Show nl - t Time to Consider Possibility Of Bailing Out the Soviets By Michael Kinsley Soviet Union to move more boldly toward capitalism why aren't we doing more to encourage that leap? Yet the subject of serious economic assistance for the Soviets is not even on the agenda Having spent trillions of dollars bringing the Cold War to this point we seem unwilling to spend any money securing its demise in the only foolproof way: by turning the Soviet Union into a democratic capitalist society It's not a question of "helping Gorbachev" The promise of massive economic assistance could be made contingent on all the things we want to happen: shock- - therapy economics military cutbacks an end to the subsidy of Cuba freedom for the Baltic republics and so on If Gorbachev goes along he's our man for sure If he balks widespread awareness of this standing offer would hasten his departure Would massive financial aid to the Soviet Union just be money down the rathole? The money needn't be wasted if it promotes rapid adjustment to a free market economy rather than shoring up the current mess American business executives eyeing the Soviet market already clamor for loan guarantees and whatnot But instead of subsidizing a lot of development projects that the market can judge better on its own why not offer to help finance some kind of social safety net for a few years? People are being asked to give up guaranteed jobs subsidized food and housing etc It would ease the political problem of getting them to take the plunge if they knew they would only plunge so far Or is the Soviet economic disaster just too massive and hopeless for any amount of Western assistance to make any difference? Some knowledgeable people think so and they may be right But if so — if the Soviet economy free-mark- free-mark- half-measur- r 0---- csasel''''" ti 4 NI Li1 ' 7-- ca Destroy for a decade or more any hopes of the District of Columbia gaining statehood Those are all valid reasons for both prosecutors and defense attorneys to try to avoid a lurid trial exposing extramarital sex hotel liaisons drug abuse alleged drug conspiracies and more n advocates But the don't seem to have given much thought to a fundamental question: How far can the courts and the federal prosecutors go in betraying the black children of this city and the nation? We don't need a jury to tell us that Barry betrayed the school children when he went before them with pious talk about how his mind was too sharp his body too precious for him ever to ingest drugs Now he has admitted that he was 44 ) 4 41' '431'I - - 4? 'il ':'7 ' 41100L!-- 1 7 - ( Jesse Jackson - - -- p - ai - Marion Barry right-thinkin- with a tightly wound bunch of rags) It's the game most easy to under- stand It has only one specialist position (goalkeeper) only one moderately complex rule (offside) You don't need to be big strong tall or even particularly fast — when Franz Beckenbauer now the manager of team West Germany's was in his heyday in the 1960s he seemed to go through a game without breaking a sweat much-fancie- g d Michael Elliott is the Washington bureau chief of the Economist and his money is on Holland MIEM K-I- Perhaps America's indifference to soccer is part of a general puzzle merit about "abroad" Watching a country's soccer team is the quickest way to get a fix on what makes a society tick Holland's great teams of the 1970s (whose motto for those who think rule and that the designated-hitte- r other specializations are the cat's whiskers was "Everyone does every thing") looked as if they'd stumbled n out of a dive in Amsterdam and probably had Keen observers knew that perestroika was on the way when they saw the exciting Russian team of the early 1980s will of American soccer-lover- s course protest that millions of their stubborn kids play the game every weekend and that for the first time team will since 1950 a fresh-face- d represent the United States in the World Cup Pshaw! You can't learn soccer in the suburbs you shouldn't really play on a field until your teens Soccer is the city game meant to kids dodgbe played by snotty-nose- d ing cars in Glasgow and Liverpool Naples and Sao Paolo Bethesda Md doesn't make it Everywhere but here soccer is the game of the working class love the fact that no intellectual dope-ridde- pretension surrounds soccer There's been no "Summer Game" and "Boys of Summer" written about the sport No European or t Iiiie - - yecf ' 02 ' - 10"17r1— 11:kb' - - iAiii cg ti::1 OkttOt ilidgArC s' - 1 l'Iy — 4 o ! ''' -- ' 4S644 1' ''':: i pre- 1 i 11 ! 04 ' -i tlitNi111"1"itilltt‘O 1 : d 11 1qAtilVit $ d 11 6' I Ak ' 11 t it' ill i ki '':i11' 0 111 11 -- i t r ih I '' '' N '' - A estmorsou-goon -- L ("terfi Th' '110423111'-militt- - -- YI '"01:''''''''''- - - -- 1P- - 11jrdr14"w:- - ‘ eir' LENImiR-z- I' i! h tiilr ' li i 1 ‘ t S t I I It' t t Id N ) "I'41PL44" atalw'u'"------ pil ii -: ' II ItqlitIll 1 'IQ Ale - IN li NIIIIVZ4Wors'” t : 1 '1'11 1 kl' M:iitklitiL : 1111-L- - 1 I ' -- i 0' 1:1 t 01 i ) - -- 7 kA''v 4(2 ''Nx 4r 11ilet"'-r- is like a dead lake so polluted that it can never revive — then perestroika has been a disservice to the Soviet people It only made things worse No one making US policy admits to being that pessimistic Jeffrey Sachs a Harvard economics professor who has been advising the Polish government thinks that aid of something like $30 billion a year for three or four years could make a real difference in the prospects for successfully establishing capitalism in the Soviet Union That's a lot of money And yes there's no reason other prosperous Western nations shouldn't shoulder some or even most of the