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Show In Washington Uninformed Dedicated to the Proprest /Andin Growth of Central Utah Home Buyer By Martha Angle and Robert Walters Teen-age unemployment is one problem that may Solve itself. At least, it promisesto be less severe with the passageof time All the Americans whowill be teen-agers through the remainder of this decade and the next have already been born, so we knowby simple arithmetic almost exactly how manythere will be in any given age groupin anygiven year And in each group, the numbers will fall. U.S. Census Bureau projections for the 16 to 19 age bracket, for example, would describe a symmetrical mountain if plotted on a graph: Ten years ago there were 14.2 million in this age group, five years ago 15.9 million and today 17 million. But in the next five years the numberwillfall to 15.8 million and in 10 years be back down to 14.4 million. According to the U.S. Labor Department, this critical age The Fluoride Generation The percentage of Americans wearing false teeth, or dentures, is ‘dropping dramatically,”’ reports the American Dental Association, and the dental profession is taking credit forit. They deserveit. According to the ADA, a longterm emphasis on preventive proceduresin the dentist’s office and self-care at homehasled to a drop in the segment of the population wearing one or two complete dentures from 35.2 per cent of the 30-and-older group in 1960 to 24.7 per centof the same age groupin 1975. Even better newsis the prediction that the decline in denture wearers will probably increase even more rapidly in the years immediately ahead as the first “fluoride generation” enters the 30-plus group. It was about 30 years ago that community water fluoridation, the best general preventive for tooth decay, was introduced, and the kids who grew up with fluoridation are now coming to what used to be denture-wearing age. They're smiling through the years. (First of two related columns WASHINGTON (NEA For mos icans, it is the single largest financia transaction they will confront throughout their lives. But both buyers andsellers are regularly cheated becauseonly the “experts ully understand what's happening anc their profits often are contingent upon keep group accounted for 23 per cent of the 6.7 million Americans to be unemployedin Jupported . ing consumers uninformed The transactionis the buyingorsellingof ¢ No one can say what the economicsituation will be five or 10 years fromnow, but it is possible that the problemthen will not be teen-age unemploymentbut a Surplus of jobs looking for teenagers All is not entirely rosy, however. For one thing, all the projected decline in the teen-age population will take place among whites. The number of nonwhite teen-agers of working age is 2.6 million today and 10 years from nowit will still be 2.6 million. It is among nonwhite teen-agers that unemployment is most severe. Also, an optimistic outlook for the teen-ager of 1987 is no help to the unskilled, untrained, unemployed and often unemployable teen-ager of 1977. He and his millions of cohorts will continue to move down the yearslike a large lump in the nation’s population profile. Or, more vividly, like a large question mark regarding this country’s capability of providing fruitful work for all its citizens. house. a tension-filled experience because Most of us face it so infrequenti: (perhaps once or twice and seldom morethana half dozentimes) that we never learn much abou the complex and arcane procedures A recent University of Houston study concludes that the sale or purchaseof a house is so traumatic that it ranks not far behind divorce or the death of a spousein termsof producing stress in thoseinvolved. Even those who criticize the federal government for excessive meddling in the af- fairs of individuals and businesses probably would agree that this is one area where Washington could and should intervene to eliminate abuses Thereis, in fact, a law which directs the Department of Housing and Urban Deyelopment (HUD) to provide such protection for the consumer: the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, first passed by Congress in December 1974 But only a yearlater, thepolitically powerful “settlement industry,” realizing that its lucrative fees were endangered, pressured Revelations that the governor, state attorney general and assorted state legislators have made personal long-distancecalls on state phones and let the taxpayers pick up the tab have got people in Wisconsin in tizzy. Extent of the alleged telephone freeloading ranges from $8.58 for the governor to $562 for the vice chairman of the state Democratic party. One legislator refuses to repay the state for his calls because “one of the waysof trying to find out what happens in other states is to talk to friends and relatives in other states.” The prize for sheer chutzpah, however, has to go to another legislator who made several calls to relatives in India. “| have never madea junket,” Esther Luckhardt told reporters, “T think I’m entitled to call my family. A happy legislator is a productive legislator.’ Welcome to the ‘‘postWatergate morality.” last time the house changed hands. Scribe’s Second Thoughts ment, namely my public support of that provision in the federal wage increase d The Senate Finance Committee has proposed increasing Social Security taxes again. The Washington Robin Hoods of the Red Ink, making their political hay, have bankrupt the Social Security system In truth, the Washington overspenders have borrowed every last penny of the Social Security money that belongs to the public and Effective in September 1972, benefits. The tion year low. All that is absolutely This doesnot,of course, fol- and appear as a lecturerat a series ponsored by Northwest Louisiana State interdiction is that a) the stu- College extra- low, and it was becoming in- creasingly difficult to attract non-ascetic types who had obligationsto their families to give them the kind of education and shelter which are not available in Washington at 44 grand before taxes. The practice, as we all know, had been for the most energetic congressmenand senators to eke out their living by doing other things. Under the new law, they will be limited to earning 15 per cent beyond their current salaries (they were raised to $57,500) through extralegislative activities. | think this wrong both in terms of what it does to congressmen, and what it denies congressmen the right to do for others. The subject came up during a recent lecture trip when I learned from myhoststhat it employers alike, the lax was a combined $60 1 year. Now this rate has been increased more than1,500 percent! Yes, 1,500 percent! Theincreaseis about four times as muchas the benefits payablefrom it. But, again, who would know it? The cashpaid in is deductedfrom all wage payments. You do not evenseeit, It simply vanishes fromyour hard earned pay Thisis bad enough, for the weekly pay envelopere mains the most thing in most families. However, this cash paid in is merely shoved into the U.S, Treasury like other taxes We suppose that the payments are properiy earmarked, but they arenot They simply vanish there again like a conjurer disappearing into the smoke of his own fire Our governmentreplaces it with the US government's own bonds the government's own 1OUs, And, like the public's gold at Ft Knox, this is gone with the wind The amount earmarked in government IOUs was supposedto be between 75 and 12 percent of a year's payout. It is now downto less than 50percent, Andeventhe earmarked amount will vanish within three years if the trend continues Congress, working its political abacus over lime. has performed another carefully con trived piracy This year’s Social Security outlay will be nearly $100 billion much more than the en tire federal budget in 1957, Between 1950 and the 60-fold expansion include the great 1974 disability and health insurance benefits These go straight up. The Washington Robin Hoods of the Red Ink have extended Social Security protection to deceased workers’ surviving dependents. And, behind the scenes, the expansion of Social Security benefits has far outstripped the growth or our economy and of wages and prices. During the 60-fold increase, our nation's gross national product expanded only 40 times. The consumerprice index increased about two times. Social Security taxes grew from 12 per cent of federal revenuein 1950 to 32 per cent this year. It stood second toper sonal income taxes as source of federal revenue It was 70 percent as large, and nearly twice all corporate income taxes With the July 1, 1976, risein benefits of 8.7 per cent thebenefits haverisen 68 per cent in only seven years. At the same time, the cost of living rose about 54 per cent About 32 million people now draw monthly Social Security benefits. But workers are retiring earlier and living longer. The ratio of those paying into Social Security and those drawing out has changed drastically. Only 10 years ago four workers paid in while one took out Now the ratio is 3.2 to one and falling rapidly 4 venson proposed that excess campaign funds should not be $2,000) ; and d) the taxpayers will be deprived of a thousand expenses. The Stevenson proposal was defeated, but not dollars of income: (That lastpoint, by the way. before Senator Moynihan had railed against the senate for desiring to make a “pauper” respect of high-earning con- out of him, having already, earlier in the year, stripped himof an earning capacity as is ironically relevant in gressmen or public servants on the order of Patrick Moynihan, John Kenneth Galbraith, or all those con- a lecturer that had fetched him $150,000 during his last gressmen who used to prac- year as a free agent. A poetic tice law ; in many cases, by their extra-curricular ac- fine, perhaps, for depriving tivities they returned to the governments sums of money his distinguished predecessor in excessof that paid themfor their work in goyernment. In a way, the republic was getting their services for no substitute for giving public servants the right to make nothing.) In opposing the ethics com- the nation of the services of In the last analysis, there is their own decisions — and then