Wednesday, november4, 198j
page 4
daily nebraskan
(2JJ
Campaign interests may erode sound fiscal logic
The Legislature may be listed in the almanacs
as the only non-partisan legislature in the United
States, but the special session is likely to indicate
otherwise.
Called by Gov. Charles Thone to rectify a
shortage of some $25 million in anticipated
revenues, the senators are now haggling over what
to do about the problem.
To cut or not to cut, that is the question. And
hopefully some noble senators will fight off the
desire to cut funds for agencies and programs just
because it is politically popular.
Thone has taken the Stockmanesque approach
by urging the cutting of state programs by 3 per
cent across the board as a way of avoiding a 1982
state tax increase.
It doesn't matter what hardships this may
impose on the agencies to Thone. The money
simply isn't there and hence the cuts are neces
sary. But some people have other ideas that merit
consideration. Former state senator Harold Simp-
Political comrades
avoid investigation
"60 Minutes," known for its hard-hitting exposes and
interviews, last week offered a change of pace: a soft
hitting interview with I.F. Stone, the journalistic establish
ment's favorite radical. Ed Bradley practically fell to his
knees as he asked the questions. When Izzy Stone recalled
the McCarthy era, Bradley dutifully echoed that it was a
"bad time for liberals."
5spCi sobran
Two days later, Stone's niece was in the news. Kathy
Boudin, 1 1 years a fugitive in the Weather Underground,
was arrested following the bloody robbery of a Brink's
truck in Rockland County, New York. Two policemen
and a private guard died in the mayhem.
At 38, Miss Boudin had passed the age where such
antics could be written off to youthful idealism. When last
seen in 1970, she was naked, running from a Greenwich
Village townhouse where she and her co-idealists had been
making bombs. Instead of destroying our rotten society,
they managed only to blow up the house. Three others
died. Miss Boudin fled.
It now transpires that the Weather Underground has
merged with the cop-killing Black Liberation Army. It
further transpires that Miss Boudin 's recent roommate has
been an investigative reporter of some renown, Rita Jen
sen. Miss Jensen has written extensively on the Black
Liberation Army. She also swears up and down that she
hadn't the foggiest idea that her roommate, "Lynn
Adams," was really Kathy Boudin.
Continued on Page 5
(MD nebraskan
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son suggests that a slight tax rate increase might
be the answer.
Simpson, who now serves on the Public Service
Commission, testified Monday that a 1 percent in
crease in the individual income tax rate would
only raise his withholding payment from $3.60 to
$3.88 a month.
Simpson, who makes $25,000 a year, said peo
ple who make more than that would pay more
and people earning less would pay accordingly.
Asking citizens to make $25,000 a year to pay an
additional 28 cents in taxes seems to be a small
burden to bear.
Citizens could handle the increase. But chances
are it may be an unbearable political burden for
politicians to choose, especially those running for
re-election in November.
And that is the biggest problem in getting the
Legislature to formulate a sound plan to amend
the state's fiscal predicament.
The elections last fall proved it is both
politically popular and politically advisable to cut
. . t. Cl.. I l 1 i
taxes. It is a quic iia unu wic peopie love it.
However, the ramifications of such actions are
not fully known.
Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly has hinted that
he may propose an alternative to Thone's
proposed budget cuts, but is still letting the idea
gain support.
Several groups testified Monday that further
cuts from their budgets would make efficient
operation difficult. It is natural for representa
tives to defend their groups from budget cuts, and
no one should automatically assume that the cuts
could be made without limiting groups ability to
operate.
The special session was called to deal with the
issue of the state's finances. The state is in an un
usual financial pinch and a small tax rate increase
may be the best solution.
Let's hope the legislators don't try to balance
the state budget and start their re-election camp
aigns at the same time.
Gone Fishin'
Supply side theory hits Santa's shop
(The scene: Santa's workshop. It is the day after Hal
loween, and Santa has called the troops in for a little
meeting.)
After a roll call and short review of the minutes of the
last meeting, Santa takes the stand. "As you know," he
says, 'the Christmas Rush begins today. For most people,
that means decorating trees, stumbling around shopping
malls with hands full of slowly ripping bags, and digging
out the Perry Como albums. But for us, it means work
and sweat, beginning with the difficult determination of
who has been good and who has been bad, and carryin
right through to delivery in December." e
o
dark
There wasn't much consternation among the elves
They'd heard this little pep talk before. But this time
Santa cleared his throat a little and continued.
"Due to recent budgetary restraints, we will be under
going a few changes this year," Santa says. "We call it
supply-side Christmas shopping. The first thing we do is
determine who needs Christmas presents the most."
"Then we give them what they need and we're done
right?" asks the foreman of one of the elvin crews a
chunky, cigar-chomping individual named Frank
"Nope," Santa says. "We decide who needs it 'the most
and eliminate them from the list."
;Who do we give presents to then?" says Frank
Anybody who doesn't need it," says Santa. "I know'
you are confused by this system, and frankly I am too'
but we have to mandate to do things this way this year.
It's out of my hands."
"Okay, so what are we going to give these people who
don't need anything?" asks Frank. "We've got a backlog
of toys and stuff like that already, but I suppose they
won't be interested in anything like that.
"They want weapons," says Santa. "Nuclear submar
ines, AW ACS planes, MX missiles . . ."
"What are they going to do with them?" says Frank.
"What's it to us?" says Santa. "We just give it away, we
don't tell them what to do with it."
"But isn't construction of weapons contrary to our
image?" says Frank. "I mean, IVe seen Rudolph the Red
loosed Reindeer every year on television, and I don't think
we can sing happy-go-lucky songs about MX missiles."
"You don't understand," says Santa. 'These missiles
and planes are to preserve world peace."
"How are they going to do that?" says Frank.
"It's obvious," says Santa. "See, we make AWACS
planes for Saudi Aiabia. Then, to keep things balanced,
we make weapons for Israel. And since Israel is a bigger
threat now in the absence of Anwar Sadat, the rest of the
Middle East will need arms, too. Then the United States
will feel as though the Soviets have a dominating position
in the Middle East, we then will base missiles in Europe,
so we make those.
"Then we make weapons for Cuba to give to nations in
Central America, to counterbalance the growing American
tactical weapon presence in Europe. So anyway, we build
all of these weapons, and everybody gets some. I haven't
got the vaguest idea how that is going to make the world
more peaceful, but that's what everybody tells me is going
to happen. If I understood it, I wouldn't have set up shop
on the North Pole."
