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Show Jnmr- - E, Hoj mt 1930, Edicts Dont Ease Inflation Page 18 Section cata-tropl.- U.S. House Gave In to Pay Hike, But Set Example Anyway anti-inflatio- determination, but moderation did emerge n some nonetheless. Bold and courageous were those House members who held out to the end for no raises. Tho reflected general public about feelings senators and representatives raising their annual pay checks to $00,71)0 during times when the average taxliving costs speed endlessly But quite obviously, not even higher. payers the elected elite can resist an unity to pad the income. matched Accuracy opixir-- t eloquence when Rep. Robert K. Dorman, e said during the debateIts a specious argument to say we cant live on $57,500 a year. An echo of public sentiment reverberated as Rep. Lafry J. Hopkins, acknowledged: All of us knew when we applied for the job last year what the salary was. Congressmen are heirs to human frailty, however, and alert to the fact that law' entitles them to annual cost of living adjustments. Moreover, they could consider themselves steadfast when they denied themselves raises last year, although inflation galloped pay-rais- - R-K- members overcame previous opposi- tion and voted the bigger pay Tuesday. At least they didnt give them-sohe- s the maximum. Technically, senators and representatives could have boosted their salaries 12.9 percent, as federal compensation law allows. Instead, they took only 5.5 percent. Thats even President Carters antiinflation guideline of 7 percent. In that sense an example of Ik-Io- self-discipli- partially emerged. Less inspired, but doubtlessly more persuasive in the House chambers as votes were cast Tuesday w as Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., when he claimed congressional members, identical to all Americans, are suffering from inflation. Thats the common complaint among public employees, from policemen to university professors, wherever an emphasis on controlling government budgets is attempted. Congressmen, quite likely partial to a larger, settled for a. relatively smaller economic catch-up- . The political, that is to say taxpaying public, mood wras not completely ignored. Neither should it he in the months ahead by state and local tax spenders. Flawed Commuter Tax - n, l- . Statistics would show that a man on death row is safer from harm than one who ill lies to and from work everyday . Some people have it handed to them on sdver platter Most of us get paper plates Kindlier a 1979 Los Angeles Times Syndicate Terminal Man K. Btiekley Jr. Kennedy Leadership in Doubt, Quality He Evidently Lacks Universal Press Syndicate The word Leadership" is much in vogue Indeed it has emerged as critical in the vocabulary of Sen Edward Kennedy. He sa.d the other day that he had no particular with President quarrel Carter's economic principles, but that he feared a presidential. absence of leadership, which es Key Accomplishments In a democrat y, the successful leader will accompli h thlee things The first is to crystallize what it is that the people desire The second is to illuminate l ightness of that desire, and then to coordinate Its achievement In the present situation, a true leader would confront the probl. m most Americans worry about, which is inflation That lender would acknowledge t he piohlem of inflalioii, doing so in such a way as to leave little doubt that a collective dei ision had been made to eoiuh.it ll -- The hod. would thereiijK.il explain thiough the fen e of Ills da gog lea and .1 ll It al skills. i I J m ir's strength ill market, in mdwilmg the a achieve m. nt intc i mtionnl money sense of corpoiee Grapple Impediments He would ask Congress to help recovery not oi lv by reducing its spending, but by eliminating or modifying those impediments to pro. res. that encumber growth and increase unemployment unrealistic tables of depreciation in capital machinery, unrea unable corn -- to unrealistic labor co-t- s (the D.tvis-Bacominimum Acti, unproductive wage laws that stand in the wav of voulhfu! t enterprise, welfare disincentives and mitrncnts n pie-in-- lie-sk- y measure- - n Deal Is Lillie Help for Productivity Detroit last weekend that a thieatened stnkc against General Motors had been headed off by a tentative settlement, people concerned aland the national economy breathed more easily A major shutdown m the automobile industry would have worsened the recession that seems It would have added to to be starting uncertainties already plaguing the ear manufacturers (ears of new gasoline shortages undermining sales, yf foreign competition, the financial crisis at Chrysler So by removing a question mark from the 1970 economic forecasts, the agreement the Cnitcd Auto Workers and GM at least smooths the path Just ahead Unemployment will not lie worsened by some half a million GM