M arch 29, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
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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!
JjJortlanb (Observer
(USPS 959-680)
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