is not neces sarily bad. Borrow im> to bus a house or to fund ones education is different than borrow ing to pay off gambling debts or to buy drugs and alcohol. There is an important difference be tween consumption expenditure and investment expenditures. Addition ally, if one takes out a mortgage on a house, then gets a promotion and a significant salary increase on their job, the mortgage payment actually becomes less burdensome. There fore, the size of the deficit, in and of itself, is not a drag on the economy . When business does not expand it is because of lack of demand, not the budget deficit. Thus, if the economy were to become a high growth, high wage, full employ ment economy, the burden of the deficit w ould actually decline. Another argument for deficit reduction is that the deficit pushes up interest rates. During the 1980s. when the deficit shot up, interest rates re mained essentially the same There is a much stronger link between Feder al Reserve policies and rising inter est rates. Perspective also means seeing the deficit in relation to the size ofthe economy . The sum may be large in 1995, but in 1945, due to the unprec edented size of wartime expendi tures, the federal deficit was more than 22% o f GDP. compared to roughly 5% in 1993. Obsession with the budget defi cit created even more tragic deficits. Our deficits are also in our rundown infrastructure o f roads, bridges, air ports, waste disposal facilities and lack of environmental protection. They are in our failure to combat crime and drugs and in a significant part of a generat ion grow ing up sem i- literate, in an unending cycleofpov- erty. Our deficits are in an education al system increasingly falling beyond other systems in the world, and in the gaps of child care, health care and the inadequate housing oftensof million of Americans. Finally, when Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) brings up the Balanced Bud get Amendment again in the middle of the 1996 campaign, thanks to JaxFax Rainbow readers will be armed. Balanced Budget Amendment Needed Defeat R obert N. T aylor bi n a historic vote, the U.S. Senate recently < failed by just one vote to pass the cornerstone of the Republican Party's so-called “Contract with America,” - the Balanced Budget Amendment. It is good that the amendment failed. While the federal government should live within its means w ithout taxing away the incomes of the Amer ican people, the balanced budget amendment was a bad idea. First of all. we take the position that if you truly want to balance the federal bud get. then balance the federal budget. Do not pass a constitutional amend ment (which could take up to two years to be approved by the neces sary 38 states), simply get to work j| balancing the budget. The Republi can attempt to get the amendment seems hypocritical. During the 12 years ofthe Republican presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, neither ever submitted a balanced budget. The reason was is that it is a whole lot easier to talk about it than to actually do it. Secondly, the balanced bud get am endm ent would have giv en too much power to the courts. Instead o f budgetary decisions being made in C ongress, they would increasingly be made in the courtroom . Such a prospect w o u lj lead to Am erica being a less dem ocratic country because a handful o f judges would end up refereeing disputes. Third, with the new Republican majority in both the House and the Senate, the likelihood is that the bud get wou Id be "balanced" on the backs of the poor and lower working class es. Witness, the amount of time the Republicans have been spending on various schemes to reduce or elimi nate welfare. Most people are not aware ofthe fact that the two major welfare programs (AFDC and Food Stamps) only account for approxi mately 2 percent of the federal bud get. The Republicans focus on wel fare because it is easy. The poor and lower working classes do not have lobbyists in Washington and they do not vote at the levels they should Finally , it is highly problematic as to whether a truly balanced budget is practical in modern society. It is often argued that if most citizens have to live within their budgets, so should the federal government. But the fact is that most citizens do not live within their budgets. Unless you paid for your car and house in cash and pay off the entire balances on your credit cards each month and never go into debt, you are not living within your budget. To a consider able degree the American society runs on debt. Now. please understand that we believe federal government spend ing needs to be curtailed. The gov ernment is taking too much from its citizens in taxes. But the very people who now want to pass a balanced budget amendment are the people who passed the laws and programs which threw' the budget out o f bal ance in the first place. If you want to stop the government from spending more than it takes in then stop pass ing all those laws and funding all those programs. Congress already has the power to balance the budget. Just do it. C ivil Rights Journal; Affirming Affirmative Action B ernice P owell J ackson bv ¥ resident Clinton says it has the potential to splinter the country in next year's elections. He was