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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune OPINIONFriday, January5, 1996 A23 Federal Budget Stymie Is Somewhat Like a Skyjacking steno CHRIS MATTHEWS CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE WASHINGTON — Tounderstand the politics of the current budget fight, forget the numbers the different Medicaid policies the argument overwhichstats to use. Just picture in your mind the last jet highjacking you witnessed. A huge commercialairlinersits out on the landing field. Several men who haven't shaved lately have stormedthe cockpit just before take-off. They'vetoldtheair traffic controller that the jet and all its passengers are hostages Nowit begins, the familiarritu- staff Leon Panetta and budget di- has two objectives: get the hostages released unharmed; keep er categoryof hostages: children, old people. a favored ethnic group. Often, this involves somesort of trade: people in exchange for their captors from reaping any political gain. The hostage-takers food, people in exchange for someone to come empty out the grams need be fixed. al of negotiation. The government also have twin objectives: get the government to meet their demands; get out alive. Asthe hourspass, andthesolitary plane sits out there on the airfield, we can begin to see the fundamental weaknessofthe hostage-takers’ position. Their first sign of weakness is the “humanitarian gesture.” This is terrorist language for needing to get a sick or badly wounded hostage off their hands before he s. Terrorists don't like This is crude approximation of what the country is watching on TV these past three weeks. We find these samerites of terrorism ployees hostage, refusing to let Tuesday, he was agreeing to send Throughyears of experience in lack of controlover the scene After a couple of days of this standoff, again to showthat they are not savages, the now heavily bearded terrorists release anoth- thefeds temporarily backtotheir offices for a couple of weeks at full pa watching these hostagesituations. we can see who's winning and n embarrassing For all I know, they secretly admire the rich’s cadre of House freshmen take several thousand federal emFHA loansbeprocessedor people into our national parks. We've seen the signs before While Bill Clinton stood in the who's losing, the terrorists or the authorities. Bill Clinton is winning I don't say this because heis control tower coolly discussing right. There are smart folks in the It's enough to give divided government a bad name. Clinton White House — chief of “The whole societyis filled with this kindof tearing apart. this sort of becoming unglued,’ answers Oregon Republican Mark Hatfield. He agrees with Bradley's analysis that people are responding to the uncertainty andinsecurity in their lives caused bystagnant wages, fewer health benefits and endangeredpensionsby trying out different kinds of politicians UNITEDFEATURES WASHINGTON — “Americans have always shied av from ideologues, throughout ourhistory.” That flat statement from NewJersey Democrat Bill Bradley is demonstrablytrue. It can be arguedthat it’s truer nowthanat anytimein recent his- tory — with surveys showing more voters identifying themselves as independents than at any But the politicians don’t just spring full-blown from the head of Zeus. “Thecandidateis becoming more and more a manufactured product, like a tube of toothpaste,” Hatfield complains Hesees what he cails the “political industry’ — campaignconsul- tants. pollsters media advisers — calling the shots even after they elect their candidate: averything is geared to the next campaign rather than the next piece of legislation. And the politicians knowthat campaign’s likely to be anything other time, and the majority calling themselves moderates. Why then, we asked Bradley and some ofthe other dozen membersofthe Senate who have announcedthey will not run for re-election, are so but pretty. So they become more and more dependent on money, hoping that if they raise enough they'll scare off potential opponents or, if that fails, at least be manyideologues getting elected able to answerany to the Houseand Senate? What has brought us to a point wherethe freshmenin the House of Representatives gleefully thumbtheir noses at the Republicanleader ofthe Senate, by insi ing that the government stay firn ly shut until they get their w What hasso polarized the institutions created for the purpose of crafting compromise? attack: ‘It usedto bethat political reputations were built on personal contact. on records painstakingly put together Now they can be built on three weeks of negative ads on television.” argues Louisiana Democrat Bennett Johnston. Instead of talking about what you've donefor the state, about complicated issues like energy policy, Johnstonsays, “you're de- fending yourself on terms and playing for time, the bearded guys out at the plane were starting to crack Plenty Reason to be Happy DALLAS MORNING NEWS DALLAS — In the AP's 1995 top 20 news accounts, we find only one “feel good” story, and that was the recognitiongiven Cal RipkenJr. for his baseball stamina. This creates the gloomy impression that the world