Show - w vtv'mlf emile ibunr a 1 t galit gof 13C - Opinion Sunday June 26 1988 Section I Tribune Editorials Page 14 A Task Force Finding Is Sound: State Owes Thrift Depositors Gov Norm Bangerter and House Majority Leader Nolan Karras aren't comfortable with a task force proposal for compensating 15000 depositors whose savings deposits where caught in the collapse of Utah's privately insured thrifts two years ago Under circumstances of their own making they're now obligated to come up with something better right away The 1988 Legislature which ordered formation of a Thrift Task Force to study ways of settling depositor complaints and the governor who appointed its members only two months ago gave the group little time to fill a tall order And now that state leaders have decided to deal with the thrift issue in a special session July 5 they're under tight time constraints to offer alternatives to what they consider a risky imbalanced task force option The task force decided just this past week that the state is morally bound to pay 15000 depositors 100 percent of their savings in five failed thrifts The state would bond for $67 million repaying that bond with some $26 million in thrift liquidation proceeds $47 million in the defunct thrift insurance fund a portion of this year's budget surplus and whatever the state could collect from its own insurance and former operators of the thrifts Depositors who would receive neither legal fees nor interest on their money would be expected to release the state from all legal liability Gov Bangerter says that plan puts all the risk of the debt on taxpayers' shoulders He says everyone including depositors taxpayers insurance companies and thrift officials should share that risk A smaller bond possibly coupled with an outright appropriation is R-R- US Oblivious? his preference at this point Rep Karras doubts taxprIers would appreciate picking up the tab for thrift depositors The task force proposal clearly puts much of the thrift burden on the state but it by no means lets depositors off the hook While they would finally be assured of retrieving the principal they've been denied for two years depositors would have to write off those years of interest and still pay their attorneys Meanwhile the state would be spared the litigation costs that would accourt contest with company a on taxpayAnd the impact depositors ers could be softened by the state's diligent pursuit of insurance and legal claims Given the part Utah officials played in the thrift collapse — the Legislature authorized the thrift guaranty fund and state regulators encouraged some depositors to stick with the failing industry so that others could get out — the state does owe some debt to depositors However state officials aren't responsible for the economic conditions legislation and management decisions that precipitated the thrift problems Trying to prove otherwise in court would unnecessarily punish taxpayers who would be stuck with legal fees whether the state won or lost and prolong the pain of thrift depositors who might receive nothing more than liquidation assets and legal bills The Task Force compromise would make neither thrift depositors nor taxpayers whole but it promises a more satisfying solution to the thrift mess than protracted litigation Gov Bangerter and legislators will have to think fast if they hope to further reduce the state's risks without being less than fair with depositors full-blow- n Capitalize on Utah Pluses A pretty positive picture of Utah's business climate was painted for 160 or so Utah business government and community leaders at Little America the other day If that kind of enthusiasm spreads getting the word out to the rest of the world the state needn't worry for long about its economic strength Utah Economic Development Corp a consortium sponsored the luncheon as part of its "Utah — a pretty great state" campaign To listen to its speakers starting with Gov Norm Bangerter and moving on to his new economic ambassador Jon Huntsman and some newer residents the slogan's right on target "We don't have to take a back seat to anyone in economic development" Mr business-governme- Huntsman chairman of Huntsman Chemical Corp and briefly Gov Ban- gerter's political opponent declared explaining that a partnership between the private sector and the state is creating new companies and jobs and providing appropriate job training Richard Thomas who recently moved to Utah with McDonnell Douglas Corp told the gathering he's been "bowled over" by the state's pluses When compared to the West Coast communities where the aerospace industry is concentrated he said Utah has a fa vorable cost of living lower corporate and individual taxes and lower cost of doing business Utah's "tool kit" of business attractions is full Mr Thomas said praising the state's strategic location atmosphere low crime rate and skilled people outstandculture health system recreation ing convenient transportation Because of the "excellent" work ethic here he said his company is expanding its local workforce to take advantage of Utah pro-busine- ss well-educat- productivity "There's a renaissance going on in American industry and Utah ought to flaunt what it's got" Mr Thomas said noting that many West Coast manufac turers are looking toward the mountain states for expansion Utah is closer to the coast than Colorado its land is cheaper than in Arizona and its labor pool is larger than Nevada's the former Los Angeles resident said Robert Salmon representative of Fi- delity Investments was equally enthusiastic He attributed a large part of his company's success the past couple of years to its move to Utah "Your people are your greatest asset" he said describing his employees hired in Utah as "professional aggressive and well endowed with the work ethic and a desire to succeed" And according to Noemi Mattis a psychologist who moved to Utah with her scientist husband eight years ago her own experience indicates that women