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Show OPINION I I MbLLYIVINS COMMENTARY FRAN~LY. BILL ,ARIGHT TURN WONT MELPMUCH EITHER. Got to dance with them what brung 'em It' tim to change the name of Orange County to Red County. We're having such a Republican moment here. Gingrich &. Co. have decided to cut off the money to congressional caucu es, and the national pre is all a-twitter-twitter- twitter about this . Meanwhile, the problem in the financial markets is approaching like the T. Rex in /ura ic Park. Thud. Thud. Thud. Reminds one of those glorio u days when the folks saying, "There's som thing wrong with the S&Ls, 11 couldn' t get a line of ink. The media in this country have the most amazing ability to ignore the T . Rexes while lavishing attention on the Buttafuocos. For those fiscal ignorami who still think debentures have something to do with dentistry, derivatives are a monumental challenge. Here's the old handy definition: "Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is linked to, or 'derived' from, another investment, such as a Treasury bond or group of stocks. Wall Street investment banks have been selling trillions of dollars worth of derivatives in the 1990s as corporations seek ways to guard against unexpected surges in the financial markets." It's like betting on the pass line in craps. The first thing to try to get a grip on is the size of the T. Rex headed our way. Every month, several dozen large domestic financial firms and exchanges-effectively operating beyond government regulation-electronically trade a total in currencies, futures, derivative instruments, stocks and bonds that exceeds the entire annual gross national product of the United States. The second thing to understand is the nature of the beast, and I commend to you the chapter on "The Financilization of America: Electronic Speculation and Washington's Loss of Control over the Real Economy" in Kevin Phillips' recent book, 11 Arrogant Capital," from which I took many of the figures cited above. Phillips puts an array of social and fiscal evils down to "financilization," but what he keeps noticing is the sacrifice of long-term growth for short-term profits. Previous "thuds" from the T. Rex have already been heard: You were probably sitting there wondering what P&G was doing speculating in currency instead of making soap, but that's the story of our economy. And how, you may wonder, am I going to blame all this on the Republicans? It is no more a Republican phenomenon than the completely bipartisan S&L disaster was (talk about welfare!), except that it is Republicans who have this touching faith in the magic of the marketplace. It is Republicans who keep insisting we need deregulation and more deregulation. Phillips' book is the same old song, 99th verse. The politicians got to dance with them what brung 'em. And it won't change until we have public financing of campaigns. Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. PROFESSIONAL STA.FF AND DESK PHONE NUMBERS: Editor Lan:y Baker 586-775 l Campus Edi1oc Jim llobinoon 586-1997 eon.u.lting Sporta Editon Neil Garoner 586-7753 lltt:tt J~kes 586-7752 ButlD<SI Mmoga AMiaWl.t to the Editor Lynn Dcnnctt 586-7748 Jcnnilcr Morley 586-7759 STIJDJ!l'lI' STAFF AND DESI. PHONE NUMBER.S: Aleociale Editon John McCloskey 865-8226, Opinion Diffctor H""thu Green 586-775 7 AP Witt Editoc JoAnn Lun""1,cn 865-82.25 Copy Editor Joanna 0.y 586-7757 Photo Editor Lonnie Behunin 586-7757 Sporu Editor Tim Marwcll 586-5488 Art• Editoc Michelle Clqg 586-5488 AM'I OplnloD Direaor Curry Edwardt 586-7757 Micki Sellen 586-7750 Advertising Mauga jackilyn Oirudmocn 586-7758 Ad aei,.-win Lesa Rlndlisbocber S86-7758 cl.asifi..i Ad Awt Harmony Curtis S86-7759 Circuliltion Mampr Dave Man'"' 865-82.25 BldiD<SI Aide Cheyenne Lytle 586-7748 Ad PnNluction Jeff Mamn 586· 1151 Stacey Bary 586-7757 ,..ru- '°""'.i The Univu.i,y b pubu.bed .....,. MO<lday, Wcdncodar ...t Friday o( the .adanle ,ur u • publlcatioa ol. Southern u..i. Un;nnity. it1 clcporuncn, ol. camm~ and tbe SW Studmt >.aoocudon. The w1<W> md opinioru, t2J)t.....t in the /<Juma} .,. . - cl indMdu&I wri«n md do ""' n<OeNarily ..0- the opnlon cl the /Mlm4I or en<ir, o( the wu....Jty. Lettcn to tbe editor must be typed md Include tbe ..,,,. and pl,ooc numbu. Only tbe name will be printed. N...... will - ... wi!hhcld - ......,,.._ and the editor ......... cdltinl pnoll..... Le!UD ffl1II( be tubml!!cd by noon Friday, r.,. Morlday od111...... 