Friday, August 27, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Editoria
1 t&fofK
Reagan's tax bill represents
a broken campaign promise
What is important to remember about
the recent passage of Ronald Reagan's
$98.3 billion tax bill is that it represents
the breaking of a promise.
The promise came from the president
during the latter months of 1980, when he
was campaigning for office.
His campaign platform: He was going to
cut taxes - 30 percent during a three-year
period - and he was going to balance the
budget.
Forget that economists widely disputed
the possibility of doing both simultaneous
ly. Forget that the budget deficit will be at
least $103 billion for fiscal year 1983
(according to the current Newsweek), even
with last week's tax bill.
But remember this: Reagan broke his
promise to cut taxes, a promise he made
while campaigning.
To be fair, the new bill won't wipe out
the originally promised reductions in
personal taxes. They will remain intact.
But taxpayers will be stung with paying
their share of the $98.3 billion bill
beginning next January. So while the presi
dent has not reneged on giving us a tax cut,
he has imposed a new measure to take
those cuts away.
In the final tally, we aren't getting much
of any cut at all.
Perhaps the president knew all along
that he wouldn't be able to balance the
national budget while stopping the flow of
incoming tax dollars. But he let us believe
it was possible.
The incident should stand as a warning
to state and local politicians now planning
their heaviest, campaigning. The Reagan
flip-flop on the tax bill is an example of
how those politicians ought not to
campaign - with promises they later have
to break.
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There's no tipping a balanced budget
My fellow Americans, I come before you now to ask
you to come to the aid of this great nation as you have so
many times in the past.
We are, indeed, in a time of great national peril. Our
debt, as a people, is now well over $1 trillion. Fortunately
a small group of wise and courageous men are dedicating
their valuable time to doing something about this Ameri-
Matthew Millea
can tragedy. They have foregone six-figure salaries at
Bechtel and other patriotic multinationals in order to
accept the challenging task of reducing our huge federal
deficits.
What, you may ask, could you possibly achieve which
would be on a par with these captains of the military
industrial complex? You may be surprised to learn there is
a great deal you can do. You are not insignificant. You
can make a difference!
The course of action I am modestly proposing is quite
simple. Undoubtedly you are aware of the tax reform bill
which our Congress has passed, with great reluctance I
might add. One of its chief provisions would require the
Internal Revenue Service to audit restaurants whose
employees do not report income from tips of at least 12
percent of gross income. This certainly seems like an in
telligent reform, does it not?
Unfortunately, those who adopted it give it little
chance of curing the corruption which is so rampant
among America's servants.
Next time you are at your favorite four-star restaurant,
observe the habits of those who wait on you. Notice how
their glance continually shifts from coffee cup to coffee
cup? Certainly these people are not to be trusted with
cash gratuities that ought to be reported to the IRS.
Yes, you may ask, but what can I do to stop them
from their shameless evasion of duty and country? I have
devised a simple yet ingenious plan. Next time you eat
out, regardless of the quality of the service, neglect to
leave a tip. But don't, by any means, stop there. Take the
cash you would have wasted on that sneaky waiter (6 per
cent to 8 percent in most instances) and mail it to Donald
Reagan at the US. Treasury.
Servants are notorious for using their low incomes as
tax shelters. Wouldn't you rather see the full amount of
your charitable gratuity go to reduce our horrendous na
tional debt? Please make haste, though, the Treasury owes
Dow Chemical Corp. a $100 million tax refund this year.
It's the least we can do for them. After all, they invented
napalm, didn't they?
Meal success found in good communication skills
A dangerous and all -invasive illusion, a myth, has
cropped up at UNL and most other American campuses.
Many college students see little benefit or future value in
acquiring solid, written communication skills.
In the Age of Mechanization and Technology many
students seem willing to silently accept what Omaha
businessman Sam Bittner calls "corporate socialism" -where
the young graduate from business or engineering
Guest Opinion
crawls into the industrial "niche," is told "not to rock the
boat" and become a "mechanic, not a decision-maker."
To write well, to clearly communicate verbally, re
quires patience, practice and desire - an effort too few
young people are willing to do. Certainly today's students
are no less capable than past generations of achieving
these skills. They simply see no long-term profitable
reason for doing so. In that narrow reasoning lies the
illusion.
Inaccurate written communication costs American
business $1 billion-plus annually, according to a recent
Fortune magazine survey of top executives of Fortune's
500 companies. In that survey the executives ranked
written and verbal communication skills as the most
important quality for business and industrial leaders -ahead
of technical skills, financial and marketing ability.
Poor communication skills result in wasted time, lost
contracts and alienated customers.
A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that modern
business, recognizing the failure of purely business- and
technical-oriented executives, is now openly seeking
broadly trained, high-achieving liberal arts graduates to
become "general associates." The recruiting of
accountants, engineers and M.B.A.s has not stopped of
course, but many businesses have found that those gradu
ates with sound communication skills and broad edu
cation in the traditional liberal arts curriculum (history
literature, sociology, psychology, art and music) bring
flexible minds and sound reasoning skills that business
needs to be competitive and profitable.
This sentiment is echoed by William R. Sears, a
nationally renowned business consultant from San
Francisco, who notes that American business cries for
those graduates who have mastered the skills of com
munication and who "enjoy the supple bounce" of flexi
bility, which only a broad background in science letters
and languages bring.
As long ago as 1961 , one of America's most successful
business leaders, William Benton, who later became a US
senator and assistant secretary of state, pointed out the
failure of narrow specialization in undergraduate business
programs.
"Virtually all top business leaders agree that a solid
background in the liberal arts is the best preparation for
coping with new ideas constantly clamoring for an
executive's consideration " he laid.
Do professionals need to leam to write well? In the six
years I have taught at UNL I have had two MJXs, one
dentist, a veterinarian and a pharmacist ask me what they
could do to "learn to do what I should have learned in
school but thought as a doctor I wouldn't need." One
physician said three of his articles for medical journals had
been rejected "because my writing is a mishmash." These
professionals discovered late what I have known for years
- success is boosted by generalization, not specialization,
and the ability to write.
For "Johnny" or "Susie" to realize the value of a
broad education and solid written and oral communica
tion skills, every department, every professor, every
administrator, chancellor or president on this and every
other campus should work actively to dispel the myth of
profit over learning.
With the volume of articles published by business lead
ers in the past two decades advising students to acquire
the best and broadest education possible, why does the
myth continue that it is unimportant or, at the least, not
really vital? Is it because "Johnny" can't, or doesn't,
read?
Lyle W.Morgan II
Instructor, UNL department of English