can come to Utah and have a complete life especially if welcomed the way she was by the University of Utah administration and "energetic creative brilliant" local women Those are the kinds of stories that must reach business officials far and wide if the state is to generate the 250000 new jobs needed by the year 2000 to fill local employment needs So that no one's led astray however those stories should be tempered with the sober side of the equation Not everyone is satisfied with a social environment that some times makes it difficult for newcomers to fit in Horror stories about the hassles of raising business capital and coping with the banking community still leave some clouds on the economic horizon But these are neither universal nor insurmountable challenges If Case in point: The bicycle messenger who was banned from the US Department of Justice building in Washington DC because he was wearing a emblazoned "Experts Agree! Meese Is a Pig" Apparently some one at the Justice Department — a lower echelon individual it seems especially sensitive to the critical treatment their boss Attorney General Edwin Meese III has lately endured — unilaterally decided to alter the department's dress code to include a ban on uncomplimentary of Mr eese This grabbed the attention of a Washington Post reporter who felt to bring this less than momentous happening to world attention It must have been an excessively dull day atthe Justice Depprtment Or the duty-boun- d the Post has erage effort its Justice cove The banning in turn infuriated the American Civil Liberties Union One of its lawyers Arthur B Spitzer saw this as a First Amendment issue and was all prepared to sue the Justice Department for abridging the messenger's Chiristopher Stalvey free expression rights This ridiculously high level of peevishness not unexpectedly was noted at levels of the highest decision-makinthe Justice Department g Responded department spokesman Patrick S Korten: "The matter was raised with the attorney general this morning And he said from here on out our policy will be that if they want to enter the building wearing that sort of Tshirt they may" Swell! Once more the venerable incisiveness of William Shakespeare proves is over a useful This dust-u"Much About Ado Nothing" truly non-issu- e go:11:41' ' By David Morris Knight-Ridde- r '''' et Is Welcome e Newspapers In the late 20th century national boundaries have become nuisances to planetary cor- er porations And when giant corporations speak politicians listen So on Jan 2 Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney dutifully signed a historic free trade accord That accord has received little attention on this side of the border Perhaps because our economy is 10 times larger than that of our northern neighbor we know we will be little affected Or maybe because most Americans think we already have free trade with Canada After all aren't we the worlds largest trading partners? Aren't Canadians major investors in US real estate? Don't Americans own a significant chunk of Canada's economy? 0 '- le' ' ?- - At vTrzs11114411111kt - iii)104111 1 - 1p 4Y1W011t 41 JAtibf ---- -4- - te0001::- - '"- - op 1 1L''t David Morris an author lecturer and consultant writes for the St Paul Pioneer Press Dispnteh 1 111i l'i''''''14' SIAAi features have been removed" Mel Hurtig e Canadian Enpublisher of the cyclopedia puts it even more succinctly "What is on the table is Canada itself" Canadians tend to be circumspect about their devotion to country At the Kingston Royal Military College the Canadian equivalent to West Point Brigadier Gen Frank J Norman identifies one of our many national differences: "I have not ever seen the whipping up of patriotic fervor as part of our mandate We don't as a people pop out of the cradle waving flags and mouthing slogans" A Toronto Star reporter recently added "Canadian children do not hold their hands over their hearts and pledge allegiance to the flag every day We do not tell each other to 'love it or leave Yet this lack of chauvinism belies a fierce pride of place A recent book "If You Love This Country" contains statements from over 50 prominent Canadian entrepreneurs writers scientists film makers and politicians Ed Finn of the Canadian Union of Public Employees sums up their sentiments: "We don't want to be Americans We chose to create a different — and in many ways better — society One that is more humane and civilized " less frenzied and Canadians point to the CBC the National Film Board universal medical care generous social programs gun control and agricultural marketing boards as evidence of their distinctive identity The free trade accord would gradually undermine these programs just when Americans Yes yes and yes But specifically because our two nations are already so economically intertwined this accord takes on special significance For we are no longer negotiating lower tariffs We are proposing economic union And economic union inexorably demands political union The accord will become the supreme law of Canada superseding its own constitution US companies must be treated as if they were Canadian Almost all Canadian companies will become prey to US investors Canada's water and energy resources must be made available to US customers at the same price they are offered to Canadians Even if Canada is suffering a domestic shortage The accord does not immediately erode social programs But the logic of economic competition makes that likely The president of the Canadian Manufacturers Association concedes "It's simply a fact that as we ask our industries to compete toe to toe with American industries (we) are obviously forced to create the same conditions in Canada that exist in the United States whether it is the unemployment insurance scheme workmen's compensation the cost of government the level of taxation or whatever" Canada in effect will have a diminishing ability to defend protect subsidize (choose your word depending on your political