load But does the United States wish to continue as leader of the Free World or does it not? If it I'd like to see a agreement too — but not one in which US Attorney Jay Stephens lets Barry walk with some trifling plea of guilt to misdemeanors but no admission that he committed perjury The children and their futures form the paramount issue here If they see the mayor do drugs lie to a grand jury and walk out in a plea bargain pressured by conscienceless politicians who is ever again going to tell these youngsters that crime does not pay? Who is going to convince them that they cannot push and use destructive drugs take the Social Security checks of old women and even murg der drug merchants and junkies without facing the wrath of the law? Barry and his wilder supporters have caused incredible racial polarization here and across America by comparing the prosecution of this many-faultemayor with the victims of the Nazi Holocaust and the blacks who got lynched in the South Barry portrays himself as just a little "bad role model" who was frolicking along until the mean white folk set out to destroy him I'd like to see the trial aborted — but only under circumstances where Barry admits to misdemeanors and felonies that will guarantee that he cannot continue to be a burden on a nation's capital that deserves something better If one or two people hang the jury wanting more of Barry as their "leader" so be it But the prosecutors must not cave in plea-bargai- n There's No Excuse for America's Indifference to Soccer By Michael Elliott Special to The Washington Post WASHINGTON — We're getting cabled this week No choice The cable company may be bloodsuckers incarnate but since the networks refuse to carry anything from the world's greatest sporting event — soccer's World Cup which started in Italy on Friday — people everywhere are raising a glass to Ted Turner global visionary man of the decade whose TNT 'channel is broadcasting the competition has a sticking Every point in his praise of this nation For myself I can argue persuasively that 2 education is a triumph that the Contras were saints that Eastern Airlines often takes off on time What I absolutely cannot do is excuse or explain America's indifference to professional soccer This is the world's greatest democracy and soccer is the world's most democratic game You need no fancy equipment no bats no shoulder pads You hardly need a ball (I've seen kids on Caribbean islands play lip -- 1 1 ' 111 : r6111 d at 1 - tiAl ny 11THuANok? -1 non-payin- plea-bargai- 1 - il9okd crime and corruption all around the world hurting the United States in both foreign policy and economic competitiveness Intensify the racial polarization the hatreds that already are rampant in this city as in New York and other metropolitan areas of Ameri- ' 4 Carl T Rowan f 1 Jot le--:1- et an alcoholic hooked on what be calls "prescription drugs" and that he drank cognac and smoked powerful crack on the evening that he was arrested in an FBI sting at the Vista Hotel Arrogantly he says in so many words "So what? No DC jury will convict me" More than 20 of Barry's former cronies are supposedly standing by to testify that they did drugs with Barry and that the mayor committed perjury when he told a grand jury that he had never used illicit drugs Every child 10 years old and beyond knows what's going on ' ( VEt4 Vu 6er A ittt4Nr CM We riku(Nticur Prosecutors Shouldn't Let Mayor Barry Off North America Syndicate WASHING'rON — Suddenly a host of people have popped up including the Rev Jesse Jackson saying that the trial of Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry would be so destructive that it ought not go forward They are urging a "plea bargain" agreement arguing that a celebrated trial would: Scare tourists away from a city that already is in financial distress and needs money brought in by people who revere the nation's capital Make Washington a symbol of A23 The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday June 10 1990 run problems worse Soviet economists estimate that the latest reform will throw 10 million people out of work Shock therapy might cost 40 million jobs If we want the The New Republic Boris Yeltsin is the George Bush of the Soviet Union Criticizing the steep price increases in the government's latest economic reform plan he says: "We must find another transition to the market economy that does not lead to a deterioration in the standard of living" Free capitalism No price increases No unemployment Read my lipskies In Washington they're virtually forming Yeltsin for President PACs We're now in the third phase of fashionable Gorboskepticism In phase one Gorbachev was the brilliant mastermind of a nefarious plot to lull the West into foolish complaisance through phony Potemkin reforms When it became clear that the changes in the Soviet empire were fundamental not phony Gorbo was demoted from mastermind to irrelevant spectator: a cork bobbing in the sea of history merely presiding over communism's inevitable collapse That was phase two Now we're in phase three: Gorbachev is a transitional figure a Kerensky who unleashed forces he can't control and has outlived his usefulness Maybe so But why the relish over Gorbachev's economic troubles? Although the latest round of reforms can be legitimately criticized for both ineptitude and timidity it's not as if anyone — certainly including Boris Ye Itsin — has any great idea how to rescue the Soviet economy Gorbachev pretty clearly would like to go all the way to capitalism His economic problem is that you can't get there from here at least not without vast disruption and