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Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS t The budge? cuvs: should business fill ?he gaps? By Richard I.. I.esher. President Chamber of Commerce of the United States Ever since Congress passed President Reagan's sweeping budget and tax cuts, a chorus of voices, including in-cluding some from the administration, has been calling upon the business commuinty to demonstrate its "social responsibility'' by filling various gaps left by these cuts That notion brings to mind some intriguing questions and possibilities: Which company will volunteer some of its employees for duty when OSHA looses a few inspectors? Which business will assume to cost c f photographing different colored streamers as they are tossed from an airplant a project funded recently by the National Endowment for the Arts? Let's get serious about this question. What is the role of business in an era of federal budgetary austerity? Should business match, dollar for dollar, the reductions that have been pared from the federal budget? According to Patricia Harris, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter administration, ad-ministration, the answer is yes. "Business," she writes in a recent article, "is now vulnerable to concrete demands for financial support of activity ac-tivity which the federal government has abandoned." Various administration ad-ministration officials have been flirting recently with the same idea. In the process, they are undermining one of the chief premises of the president's economic program. To claim that there is an urgent need for the private sector to replace budget cuts with its own brand of social welfare spending is to say, "You were right all along, bureaucrats. There is no fat in the federal budget. Every program and every expenditure is essential. Any cuts we make must automatically result in reduced services." ser-vices." Up to now. Congress has only reduced the budget increases planned by the previous administration. There are many more billions which can be cut from bureaucratic overhead and from those who don't deserve program benefits without adversely affecting the poor. . The challenge facing the business commuinty is not to make the same mistakes government has made by sinking valuable resources into ineffective inef-fective programs, but to better channel the things we do best toward meeting the important goals of our society. Historically, private enterprise in America has been extremely successful suc-cessful at generating profits for stockholders and jobs for workers, and in the process, many other benefits which together, have provided Americans with the highest standard of living ever known: health insurance, pensions, education, vacations and r consumer comforts to name a j '; Good business has enriched tie ' coffers of local, state and lei-: governments as well, so that tie;: ' able to provide for those less fc : than we. That has been the traditional re business in meeting the social nee ;.' American no small achievemes: ' we must do more. L. If there is still any disagree: about social goals such as eqi ' portunity for women and minorte , healthy environment and a deais ;r workplace, you won't hear itfrc:" .. overwhelming majority of to- people. A strong consensus-!.; emerged over the importance of:-; goals. The only disagreemffii --;. remains is how we can best . . them. As business takes advar, . the new incentives to 8? r. ' modernize and create new tectev . and new jobs, we must do lit-direct lit-direct grow ing economic oppottt- ? to those who have been tradfc- .. disadvantaged. The opening words of te; Chamber's mission, affirmed I? 170.000 business members, 5, advanc human progress... :-business :-business progress, but t-progress. t-progress. Economic opportutc . social welfare spending- : business is best at providing .T ; the turnaround in economic : pt ' in Washington, we will : ?;. provide more of it in the are going to do a better job atsp- ; it around to everyone- '! |