is in a downhill posture if there's just onepositive news story in the Top 9 The year just completed seemedpractically bare of such Simpsontrial and the Bosniadispute and trying to identify the various kindergarten games like gun control, or one of those hot-button issues Kansas Republican NancyK. sebaum regretfully agrees, “I think both political parties have found that the way to keeptheir DONALD KAUL CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE WASHINGTON — Last my NewYear’s resolution was to be more significant. I'd looked over my previous year’s work responses.” It’s so much easier to foundit trivial, so I resolved to write the bumperstickers for the singleissues andthe extremes. Television, radiotalk shows, in- adopt a more serious attitude What a disaster. problemsifthepoliticians wanted what can be workedout is very to short. And so we just moveonto the next fight. It’s just a downpourof information and verbiage and rockets goingoff.” Information, but not necessarily intelligent information. “It is unfortunatethat in this day of in I always hateto start a discussion with people who saj stant communications that every- body can be informed about everything, but there remains such hereand you'rethere,” e: plains Mark Hatfield. “Let's start with a se of commonality. And then we find that after you get into that people of good will, people with intelligence — don't think there's an issue we couldn't resolve That's exactly what voters say ignorance about some of the real issues facing the American publie,” complains Bennett Johnston “They think, for example. the budget canbe balancedby cutting foreign aid, welfare and vaste and that you don’t really have to go in and cut people's programs, and these long-term incumbents could have doneit if they'd wanted to.” That's w makes the electorate so angry — the idea that Washington could fix the they want to hear — resolveit, fix it. But that’s the last thing you hearthese days in Washington. Insteadit’s all angry bickering namecalling, drawing lines in the sand, No wonder voters get so frustrated. The irony: The frustration leads to nore polarization less willingness to find common ground, less ability to solve the nation’s problems, which leads to still morefrustration. asked his bosses for a raise (he only a few sentences, and I've was making 0 monthly). They called him to a meeting and. in all been unable to trace it down. Perhaps someoneout there can provide the entire story him. He continuedplaying. without a raise ria. In Chicago, a coupletried to hold up pub, only to discover the stabbed hic fits The newscaster wound up his new. I now see in the conflict t beginnings of a compromise. Ir oneof gloomandmisery stead of not letting the govern ment workers work. but paying them, as the Democrats want to Apparently you haveto look a little harder for good news do in the coming year. I hereby resolve to write a more cheerful column, to seek out the bright Election. You positive arm blow to the helmet, the € of a well-trained athlete knocked to earth. then pumm 1 oA 1 that’s only the celeb: r abit ofit. In fact, [am grateful for end zones after touchd i h here are those wags. spineless panderers and Pat Buchanan would depress me. Not Buchanan the downsized, theleft-behind, sounds like a unionist, talking like th in the federal witne protection program @ Education. I do not vie alarm the in the race whe th announcement Georgetown University that no longer require its En points out the inherent contradic- tion in espousing higher moral market systemthat is innocent of and Chaucer, roomwith 100snakes, 75 of which were fully equipped cobras. moral values them read writers more rele The elvction also offers the possibility of seeing a president — who has taken risks for peace and to their experience On the contrary. I look f to the time when Englis' great school and others is taught entirely by hand puppets, t v The object of affection was 7 Ofcourse, the immediate ques- tion formedinthelistener's mind Whyin heaven would anybody, on his ownaccord, spend12 days ina roomwith 100 snakes? However the most intriguing Thenewscaster explained inhis yern of the year, to me, came not for the most part won them. man aged a stable andrelatively pros perous economy. downsized gov ernment and cut the maki: in favor of it unnec ry to academic standards Im tellin federal sents the prospect ofthe most de How Congress Is Peddling dents to read Shakespeare values while advocating a free of the samethings. deficit — get beaten by an elderly opponent who promises to doall world out the we ‘ognize our blessings It also pre Don't worry. be happy Save up to 60% on Showroom IRA/401K Snake Oil Samples & Clearance Item will pay 8-12 times the taxes during their retirement years than the taxes they saved during their contribution/accumulation years. the retir years and transfer any remainingfunds to your heirs tax-free. This strategy can rollment can't have everything. It is good to afraid contribution of $400C However, most retirees w back everydollar to Un that they savedin taxesin t 18-24 months of their retir In fact, the averageretired picky offer prospec! The other half of the time he