spotlighting these deci- sionssothat their ethical adequacy can be evaluated by their constituents. One fears, looking back on it, preemption of a property right. It is by no means ob- to the problemsof poorer con- of going to Forone thing it constituted a that un. the devising of the bill. Rich congressmen are indifferent vious that anyone can contract forall of someone's ser- gressmen. And congressmen whose oratorical gifts are never bid for by Northwest vices thereis an unhealthy feel to such a Faustian con writing regulations governing Buckley felt that the measure colleagues who are tract. For another, Senator LouisianaCollegeareadeptat theactivities of thoseof their Our county fair committee deserves plaudits and thanks for the well run manner in whichthey and the volunteers offered county residents an outlet for our industry in home, garden, community and business. It was a good job with many challenges be ing solved An area | was involved in could stand a little more at tention next year, though | am using this medium as | was not offered much Satisfaction when | consulted with the commissioner in charge of the fair AL the conclusionof the fair on Saturday night we cleaned new backdrop for the display booth was thrown on the groundoutside the building a day later for meto get I wrote to the commission for the rest to bereturned the sume way, as the items asked for them back In my letter to him | said that the easiest way to handle it would be to say that “the matter couldn't be helped at this point,” but that wanted the materials back, or be reim. bursed the $0 the cost of replacement (the missing materials were brand new Theletter cameback explain part, and asked for permis sion to return Monday to get the small amount left. Per question precautions day and found the building locked. We discovered from phone calls the building had been emptied by cleanup crews and that our materials had been disposed of. This stumped me as Monday was allowed us to get our things out After some detective work some of the materials were returned to me (lights, shelf brackets, cardboard tables, hand tools) and. the can't afford precautions the Meanwhile who pays the $40 for more new signs me | suppose so Gene Jensen 90 No. 1360 E. Springville returned were in storage at the county's warehouseuntil | up our booth area for the most many others We returned mid-noon Mon: industry undoubtedlyhas one of the strongest lobbies in Washington.” A 4l-year-old native of Chicago and a uate of the University of Michigan Law School, Kass is a rare example of a lawyer specializing in the real estate field who ac- tually cares about saving money for his clien iss not only arranges fora full range of settlement services, at costs lower than prevailing market rates, for home buyers and sellers. He also repeatedly has gone into courtto file lawsuits, severalof them succes- sful, seeking reformofreal estate practices. A typical civil suit successfully challenged thetradition under which savings andloanas: sociations, banks and other mortgage holders in the District of Columbia were not required to pay interest on the money deposited monthly by the home ownersand earmarked for annual or semi-annual payment of property taxes, insurance and other fixed fees But interest payments on such escrow accounts are now required onlyin this city and five of the 50 states. That's only one aspectof a situation which recently led a spokesman for the Washington-based Housing Research Group to offer this discouraging analysis of current real estate industry practices “Consumers spend over$7billion a year on real estate brokers, title companies, lawyers and other settlement agents, Yet HUD has largely failed to meet its legal responsibilities to protect millions of Americans from overcharges and anti-competitive prac: tices.”’ Because of HUD's inaction in the almost two years since the law was passed hapless consumers continue to paradeinto title company offices where they sign a sheaf of legal documents they barely understand. When the settlement process is concluded, most people don't know whether they've bought a house or sold their soul Give Up Canal? ThenSellIt Editor Herald In all my readings about the proposed Panama Canal Trety, | have not seen any reference to other alternatives such as selling this asset. It seems to me that our content with borrowing billions to give away ing that withall the precau tions taken, they felt they mission was granted to us and s Washington attorney Benny L. Kass. ‘There's no effective consumer lobbydealing with housing, while the representatives in Washington have not been A Good Fair... But a Problem Editor Herald Theypassed a very strong law, then gutted it a yearlater. It was the fastest repeal since prohibition,” pleasant motives figured in Letters to Editor Congress voted another 20 per cent increase 1973 Social Security taxes increased 20 fold but the benefits increased 60 fold. Nor does When our government began deducting the opened the floodgates on his tumultuous emotions whenhis colleague Senator Adlai Ste- Buckley argued last December that