Show Black is a better way By Richard L. Lei President Chamber of Commerce of the United States For the liberal message to the black community has been one blaring and unending commercial for more government as a cure to any and all black Those of us in the business community have sent a different message-free enterprise is the true philosophy of those struggling to get For while the wealthy usually have the influence to live well under any an ambitious poor person can only succeed in a climate of freedom which provides individual rewards achievement and places a premium on dynamic economic It has become customary to believe blacks and will always in the liberal Even if that perception was it isn't Several factors have recently combined to increase the receptivity of blacks to The undeniable failure of so many supposedly compassionate federal the willingness of liberals to take black support for granted and to oppose the repeal of laws which actually keep blacks pinned to the bottom of the economic the recognition by business of the special economic and social needs of the black and the growing commitment by business to marshall the resources of private enterprise and promote genuine economic change-these are aU reasons why more blacks are increasingly looking to business for new leadership and a possible new Americans are by nature a compassionate During the past decade they have voluntarily given billions of dollars in taxes to the federal thinking the money would be used to help those who cannot help 9 But much of that money never reached the because championing the disadvantaged has now become more than an It Is an Thomas a black describes this cruel hoax with these be the poor are a gold By the time they are experimented with and administered the poor have helped many a middle-class liberal to achieve affluence with government Many of these same who believe they alone know the real needs of the are themselves promoting policies which keep the poor For the quest for a new future of no soft technology and lowered expectations has become very chic for many card-carrying liberals who are already members of the leisure But just think what that would mean for poor families struggling to break out of the No growth would freeze them into a permanent position of poverty and Liberals are also fighting repeal of a whole series of laws and regulations which blatantly discriminate against poor working Benjamin executive director of the was recently quoted in magazine saying unnecessary regulations were killing black neighborhoods because but nobody is buying into a decaying black ghetto except blacks So the effect of some regulations is almost percent to exclude But that's just the Eminent black economists like Walter Williams have pointed out that the minimum wage law results in higher black unemployment because it often makes hiring unskilled workers too expensive for only marginally profitable Yet despite the pleadings of black Congressional liberals refuse to port a youth-wage while they continue to favor an unrealistically high minimum But what about blacks who already have a skill-say construction are hoping to get work under a federal Chances are they'll be like many they're They easily be zinged by the Davis-Bacon Act which requires all workers on federal construction projects' to be paid at high prevailing The Administration's economists favor repeal of but labor so President Carter is leaving it Or what about black for who would like to purchase a even they face tremendous Some cities have tremendously expensive licensing So many blacks who could become small businessmen end up collecting I believe the business community is approaching these very real problems with genuine Last U.S. corporations voluntarily bought billion in goods and services from minority-owned business Business is also trying to help straighten out the scandal-ridden CETA program and redirect it into the private sector training program where blacks can learn real skills for productive we must all do But I along with Benjamin Hooks and an increasing number of other black that real progress can only come from a stronger private economy and more private In the words of Hooks the national and in every local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business black leaders and business leaders should be sitting down to deal on the points on which we |