sounds like Pope Gregory IX, fa ther of the Inquisition. but you days. Made sense to me, I'm maysafely utilize an equity retirement plan that may provide tax Sav aiiayee during the Picky, I point to examples University of Nebr not only finished Nc this year. bu immigrants willing to be exploit ed for a pittance from a newspaperbut fromjust a a year in taxes on ‘ { they can read a Mother couplet. unfair foreign competition and fragment of a newscast on the car radio. The disjointed item was proper planning, a homeowner toc dards to admit students wh in run a 40-yard sprint faster than the furloughed Half the time he left-wing trade about the need to protect American workers from have someone become sionalized and that uni are lowering their acad¢ newly dispossessed ofoursociety There was another story, about their IRAs, they the sport has Alone among the candidates, it is Buchanan who speaks to the a Honduransoccer goalie named Juan Fernando Palacios. who for deductible contributi hit. the rough brutality plans to spend 12 days lockedina ageof 91 Is there a way to “Have your cake andeat it too?” Through sport. I love the sound of might think that an election year featur ing fools, mountebanks. scala overa lady s affections. Said lady bangedthe stabber on the head with hershoe until the cops came one on the sameround. Hewas 71 and compound the tax problem? holid tional institutions vie with each other for football supremacy. | am filled with admiration for about in the coming year @ The After breakers from our finest educa Let me preview some of the things I'm going to be curmudgeons that humorin the Whiny‘90s is an endangeredspecies. We wereall too busy with the A Utah couplefiling a joint tax return with a taxable incomeIn excessof $39,000will bein a 35 marginal tax bracket. If they were fortunate enough to both qualify M Football. watching various scholar side of things and let it illuminate mywriting closing sentence. Because, he said, the previous record was 10 phase --when you withdraw the do, let’s follow the new Repul ean plan: Let federal w work but don’t pay them. Ever days andthat’s what I’mgoing to Hehad only one arm money for retirement income or transfer any remaining funds to your heirs? Has anyone told you The rest of the story? been but not the segment with an item from Beijing. Two Chinese girls announced Cy Youngscoring two holes-in- Oneof the original IRA/401K tenets held that deferring tax until retirement was advantageous because funds would likely be taxed at a lower rate. Thatis no longer axiomatic. You maywell spend retirement in the same or higher bracketif you accu mulate a respectable retirement nest egg In fact, tax rates will likely rise in the future to cover budgetdeficits. So why postponethe inevitable true, disagreeable events. The overall reports, addingto thetheoryof us Most Americans who are concerned about preparing for retirement are lured into contributing pre-tax dollars into 401K plans or tax-deductible contributions into IRA's. Such Qualified Plans” only give you tax-favored advantagesduring the contribution and accumulation phaseof your retirement account What about the most important sabotaged ld me would have rival in an argument In Fort Worth, Texas, a suitor the victim was 80. and theattacker was the impressionable years old. Oh, ves, one thing more: when it's being ffect of my year’s product was Sen. Mark Hatfield mayedat the spectacle of the fed eral government humiliated by a discouraged, was overwhelmed by the flood of and Kassebaum contendsthat instantaneous communication has made compromise moredifficult “The staying powerof us here, as well as ourconstituencies, to see be pardoned forthink g that la professional liberal, would be di government doesn't work, parti Gingrich; my natural good humor faxes pouring into the Capitol, government, it more than mé up for in comedy @The Budget Again. you could Congress intent on proving that Wars. assassinations, bomb ings, the Simpson trial. Newt terest groups with organized phone banks keep the calls and seriousness, said they wouldkill At some point in the year, I madea note about a golfer named What all of that loses in good year tovoteis to touch those emotional Oh. there was one story just before Christmas that met the crite- having an off-duty party. That coming its most powerful people interested and to turnout played by Congress clientele was 200 off-duty cops spised politician in the nation be something Not Every Memorable ’95 News Story Was Depressing BLACKIE SHERROD Nope - to the Republicans! guts of those out there at the jet- liner. What's clear is that the Republican Congressis losing this fight Senate leader Bob Dole started this week by agreeing to send back federal workers without pay and with the promise they won't use the long-distance line. By being performed by the men running our government. Newt Ging- To Bosnia? rector Alice Rivlin, to name two — who knowas well as any of Gingrich’s 74 gung-ho freshmen that government entitlement pro- Retiring Senators Speak AboutPolitics COKIE ROBERTS ores POEerTS | ¢ January 5 one-of-a-kind items sho Douglas A. 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