workeis, and spreading lavolfs among its suppliers By upsetting a 15 year pattern of triennial trikes, the UAW has taken a more plat id and sensible ionise, setting a bettt I example tor Its cousins ill the labor movement. GM. ton lullowed a calculated course of strike avoi Im d nee making a generous initial uflt of n -- i sweating healed rhetoric. agreeing to nf an obstacle tn nmi.it organizing at mt- po-- e now le-- s GM - The GM settlement will move the l'AW and Foul tow ard similar agreement, and prov Ide a base for the lAW to consider the easier terms it has promised Chrysler Otherwise, the reported GM contract is not so comforting The union as usual stressed its members' overwhelming interest in staving abreast of inflation Retirees will get pension increases of 24 to 10 percent ill the next three years With a cost of living provision as the wages at GM could major determinant, increase In ,'f4 penent over the three years This assumes an H peri cut inflation rate in' the a modest assumption w if h eeonomv at large pi ties imientlv rising at an animal rate of It pel cent The steeper the rise in the Consuinei Pure Index, the bigger tlie GM pav increase Ami the Imvi i the G M l'AW i out n bill ion In the , i oei al inflation ll s all pininl ou w i agi loi i burial Th.it standard had b en cthps.d so (omplelely bv the actual inflation late that it did not rale mentioning in the G.MUAW which is negotiations The administration, preparing a icviscd guideline, kept its own counsel about the talks at GM Soeiila guidelines call be no more permanent th ill the innditioiis in whit h they ale issued That is not to s.iy they should never he ti led It is disapHimtmg anyway that the deal tietwcell GM and the UAW does as little as it seems to about the problem - ol this key mdustiy UAW nicudicrs appear to be more Intel ested in the )ov s of not winking (pud personal hoi id ivs are to tie more than doubled to 2M than In the improved piodui v Uv that would enable US manufai turn s to compete tuoie effcctivclv With Japanese and U.uiopeail car makers el w And since an added ini restraint would have hi Ipcd the i m ell le r mi some coni i ol over the lull Ion pioblcin it gi el table III it the I.M anil I W in 2 itialoi s did not stop a hit shell of when- lliev woundup ill anMine i i But tin did not step i the Caller adimnistiaiion mill line exeepl fni a iliei s 7 lit by 50 government olid private industry m years can prevent it from happening In the 1930s, the loss of a Job was dev astating, often meaning that a family had to move uut of its home and seek food in a breadline Today, more and more families have two working members, so the loss of one job is less traumatic. And the jobless person often gets dismissal pay. unemployment insurance for many months, food stamps and other welfare payments or social Security, and subsidized rent Buying Power Retained The broad result is that individual buying power does not disappear as it did m the 1930s, and the total demand for goods and services does not dissolve Todays unemploy ment rate of 6 percent even if it gets much worse cannot compare with the peak of 24 9 percent during the Great Depression, and there ate no numbers to equate the degree of human suffering then and now. Since creation of the Civilian Conserv ation Corps m the early day s of President Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal, the federal government has shown increasing willingness to create jobs for the unemployed during economic slumps, and nobody doubts that Washington would step up such efforts should the current recession materially worsen. The federal government, and state governments too. have grown so ljirge since the Great Depression that they alone constitute a significant island of employment even in the worst of times. The Federal Reserve Board, with 50 years of cxiierionee since the harrowing days of the Depression, is more willing to pump money into any seiiously flagging economy, and Cong! ess seems ever eager to cut taxes and increase federal spending to offset any distressing inactivity in the private sector, Seeui ities and Exchange Commission organized by Roosevelt under the chaii man-shiof the late Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., the father of President John F. Kennedy stands ' guard against stock market manipulation and other abuses that helied make the market buckle m 1929. Federal regulation of banks and federal guarantees of bank deposits, also instituted by Roosevelt, protect the publics savings Contracts, Wage Laws Labor contracts and minimum wage laws prevent wages from declining much even in periods of labor surpluses. All of these programs, sired by the Depression and now grown to robust adulthood, giv e most economists confidence that they can mute the cuirent decline. Oddly, however, these program- - were designed mostly to combat problems that do