orientation) its citizens It will lack the collective authority to maintain a distinct identity As Canada's celebrated novelist and poet Margaret Atwood observes "A level playing field after all is one from which all distinguishing - 1 (I'''''-7- three-volum- it" crime-ridden- ' one-thir- we Unfortunately these instructive models and many others will be threatened by the free trade accord r Opponents know they have an uphill battle Michele Landsberg columnist for the Globe & Mail and winner of two National Newspaper Awards admits " 'Identity' sounds and abstract compared to the brassy I gleam of promised jobs and quick loot It's' human nature to take what seems tangible" But the unabashed Canadian patriots may have tapped a sympathetic nerve In early June they presented to Ottawa petitions demanding an immediate election that contained an astonishing 350000 signatures The accord need not be put to a vote But it seems only fair What does democracy mean if not the ability to decide whether future votes will have any meaning? d ::::::-::::- : i::::FV:::: - -" " are looking north for some answers to our own pressing problems Consider Canada's provincial marketing boards They protect family farmers by setting a fair price for their product and avoiding large commodity surpluses Yet they maintain competition and innovation Their success helped shape the Family Farm Bill wending its way through Congress Canada's provincially based national health d less than our hodgeinsurance costs podge of private and public plans and yet provides universal coverage while 30 million Americans lack access to adequate health care And Canadians are at least as healthy as - ':: :::11:i:::::::: :::::':::: tr 1 : : - - - ::::::0:::: i mina t ' c ' :!::::::: ': 4") e d eo! 4k V 1‘ tt a1 A -- -- :of vcimi lk 1116 'mg 1 0 0 i 0 : - - Irk4- s' ett k tge z---- ::::':-P—- - " r"F 1 :::: A 0 Atx ''4' 1111doll -'- ''vl 90 "- ' 0' 10111"tglip s ''''' ! F)I'' - 0- - '14 IY::::"‘ a "IN i A 1 §M001111' ItaVa Nsn)t ":441:Z MQ Can't Go Home at Lonely Cy rus Buffer Zone By Diana Henry The Baltimore Sun NICOSIA Cyprus — Sometimes the solUnityard-londier looks across the ed Nations buffer zone at his Turkish Cypriot enemy He stands in a shack blue and white like the Cypriot flag and can see only the other's eyes and gun They could have grown up on the same street in the same town as irony might have it For they are both Cypriots one Greek one Turkish divided since the Turkish invasion of g 1974 Between them now the word "halt" is painted on the ground in blue and white in Greek and English and a few feet beyond that another street painting written only in Greek translates roughly into: "Someday we will return" Just beyond the painted pavement stand four garbage cans also blue and white filled with dirt and sprouting eucalyptus trees "I from Famagusta" the young man says "Ah but you must have been a child" I say And immediately he knows what I mean "I was six" he says The soldier did not protest a few minutes earlier when a friend and I opened the gate and stepped through curious about the guarded swath on this street where old Nicosia ends A It is a hot day and he is 19 years old and the hours are long for a man alone in a shack He does not know that the man with me works for the United Nations peacekeeping force here he does not know that I am an American reporter Famagusta the soldier's home town used to be Cyprus' tourist center Paul Newman went there in 1960 to film the movie "Exodus" and came away praising its beach and green-blu- e sea It was invaded by Turkish troops in the second of two sweeps over the island in 1974 Turkey was one of three "guarantor pow ers" — the others are Greece and Britain — that had a right to intervene militarily if Cy prus' constitution was threatened Ankara sent troops to the island after a short-livemilitary coup on Cyprus that was engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece d Diana Henry Is chief ofThe Baltimore Sun's Paris bureau The Turkish troops have been here ever since occupying 38 percent of the islands northern terrain with what the UN estimates are 29000 troops By the time the Turkish troops reached Fa magusta the beach resort's Greek Cypriots were so frightened by tales of brutality up north that they had already fled "When we entered the people had left their doors open" one Turkish diplomat said "There was water coming in some of the houses The houses were flooding" Taking Famagusta was reportedly not in the original plans of the "Attila" invasion "We only took it so we could give it back in negotiations as a bargaining chip" the Turk ish diplomat said Except for its Turkish Cypriot neighbor hoods most of Famagusta is still intact and uninhabited play town turned ghost town Recently the Cyprus government coinplained that some of the former resort's hotels were being used again Officials from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus the state recognized only by Ankara explained that the rooms were being used as student dormitories In Famagusta and throughout Cyprus Greek and Turkish Cypriots often lived in the same cities and villages before the invasion And because this stretch of the buffer zone in Nicosia is usually manned by Turkish Cyp riots instead of Turkish troops the eyes look ing back at the Greek Cypriot soldier could belong to another child of Famagusta Only UN patrols are allowed to circulate in the buffer zone an eerie snapshot of ac tions frozen 14 years ago d '1 - ar-7Z- 171 t11 o over-staffe- d p For Canada Trade Pact ap- proached with the kind of confidence and can-d- o attitude that the Utah Economic Development Corp is trying to engender Utah stands a better chance of capitalizing on its apparent advantages and taking care of any lingering problems that would impede progress toward a rich and rewarding future Important It Isn't Ever notice how indignation takes on a life and momentum all its own? 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