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Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS 'I The wisdom otf Big Brovher By Richard L. Lesher, Pres., Chamber of Commerce of the United States You can breathe easier now, Flori-dians, Flori-dians, maybe even walk the streets at night again. The Largo 8 has been busted! The Largo 8 is the name given to a gang of elderly gentlemen from a peaceful Florida retirement community communi-ty who gathered for their weekly poker game once too often. Two undercover policemen raided their recent gathering, gather-ing, arrested the conspirators and seized seiz-ed a deck of cards, some poker chips and a pot totalling $24. After a two-day jury trial, the men were convicted, fined fin-ed and sentenced to one month of probation. proba-tion. The stress of this episode sent one of the criminals, a heart patient, to the hospital. The others were flown with their wives to Atlantic City for an all-expense all-expense paid gambling spree as the guests of a major casino. The real crime is that this incident occurred oc-curred in the state whose biggest industry in-dustry is said to be the smuggling and dealing of illegal drugs. I guess the authorities figured they had to get the really dangerous criminals off the streets first! Stockman Not the First To Miss Deficit Taiets Budget Director David Stockman and other administration figures are being worked over on Capitol Hill these days for having issued deficit projections last year that, due to the recession, proved pro-ved to be overly optimistic. Judging by the expressions of shock and outrage from the folks on the Hill, you would think that Stockman's "transgression" represented the first bite from the apple ap-ple of this particular sin. Hardly. During the spring of 1980, as Jimmy Carter was polishing off Teddy Kennedy and gearing up for his fall battle bat-tle with the Republicans, he joined with congressional Democrats to concoct a first budget resolution for fiscal 1981 that, on paper, was actually balanced. Such an achievement would have been a powerful political coup for the President Presi-dent and his party. It was in this context that a heated exchange ex-change occurred on the floor of the House of Representatives on May 12, 1980. A freshman Republican, Rep. Jerry Solomon of New York called the supposedly balanced budget a "hoax" and said, "I cannot believe there is a single member in this chamber today who honestly believes that the budget we passed will stay balanced by the time we consider the second budget resolution this fall." This charge made Democratic Majority Ma-jority Leader Jim Wright so angry that he took the floor and declared: "I am shocked, surprised and deeply disappointed disap-pointed in the remarks just uttered on this floor. ..It is not only balanced, it has a $2 billion surplus. It not only has a $2 billion surplus, it has a $10.5 billion cushion against contingencies." The budget checked in with i j : billion deficit. Big Profits Force Closing of Unique Baxmea Work hard, use your bead, Ul : chances, be honest, and you can be si r cessful. That sounds like a good etbef--instill in our young people, especj those who have strayed onto thepair i crime at an early age. Yet, juvenile offenders at a Los Asi--area detention home launched i a - cessful mail order sales business. 4t : ; were taught the opposite lesson. ; i: After just 18 months in operaacn group of 100 delinquents sold SSCIv worth of Junior Achievement prodjd i such as pillows, T-shirts and basei -caps. Their business acumen oc Aa an award for the best compini: Southern California. Suddenly. Imk-probation Imk-probation officials decided that k much success was getting in thenyr counseling and other institution tivities and they put an end to t r business. The officials were partifiii J ly disturbed by the strange halxsll 7 teenagers were developing, such I working overtime and on weekeoi, order to increase profits. I suppose it should not comeasisa- prise that bureaucrats would coc&i : this behavior to be "abnormal." Bat is still shocking to think that an ins-t tion responsible for tumiiyj vol '' criminals into law-abiding citua would punish these teenagers for t '. "crime" of being too successful. A |