not exist today. In the 1930s the aim was to inflate a flattened economy This meaut the government's increasing its spending and providing individuals with income so they, too. could spend, thus creating demand that would set the factories to humming Today, however, the problem is not too little demand, not too little government activity, not too little money. The problem today is inflation sparked partly by too much demand, too much government deficit spending and a money supply that may have increased too rapidly not only in the United States but around the world. Thus a lew economists fear that the magnificent precautions that the United States has taken against another 1930s-tvp- e Depression may not be the simple answer to the of 1979. entirely dilferent reees-io- n Slow Productivity Growth To beat todays inflation, economists agree that there mu-- t be aa improvement in of the output per man-hou- r productivity work. In the late 1920s, productivity was soaring because companies were investing lavishly in new plant s and tn lehuus. powered by cheap fuel, that enabled workers to accomplish more. Today, productivity growth is sluggi-- h at best, partly because individuals dont save enough to prov ide investment funds. Some companies say that federal tax laws and the co- -t ot energy to operate machinery discourage the purchase of new equipment. To heat todavs inflation, the government also mu- -t curtail its deficit spending and its reation of money that exerts upward pressure ell prices These are the policies proclaimed by President Carter. But it was easier for the governnu nt to boo-- t sending in the 1930s than it is to dampen -- pending now; it was easier to print money in the 19i0s than to put the lid oil now leader would show a people anxious to from high travel the road from A to X inflation and stagnation, to a stable dollar and lull employment what is the route. He would wain of the rigors of the journey Between A and X are mountains and swamps and deserts, and the journey will requite sweat and stamina But once across the haulers, one .and comes upon the Pronu-e- d It is vety difficult to see him Mr. Kennedy qualities as a leader so defined A leader is not merely a jxipiilsr figure. A ixilitieijii who promises that you can travel from A to X without any strain, enjoy mg yourself all along the wav, getting more and more services fiec Iron) the taxpayers' pool, is not a leader. He Is a demagogue, telling the people what they w ant to hear, and expiessing his innate eonteiint for them bv the very act of suggesting that the road from A to X can he negotiated hv merely . iimg m to u federally opeiuted elevator and pushing the correct button That suielv , is the distnuthii the skcplu-uce- d to make al this point in a sessing the leadership qualities of Mr Kcimedv lie Is the ol the Aim ncail lorcchil orator 'IS neople have never lie.ild speak lie - tile .senator !)K percent of the American ieople have never observed m action A . From The Washington Star the word came ou! what is required in order to curb inflation- -. He would, by his leadership, persuade the people to beck Congress in massive cutbacks in federal spending He would urge the poeple to instruct their own state governments to do likew iso He would stress the need lor greater productivity, greater red in woik, for a imitated appetde f.,r excellent o. He would diamatie the slow, hu JciJy return of the (I quality Mr. Kennedy is ev idently confident he could bring to the office. What is "leadership"? It is a word one tends to use to describe someone who forcefully advocates ones own ideas Ambrose Bierce, m dictionarv, defined admit at ion polite recognition of other people's smulai.tv to oneself. If someone So does it go w ith "leadership exercises leadership in liehalf of mea-myou dont approve of, you call that pci sou autocratic. not a leader: or you might go even so lams to smell the fiihrei'piin.p " irw point GM-UA- W When faulted for mentioning possible supplemental or new sources of city government revenue. But before the communter tax cart is loaded up. it bettor be definite that taxpaying horsepower is available to haul it. elected the hist again p illiaru Salt Lake City commissioners instance, traffic congestion resulting talking openly about taxing commu- from commuting automobiles mean ters to help pay for city services rising costs for traffic control and wouldnt make very efficient street maintenance. Nonetheless, draymen. They show a tendency to even conceding the assertions, this place the cart in front of the horse. happens to be a premature time to During the perennial discussion push a commuter tax. over financing municipal governSalt Lake City, similar to many ment, the old alternative of slapping a downtowns nationwide, is struggling that is, a proportional income tax on wages against and salaries paid within the Salt Lake