it was objectionable on several grounds. Eyeing this to attract votes, Social Security tax in the initial 1937-49 period, guess what theyearly Social Security rate was? Shared equally by employees and permitted to be usedfor office Senator Buckley's successor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. mittee bill, Senator James year 1974 was a national elec- per cent dents will not get a chance to hear and question Senator Smith b) Senator Smith will not get a chance to hear the questions of the students ¢) Senator Smith will be deprived of $1,000 of income (assume that the fee is ficult to engage the services iomof the ethics committee's same Congress voted to increasethe rises 11 offered a large fee to give a had become increasinglydif- ing home. It is the planted ax- cent) was paid out and in January1976 an es calator providing for additional automatic automatic rises. Then in December that senator who sits on the Maritime Committee and is known aboutthe effects of the from Northwest Louisiana University to give a speech on his current occupations—orstay- Spent it If this is not a bamboozle, what on earth Would you call it? For millions on millions among us, the Social Security tax Is more burdensomethanthefederal income tax. But who would know it? one thing to frown on the mittee meeting. year curricular activity. Oh, the rationale sang sweetly to the ear And, indeed, there was a philanthropic intention salaries at the highest levels of government were just too alternative in benefits In July 1975 still another raise (5.9 per spend talking to students and per earn no more. He faces the the time he would otherwise failed lazily to ceafront the relevant distinctions. It is speech to the Seafarers Union. It is another to serve on the Maritime Committee $8,000, a congressman may Washington Robin Hoods of the Red Ink voted a 59 percent increase in Social Security staying at home, the citizens at Natchitoches (la.) re-reading the Federalist Papers. or studying up more carefully for tomorrow's com- senators to speak. The reason was obvious: after earning Social Security Taxes Just Keep Going Higher bill that, congressman will devote the package last January which forbids members of Congress from earning more than $8,000 of interesting congressmen or Henry J. Taylor the law Eliminated in the January 1976 revision, for example, were key provisions requiring a) that both buyers andsellers be informed in advanceof the settlement ofall fees to be imposed. and b) disclosure of the price paid the William F, Buckley Jr. 1 wish to atone for what | nowconceive as a misjudge- Wrong Numbers Congress to rewrite and drastically weaken Distributed by L.A.Timex Syndicate were unable to help me. is My what They guaranteed us Monday they cleaned oul the building Monday they stored my materials in their warehouse and returned the in three different deliveries over two different days they disposed of the rest who knows where Test Your again next year, but whenthe last night comes our booth will be entirely cleaned up as I ficult time staying out of jail and their businesses would certainly be adjusted bankrupt Our nation owes more money than the rest of the countries of the world combined. For the past 40 years our leaders havehadto bor. row heavily to make ends meet. We aretold that the United States is a rich country, but the truth is that we have mortgaged our future anddeferred the day of judgment. On a business like basis we should be getting the the future generations will have to carry the burden The proposed give away of the Panama BY WORLD ALMANAC 1 Which site is not con. nected with George Washington's life? (a) Wakefield (b) Mt. Vernon (c) Monticello 2. The last Caroligian king of France was (a) Charles I the Bald (b) Lovis V, the Sluggard (c) Louis II, the Stammerer Canal is unthinkable. If there is any valid reason weshouldgiveup the canal , then let us sell it. The United States really does need the money. Panatna needs the rent too, and would help us protect thecanal if theyfully understood that the income would be lost if the waterway was put out of operation Weneedto get behindour two fine Senators to protect our interest in Panama President Carter should hear how wefeel about the Panama Canal treaty, and we should work harder to get good men to represent us in government John H 3. The smallest continent of the world in area is (a) An tarctica (c) Australia (bi Adams rove Europe Barbs ANSWERS: good fair for the citizens and for booths and we'll be there business were runafter the example set in Washington, the officers would have a dif- word out that we are very poor indeed, and Knowledge To sum it up, then, it was a those of us who bought space on “Foreign Aid.” but also feel they must give away our country’s assets too. If our adoung 40} Sayw asenbs Qog'gpe’E pue BOON 40) sayasenbds Sure signs of fall: When the shade disap: pears from the neighbor's yard and theleaves all fall on YOUR turf Of course the boss trusts you doesn’t he 000°006°§ SSAA Sajiasenby let you work that expensivetimeclock all by oOo'weSs yourself” 19) FQ) es IT |