suffering His political problem is how to get people to take the chemotherapy are causing his Gorbachev's economic political problems but full "shock therapy" would not solve them Quite the opposite: It would make the short t Latin American equivalent of George Will would ever devote his time to a book on it (this alone is a great recommendation) There was it is true an angst-ridde- n existentialist German film called "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" in the 1970s (there is a slim link between soccer and existentialism — Albert Camus played goalie for Algeria) but I fell asleep while watching it Nobody— not a writer not a hype-ladeTV commentator — can help you love soccer You have to do it yourself A modicum of American an appreciation of beauty and a subscription to TNT are all that's required n Then you'll understand why when the Elliott grandchildren ask me if ever saw Gorbachev I'll say "Yes — but I saw Hungary destroy Brazil in '68 I saw Ricky Villa's goal in '81 I " And — saw Platini I saw Pe le even if you don't — they will know exactly what I mean does it can't balk at a challenge like this simply because of the cost Four years of $30 billion amounts to MO per n in real terms than US citizen That's less the Marshall Plan — and the country is four times as rich Whatever the merits of massive aid to the Soviet Union the size of the project not those merits is what makes it so unthinkable for the United States in 1990 If $120 billion over the next few years could help capitalism and democracy take root in the Soviet Union this would save the United States far more than $120 billion In defense costs in the long run So the question may be economwhether we are capable of making a short-teric sacrifice for our own long-terself interest But then that always seems to be the question these days per-perso- If U Is to Prosper It Needs Risk Taker Like Peterson By Gary M Sandquist Chase Peterson president of the University of Utah is under siege — by his medical school the physical scientists some administrators and many of his faculty The president has been surrounded by controversy regarding several issues — his cold fusion announcement the aborted Sorenson gift to the medical school the university's administrative structure and recent administra- tive resignations and his proposal to combine the offices of provost and academic vice president It is interesting that these issues share a common basis — that of financial matters at the university — a perennial issue which had borne heavily upon Peterson and all pre- vious university presidents throughout their tenure Dr Sandquist is a University of Utah professor of mechanical engineering and a member of the Academic Senate It is informative and hopefully provocative to briefly examine the positive record of the Peterson administration since 1983 Chase Peterson assumed the presidency of the University in the fall of 1983 During the 1983- 84 period the University's total budget was $309 million with a student enrollment of about 24500 and a faculty and staff of 981 FTE's (full time equivalent employees excluding medical school personal) which yielded a per capita employee budget of $315000 The state appropriation then was $92 million or about 30 percent of the total budget For 1989-9- 0 student enrollment is about 24400 the total budget is $508 million and the number of faculty and staff is 917 FTE's yielding a per capita employee budget of $554000 (an increase of 76 percent since 1983) While state appropriations to the university have increased only 45 percent annually (remaining essentially constant from 1986-89- ) the total budget has increased at an annual growth rate almost twice that of state funding The state appropriation for 1989-9- 0 is only 24 percent of the total university budget I suggest that the additional $170 million in funding since 1983 is a primary result of the programs and policies of the Peterson administration From 1984 to 1989 research funding at the university increased from $69 million to $105 million for an average growth rate of 86 percent almost twice the growth rate of state funding The total research budget in 1989 amounted to almost one quarter of the total budget — about the same amount as the state appropriation Furthermore the major five-yea- r g drive con fund-raisin- eluded June 9 yielded $205 million The success of this effort is evident by the university's fifth ranking among recent state supfund raising ported multi-yea- r campaigns in the US Despite the loss of the Sorenson Gift to the Medical School — an unfortunate event which the faculty and staff of that school must assume some responsibility — the University Medical School and hospital complex is one of the premier health science and care centers in the United States Total medical funding is about $154 million per year of which only $15 million come from state appropriations an unappreciated bargain for the residents of Utah Many faculty assess the entire "cold fusion" experience as unproductive and even damaging to the university's image However the current facts regarding cold fusion are noteworthy Presently about 60 independent researchers around the world have now reported cold fusion experiments showing evidence of excess heat tritium neutrons gamma rays and even helium-- 3 The evidence is continually mounting that some form of nuclear reaction is occurring The critical question is what nuclear reactions are occurring Furthermore and most importantly can these nuclear reactions be controlled and enhanced to adequately increase the nuclear energy output? Chase Peterson is a mover and and shaker