1',adoy, lor w..i.....i., edloons and Tlrunday, for Fridq edlOON. Grknacu1 Any tndi.,.ldu.al wtl.b • pieT&OCC ,tpinn the: /owt1al sboul.d dirttt such problem 6.n1 to the edibJI'. U wuaolY<d, tbot grleYanee ohould ....., be dlncted to tbe foumdl s-ifll Commit«<. whid, b cbalml by 0.. frllirt C. Panon, $86-71J71 . The--,, It l.olJ 8uUodi. SM-nlO. t-,.~QjlomlnSU\J T.....,~llll. Modi• SUU b!IJM,Q,d,rC,,, Ulab84120. FU IIIOll586-5"87. ••11 0 PIUNTHl ON llml. RECYCL£0 PAPEJI.. PLEASE ~ U llffS COPY. What they actually thought about cows • As fellow Utahns and Westerners, we take special note of your opposition to grazing policy reforms. We were struck, Sen. Hatch, by your statement, "The Old West is still alive. The Old West is still there. And a lot of us belong to it." We agree. But perhaps you have not looked back far enough into the Old West. Back to Oct. 7, 1865, for example, when Apostle Orson Hyde, one of the 13 leaders of the Mormon Church, speaking at General Conference in Salt Lake City to the assembled members of the church, had this to say about how the church wanted Mormons to live their Ii ves: "There is a good deal of ambition among our people to cultivate a great quantity of ground, the result of which is, that we cultivate our lands poorly in comparison to what we would if we were contented with a smaller area, and would confine our labors to it. We have found some difficulty with regard to water, and complaints have been made about a scarcity of :water in many places, when, indeed, I suppose the Lord has apportioned the water to the amount of land He intended should be cultivated. I do not think that these things are passes over unnoticed by Him ... He understands perfectly well what the elements are capable of producing, and how many of His people may be established here or there with profit and with advantage. ... "I £ind the longer we live in these valleys that the range is becoming more and more destitute of grass; the grass is not only eaten up by the great amount of stock that feed upon it, but they tramp it out by the very roots; and where the grass once grew luxuriantly, there is now nothing but the desert weed, and hardly a spear of grass is to be seen. "Between here and the mouth of Emigration Canyon, when our brethren, the Pioneers, first landed here in '47, there was an abundance of grass over all those benches; they were covered with it like a meadow . There is now nothing but the desert weed, the sage, the rabbit brush, and such like plants, that make very poor feed for stock. Being cut short of our range in the way we have been, and accumulating stock as we are, we have nothing to feed them with in the winter and they perish. There is no profit in this, neither is it pleasing in the sight of God our Heavenly Father that we should continue a course of life like unto this. " ... Now I speak of these things, my brethren, not because I think that they are the most edifying to you, but I speak of them because I consider that a temporal salvation is as important as a spiritual one. "How much more agreeable is life when everything is in order and good regulation is maintained in and around our homes and cities. This is what I have endeavored, in my weak way, to instill the minds of the Saints . ln some instances I have been successful, and where men have adopted the course l have suggested, they have invariably borne testimony in its favor. I would rather have half a dozen cows in the winter, and have them well taken care of, than to have 20 and have 14 of them die for want of feed and proper attention, which would leave me only six. I would rather only have the six to begin with, then I would not have the mortification of seeing so many suffer and die. "In the present condition of the ranges, we cannot indulge in the hope of raising such large herds of stock as we have done heretofore; but we have got to keep about what will serve us, and take care of them welli then we can enjoy ourselves, and we are not the authors of misery to any part of creation." We urge you to follow the counsel of our elders. Grazing reform is not a new or radical idea born out of a liberal administration.Rather, it is a conservative and prudent land ethic recognized by our ancestors in their desire for sustainable communities that you should also recognize. Terry Tempest Williams, Thomas J. Lyon |
