daily nebraskan
monday, September 10, 1979
u
Rescuing Chrysler would protect US. economy
The continuing debate on whether
American taxpayers should help the
Chrysler Corp. out of its self-induced
financial mess is an interesting one.
After several years of concentra
ting its production on large cars
rather than on now-popular compact
economy models, Chrysler has found
itself far behind Ford and General
Motors in sales. Then years ago
Chrysler held an 18 percent share of
the American new-car market, but
now reports that its share is less than
10 percent. As a result of misjudging
changing market conditions and
consumer needs, Chrysler's share of
red ink, on the other hand has in
creased dramatically.
Fair is down payment
on buying back past
BRIQGEWATER, Conn .-During the Oxen Draw con
test, which came as the the high moment for about a
thousand spectators on the second day of the Bridgewater
Fair, I made the mistake of thinking the animals were the
stars of the show.
Qsfaam mccarthy
Teams of yoked oxen-the immense, muscled beasts
that Russian weight lifters model themselves after-were
led to the center of a fenced field to be hitched to slabs
of cement. On command, the oxen pulled the weights six
feet along the earth. After each round, more slabs were
added. In the end, the winning teams had moved more
that 3, 200 pounds.
It is true that until tree stumps found their match in
bulldozers, much of the land in the fertile Housatonic
Valley of western Connecticut was cleared by oxen. But
the Oxen Draw is a celebration less of the animals' power
than the masculinity of the men who own them.
This manly presence establishes a role by which identit
ies are established. The difference between husband, wives
and children are respected.
At the Bridgewater Fair, as well as the 40 other town
fairs that draw crowds to the Connecticut countryside
from July to October, all the supposedly corny sights are
available: the 4-H kids taking afternoon naps next to their
prize Jerseys and Holsteins, bulging pound cakes baked
that morning by mothers who would never think of freez
ing them the week before, chairmakers, tomatoes the size
of cantaloupes and cantaloupes larger than bowling balls,
loomed rag rugs and butter from a churn, not a factory
vat.
AS QUAINT as this rusticity may seem, the country
fair, at its essence, is a down-payment on buying back the
past when what a person grew, carved, baked or seated
over was part of his psychological and cultural grounding.
At the Bridgewater Fair, when women talk about
their quilting they speak of patterns learned as children
from their mothers. In the cities, when a woman sews
a quilt and shows it to a friend, she is asked, "How many
courses did you take?" Men who give their working lives
to corporations and who may be transferred 10 to IS
times may want to break free. But what will their women
think? They as Tim Hardin asks in the popular song
J Were A Carpenter.
If I were a Carpenter
And you were a lady
Would you many me anyway.
Would you have my baby? . . .
If 7 worked my hands in wood
Would you stul love me? ...
Now, Chrysler wants the Amer
rican people to bail them out. Since
knowledge of Chrysler's troubles has
become known, opposition to simply
giving Chrysler money has been
great, but support for guaranteeing
loans made to Chrysler has been
equally great.
Reasons for that support are
simple. If Chrysler goes under, they
say, 500,000 jobs will be lost-those
of 130,000 directly employed by
Chrysler and those of parts suppliers,
dealers, and others, etc. The im
pact on the economy would be
great- especially in this time of
recession. We need Chrysler, we are
told, to insure competition, to keep
our economy strong.
But do we?
If Chrysler would indeed fold, yes,
people would lose jobs and related
industries would be hurt. But at the
same time competitors would ex
pand to take that market share
Chrysler previously controlled, or
new companies would be set up to
acquire that share. Some of those
who lost jobs would be rehired. The
related industries may still suffer,
but new industries would benefit.
And if these new industries ate
productive, the public has gained.
The public does not gain when a
poorly managed corporation is sub
sidized. If the new industries are not
productive, they, like Chrysler will
suffer. This has been the basis for a
previously successful American
economic system. The system is
harsh on some individuals and
companies, but is good for the
nation as a whole.
To adjust the system for one
company, would require a revision of
our entire economic philosophy. We
would be rejecting a free market
system in favor of a government
controlled economy-a less than de
sirable proposition. .
The song doesn't tell us whether this is a forlorn IBM
manager in a crisis before a transfer from the east coast to
the west. But the potential woodworker who was passion
ate about carpentry would probably be a steadier man and
more attentive husband than the corporate paper pusher.
He would be free, at least, from what Herbert Marcuse
called "alienated labor," the king that satisfies the needs
of his employers or the marJcet, but not his own.
It would be comforting to think that all the men who
own the oxen teams at Bridgewater were contented
farmers happy in the pastoral way. But they aren't. Some
work in nearby industrial centers like Waterbury or
Danbury. Others still own their land but are waiting
for the right offer from a buyer. Even the fair itself
has lost something of its appeal. Commercialists are
threatening to turn it into a technological trade mart.
But enough of the authentic remains for a momentary
immersion into the pleasures of seif4dentity ; pride in your
work or your animals. This stimulation bolsters the
noticeable community spirit in towns like Bridgewater.
This belief also can be dismissed by the sophisticated
as corny. Except that one of these years, the adult ed
programs in the big cities are going to be offering courses
in community spirit -the way they now teach quilting
and country cooking.
(c) 1979, Tha Washington Post Company
I --SOKE FEELTHfft I I
Nnwo COACH OSBoftmG. IS
T SAY HEJ2C TnAT GETTING A UTTLE
TEA MAS w T4E CJATEg BACKUP ? f tl
tCEM HftVlNg
hax, tmc fee's
A'Bi&TttFFeg- pooR
ENCE BETEE1 CHILD!
VrJ
Pet peeves include
disco, sport-fiends
Pet peeves are like underwear. Everybody has their
own. Hopefully. Putting a definition on a pet peeve is
difficult. So I won't bother to define it. It's kind of like
the Supreme Court's ruling on obscenity. They don't
know how to define it, but they know it when they see it.
Pet peeves are the same way. Anything that bothers
you or rubs you the wrong way I guess could be classified
as a pet peeve.
I've come up with a listing of a few of the things I find
enjoying. Some you may share. Some you may not.
- Total Disco Freaks. Very touchy subject. People
don't like to have the music they like criticized. I'm not
criticizing the music as much as I'm criticizing the people.
Seems phony to boogie in those weird outfits that
everybody from K-Mart to Halston deisgns. Disco cannot
last. That pulsating music. Those neon floors. Disco is
probably the number one cause of the energy crisis.
- Lifetime procrastinators should be shot. Tomorrow.
These people try to fix their bad habit every year. Often
say, "A couple of years ago I decided to stop putting off
so much." They fail to realize it has been two years since
they started and they still haven't changed.
- Some fraternities and some people in residence halls
who assume that just because it's Friday afternoon, you
want to listen to the same music they do. It may be the
International Year of the Child but that doesn't mean
they have to play musk so the children In Uganda can
hear it. ' -
- feople who hate Nebraska football; People who
think Nebraska football is the only purpose in life. Could
both of you take t middle of the road approach!
- Cosfcrd a Pes 5