He is assertive — articulate and cogent He is a dominant force among the college and university presidents in the state He was instrumental in convincing both Gov Bangerter and the Legislature to raise taxes in February 1988 to sustain the university which faced a budget crisis without the tax increase He was a vigorous campaigner throughout the state in defeating the subsequent initiative to reduce taxes I claim his administration has been instrumental in enriching the University by about $400 million or more since 1983 Admittedly President Peterson and his administration are also responsible for mistakes and judgment errors and failures — even glaring public failures But the responsibility of preserving and enriching an educational enterprise which requires an half billion dollar annual budget carries a high risk I believe the university faculty and staff will commit a far greater error in seeking a safe accommodating president and administration who make few mistakes because they take few risks in an attempt to please the university community The University of Utah would not long survive such a new accommodating administration ' Politicians See Sexual Issues as Springboards for Political Platforms New York Times Service The reproductive organs always politically troubling in America are even more so these days Consider the womb Hardly a day goes by without a news story about the womb It sometimes seems nobody in the entire country is willing to grant the womb any relief from politics Politicians devise womb policies to fit their campaigns legislators legislate what may and may not be done with the womb judges rule this way and that on womb disputes people angered by the courts' latest womb rulings demand that wrong-headejudges be replaced by judges with sound d womb views Men though wombless are just as passionate as women about womb affairs It must be hard for a woman to put up with — all this evidence that the entire American political stricture most of witch is male asserts an absolutely vital interest in her womb The other day Dr Louis Sullivan Presi Russell Baker United States? One might suppose the aim of Sullivan's department — it's called "Health and Human Services" after all — would be to save addicted and alcoholic women from this very fate One might suppose that instead of calling the sheriff it ought to be alerting mothers-tobwarning them against the damage drugs and alcohol can do to their babies and devising ways to help them abstain This of course would still leave very grave decisions with the potential mother but the alternative is to assert such a vast government interest in the individual pregnancy that police are entitled to enforce special codes of social conduct once pregnancy begins At this stage of political development the womb becomes a species of public domain a miniature Yellowstone Park as it were inside every woman who is subject to arrest by park rangers if she disobeys the regulations Well let's not be too harsh on Sullivan He was in Boston talking to one of those "forums" at which you're entitled to float ideas that never seem as terrific at breakfastas they e : N dent Bush's secretary of Health and Human Services found a new kind of public interest in wombs He said some women commit child abuse in the womb and ought to face criminal charges for it He was talking about pregnant women who abuse drugs and alcohol "Child abuse pure and simple" he called it suggesting that law enforcement people start doing something about it 'law enforcement of course takes smatok into politics What is a district attckney after all but a lawyer dreaming of a governorship en route to the presidency of the did at midnight What he said in this case was arresting for what it said of our times Looking for subject matter he went unerringly to the reproductive organs That's where politics is most exciting just now Witness the aitack on federal funding for the arts It has been led by Sen Jesse Helms the North Carolina populist who can spot a winning issue the instant it goes up on an art gallery wall And what was it that Helms saw on that vile wall? Reproductive organs folks No not wombs this time This time the reproductive organs were male "The naughty bits" as the Monty Python crew used to call them Or in tte euphemism with which the film industry le rts the public to leave little Jill and Baby at home "full frontal nudity" If I sound unduly arch about this it is not because I share the Senator's shirk at public displays of "full frontal nudity" ilut because I have not seen those famous Mapplethorpe photographs which started the uproar so 'A must rely on hearsay descriptions In any case the photographs were easily made to seem an illustration of the scandalous and unworthy uses to which federal arts money — derived from the famous taxpayer's dollar — was being put by the usual bureaucrats out of touch with the etcetera And Helms was off to the political races Reproductive organs had done the trick Later to give this comical foray into esthetics a deep philosophical disguise the Helms faction adduced the usual argument about separation of art and state That's good barroom bull session stuff but let us not be fooled by it It was reproductive organs that gave this issue its political sex appeal Yes it's another product of the Puritan revival which is raging around us Puritans specialize in knowing what's good for us What's worse they insist on making the rest of us do what's good for us In America where sin if virtually synopymous with sex it is inevitale that PuntaAm will devote much of its zeal to policing the citizenry's reproductive organs i |