trend by businesses to relocate in the City limits was trotted out. Commissuburbs, distant from the city center. sioners Jennings Phillips Jr. and, The Salt Lake Area Chamber of later, Glen C. Greener indicated their Commerce is conducting a special inclination toward the idea. Familiar campaign to attract more corporate-typ- e justification was heard. operations .to the city, acknow It was pointed out that people who edging that, within a short time, new construction may create excess office w'ork downtown, but live in surroundexcause space downtown. A commuter tax ing suburbs, municipal work in direct opposition to this could which those inside the penses living effort. to with are meet city obliged An additional property or franchise taxes. For expense for its employees, such as a city excise for the pmilegc of working within the city, isnt apt to impress a business Orhitiii; Paragraphs tempted to make a major location move. It might actually, in Salt Lake Shakespeare was probably the gleate-- t writer in history but Ibid is a close second Citys case, accelerate flight of existing downtow'n tenants to outlying Pity the husband whose wife cun only bake a humble pie neighborhoods. The spectacle could emerge of city dwellers putting The Susan B Anthony coin is nothin) new Women have liocn netting Into mens pot kets heavier service burdens on county for centuries taxpayers. Tilt line between living simply and simply cant be City commissioners living is nint h too wide to be labeled a line sidl differ in detail about what caused the collapse, but generally agree th.it (hanged economic conditions and the safeguards ahead at 13 percent. The majority, then, proved as mortal as anyone in similar circumstances when House In a compromised on the touchy subject of enlarging its own wages. The salary increase weakens a more powerful example Congress could have set in beean its su krmng plunge into the most dev astaiing depression the industrial world has ever known Even alter the stock market collapsed oil Hit 29 pv9. many government officials, haiiki i s and Wall Street brokers dung to the world of perpetuhoH that their make al prosperity was not ending Today, analysts WASHINGTON i manner consistent with its nature. Congress appears to hae house New s Serv a e Most economists ague that there can never lie another economic collapse like the Great Depiession that staited just 50 years ago The Cmted Stales they sav. now has the knowledge and the ability to halt a business slide before it reaches depths. They probably are right An earlier generation oi economists, how ever, spoke just as optimistically in August l')2X. even as the nations economy peaked and New 27, 1979 Thursday Morning, September . Prodigious Cataracts legislator Il'Olll whose desk have gushed the most piodigious eat arm ts of public III history, lie is the spending pmpo-al- s cionotnic statesman who has defended the proposition that the federal government has not really crown since the war notwithstanding that its share of the gross national product has risen hv Ml percent He is a leader in the same sense that Caller was a leader, running fin ofliee, when lie promised simultaneously a) a ri (!m turn in our uiicmploviticiit b) an end to a dramatic rise m the gloss uitl.it jon and n itional product That was the kind of leadership John I.milsav It took years befote the g ia to New AoikCnv a pot pic glumly recognized that John I.md-1. limed mm h lictii r an the Merv Gnfim P bow than in Grime Mansion Ted Kennedy hoiild be appointed Chief U S Celebrity . a post w hu i) mind e isilv be tmanicd bv public ill. i tiptioii But he should agree to lop He - (lie Copy Bmitein right on Words By Theodoie M Bernstein Different from (than?) landard grammar preset iU-- the use of from after different, as m "Women are dilterent from men. and vivo la ditferenee When, as in that instance, the two words are followed by a noun or pronoun, then-ino excuse for not following stand. ml pi ammnr However, some exceptions aic mure and mm e In ing made by educated speakers and writers w lieu the two words are followed by a clause, eillu r expressed or elliptical Here Is an example of an expressed clause He conducts tils business in a maimer no different than he did twenty years aco And line Is an example of an elliptical danse' I tie sy luplioiiy appealed to me ill a dilleient way than ever before. (la full, the elliptical clause would he ' tluin it ever did before. I In eai h e you could not simply replace than vwlli from: you would have to add some words, ami the second example probably produce a cumbersome eonslniction situations dit lei cut than, though not com plot t lv sain t ioiumI now, jit most certainly will lie m aivolliet ileeadi nr so -- s tu 111 ) -- -- Ml u-- ili tile wol d Iciidel -- lop If were going to avoid the rush, we're going to have lo wait and leave woik on time |