referring to affirmative action. He was referring to his con cern about the alienation of white working class voters. What he may not realize is that it has the potential to split the country even if there were no election next year. And he also must be concerned about the alien ation of people o f color as this coun try lurches toward being a country with no racial ethnic majority early in the new century. Affirmative action was designed to be a remedy for past discrimina tion in the work force, particularly against African Americans andwom- en. In the decades since it was insti tuted, the African American middle class has grown steadily. Affirma tive action has benefitted many in the black middle class, allow ing many of Science Center Inc. bs M ichael A. J ohnson (7 ^ he S cience S kills I I Center was started in VLx 1979 by a group of African-Am erican scientists and e d u c a to rs con cern ed about the low level of science participation of young people in their community. The Science Skills Center is a not for profit community based orga nization headquartered in the pros pect Heights section of Brooklyn The Center's primary objectives arc to encourage young minority and fe male students to pursue science and mathematics careers and to instill a positive attitude toward themselves. us to enter educational institutions where we would never have studied otherwise and to enter careers which had heretofore been closed to us. But affirmative action has also benefitted the rest of the country as •well. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South African one pointed out how much their nation had lost in human potential because o f apartheid and the same could be said of this country as well. Our total society has benefitted by its commitment to seek out intentionally those who had been kept out in the past. It is important to also remember that African Americans and people o f color are not the only direct bene ficiaries of affirmative action. Thus, the inclusion of white women in the work force through affirmative ac tion has benefitted white families directly by increasing their earnings and standard of living. Since most white women are married to white men, white men. too. have benefitted from affirmative action. California is facing a ballot test of its affirmative action policies led, in part, by an African American busi nessman. Indeed, as the debate on affirmative action grows louder, con servatives are quick to point out that there are African Americans opposed to affirmative action. They point to people I ike C larence Thomas, whose entire career is a direct result of affir mative action. But critics o f affirm ative ac tion fail to point to the many, many others who favor its poli c ie s . P e o p le like Dr, Joy ce L ad n er, interim p re sid e n t o f Howard University, who has ob served that affirm ative action isn ’t about putting unqualified people into opportunities which they are totally unprepared. Peo ple like Hug Price, president of the National Urban League, who warns, “now is not the time for society to waver on the goal o f full inclusion in the mainstream." People like California Assembly better Speaker W illie Brown, who has pointed out that even with cu r rent state affirm ative action p o l icies, blacks and H ispanics still lag behind in faculty tenure p o si tions and adm issions, as well as in g o v ern m en t b u sin ess c o n tracts. People like Jesse Jackson, Mary Frances Berry and the C on gressional Black Caucus. Critics of affirmative action ar gue that we have given preferences to African Am ericans for long enough. But they neglect to look at the millions of African Americans who are still unemployed, untrained and who have been written off by society as the "permanent under class.” What is the remedy for them? Our country cries out for re sponsible leadership around the is sue of affirmative action. Our nation needs affirmative action, whether it wants to admit it or not. Our nation needs jobs for its people and the sooner we deal with that, the better we'll all be. (SLïïiter Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 their families, fellow students and the community so that they will use their understanding o f science to make the world a better place for all people. Over the years, we have been able to accomplish a great deal at the Science Skills Center. Many young people have passed through our doors and have gone on the road to careers in science and mathematics. We were able to accomplish extraordinary achievements, despite the fact that we were underfunded and under staffed while waiting for grant mon ies to arrive The loss of a major funding source caused the staff to work for months without compensa tion We continued to work be cause we felt the m ission was a worthy one. We com pensated for that loss by utilizing fundraising money to keep staff on board. The cuts in our state and city funding, placed us in the posi tion o f repeatedly asking staff to work w ithout rem uneration until m onies were raised We had over 400 students enrolled in the after school pro gram across 4 sites; 3 in Brook lyn and I in Queens. Since our budget was cut drastically, we had no choice but to suspend three sites and keep one site, P S 9. open due to contract obligations Presently, we have 100 students enrolled at this site and the de mand for educational afterschool care is increasing It is now necessary to ask the parents and community to vote on whether or not our program should continue. We must cover a deficit of over $100,000 if we are to continue providing quality service for the ad vancement o f our young people. If you are concerned and able, please send your donation to: Sci ence Skills Center. Inc . 8 0 Underhill Avenue Brooklyn. N Y 11238. if you have any ideas for potential fundraisers, please call 718-636- 6215. Thank you for your kind consid eration and continued support fg m tai—a p e r s p e c 1 1 re s The Education Scene, III by P rof . M< K inlex B i rt (7 ^ here was a very good re sp o n s e to last w eek s ed u ca tio n article. Readers agreed with me that a full and “complete" recitation of historical facts is a crucial element of a useful e d u ca tio n ; so b efore I continue with contemporary issues in O reg o n , and Portland in particular, let me share several of those reader’s comments with you. In respect to r - r r my review of Pe- 1 ter Fry er’s book, “Staying Power: The History o f Black People In Britain”, one lady says, “ It was a wonderful revelation to my chil dren to learn that there were strong, manly blacks w ho preferred to fight for their freedom and human digni ty rather than for the 'cruel slave masters’ as you termed them. This was the true revolution, not that of the land-hungry colonialists in re volt against the constituted author ity.” • The same woman enclosed a photocopy o f an article by the n o ted b la c k h is to ria n , J.A . R ogers (from his “ Your H isto ry”, circa 1930). Rogers cites from a co llec tio n o f G eorge W ashington’s letters in the na tional A rchives: A third o f the arm y o f G e n e ra l P h illip Schuyler in the Revolutionary “ W ar” were N egroes. Schuyler in a desperate effort to get more volunteers w rote W ashington, “ Is it consistent with the Sons o f F reedom ’ to trust th eir all to be defended by slav es?” (Point made). A white reader, an educa tor, waxed eloquent over my “co g en t p re s e n ta tio n ” of M anuel’s book, “ Isaac Newton, H istorian” . I d o n ’t know about all that, but we are certainly in agreem ent that page 5-104 to 106 are perhaps the most c riti cal in the book—m aybe in this genre o fh isto rica l research. We have in the aforem entioned pag es a b rief but accurate descrip tion o f the so -called “Greek Pantheon o f G o d s” which actu ally was A frican in Origin as Newton points o u t—as did Plato, H e re d o tu s, P lin y the e ld e r, D io p , G e o rg e G .M . Jam es, C huncellor W illiam s, John G. Jackson, etc. As A tk in so n said in his book. M agic, Myth And M edi cin e, “ The G reek s w ere the greatest o f thiev es." The A fri cans deified their human heroes, rulers and men o f letters as gods (a p ro c ess ca lle d “euhem er- f I VL* ism”). Black Ammon, Hermes, Osiru, Horus, Isis, Uranus, etc. are now portrayed in the Greek family tree as lily white Zeus, Apollo. Saturn, A phrodite, the lineage correctly on page 105 where he also gives the A fri cans o f ancient Libya credit for major contributions in astro n o my, and developing the calen d a r - while savage G reeks were still dressing in bear skins. This is the land that later became Pronecia, Carthage, etc., and pro duced Hannibal the great African general who took his elep h an ts I over the Alps to defeat the Ro- Professor m ansH is tactics are studied today (Second Punic J Wars). Well, so be it; we return to today’s trials and trib ulations, having left o ff March 15 with an assessment o fO reg o n 's 1991 School Reform Act. At this w rit ing, Friday, March 24, a b itte r ly contested revision (H ouse Bill 2991) is headed for the S enate. In the a c rim o n io u s House hearings in January, one side insisted that the new law was much too subjective, "co n centrating to much on behavior and learning skills at the ex pense o f a good grounding in academic know ledge.” E very body knows where I stand — what do you think about the m atter? W rite us! A fearful parent has called me three times in the past week — after reading last week o f a new "Alternative School" open ing up in N ortheast (44 N.E. Morris St.). To open next fall with the blessings o f the school district, the “N ortheast C om munity School” is a co o p era tive enterprise between the d is trict and a nonprofit co rp o ra tion created by two white P o rt land teachers. It is to be an experim ental M iddle School with” integrated, p ro jec t-o ri ented lessons — the school will draw heavily on parents and volunteers — especially targets the disadvantaged” . Com munity concerns are being ex p ressed loudly and clearly: “ Is this another Adams High S ch o o l’ Kind o f grant hustle where two Boston H ip pies' were allowed to come here and experim ent with our c h il dren in a do-your-ow n-thing' disaster?" and we hear, “ Is this allegedly independent school really a creature o f a school District and Board that have abandoned any intention o f re ally educating innercity ch il dren?" More next week, but let us hear from you. Please! 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