Tuesday, July 14, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
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Nebrayskan
University of Nebraika-Llncoln
CMldisla acts
Incident was avoidable
It's nice to see two politicians
with opposing view points on
an issue get together outside
the political arena and calmly
converse in a civilized manner.
It's nice to see these two
representatives of the public
project images that public rela
tions officials love to see. Images
showing them shaking hands,
smiling and generally working
out their conflicts like the mature
adults everybody believes they
are or are made out to be.
It would be really nice to see.
In fact, it would be really nice to
see in Nebraska. But in this state
a conversation between two poli
ticians namely Gov. Bob Ker
rey and State Sen. Ernie Chambers
results in a state patrolman
doing his job and later being
chastised.
Kerrey called the incident
"World War III."
The altercation began last week
when Chambers and Kerrey were
discussing a piece of legislation
that the governor vetoed earlier
this year. The trooper, in plain
clothes and assigned to the gov
ernor, intervened and threatened
to arrest Chambers if he didn't
move on. The patrolman did not
recognize the senator.
Kerrey said Chambers tried to
Buiy now9
Oil glut steers
The current oil glut has meant
good news for millions of U.S.
consumers. Gasoline prices are
at their lowest point in years; the
costs of petroleum-based products
are significantly lower, and trans
portation cost decreases are vis
ible at the grocery store.
But nothing is always as it
seems. Along with the good news
for the individual consumer in
the short term, the glut and the
reasons undergirding it may por
tend increasing trouble in the
coming years.
First, the greatly lowered pri
ces for oil have all but destroyed
the domestic oil-producing mar
ket. Domestically produced oil is
more costly to produce than is
most foreign oil, thus domestic
oil production became unprofit
able much sooner than that of
foreign producers.
In the abstract there is nothing
to bemoan about costly and inef
ficient producers of any product
going out of business. But the
long-run costs of increasing de
pendence on foreign sources of
oil may be steep indeed. After
all, it takes time to get once
obsolete oil fields producing
again, and given an inability to
guarantee that a similar glut
won't happen again after signifi
cant reinvestment occurs, at
tracting investment capital to
American oil fields may be diffi
cult to stimulate even in the face
of shortage.
Additionally, the international
implications of the oil glut may
be significant. Many oil-producing
Bob Asmussen, Editor, 472,1766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Kent Endacott, News Editor
Jeff Korbelik, As&(xiate News Editor
Jeff Apel, Sports Editor
Charles Lieurance, j4rte & Entertainment Editor
humiliate the officer and have
him fired. Kerrey said it was a
small incident that could have
been avoided.
"You've seen him ignore key
provisions of an argument and
inflate them into large incidents,"
Kerrey said. "You've seen him
ignore key provisions of an
argument so as to make his case.
And he's doing that in this par
ticular case."
Chambers said Kerrey "did
nothing and said nothing" to
quell the incident until after it
escalated. He said Kerrey acted
as if he wanted to see the situa
tion boil over. This past weekend
Chambers sent Kerrey a pink
silk flower as if questioning Ker
rey's masculinity.
Children, children, children.
Should the state set these two
distinguished individuals in cor
ners until they promise to behave,
or should the state bring out the
boxing gloves?
The real answer is that the
whole incident could have and
should have been avoided. These
two people are in the the pub
lic's eye, and this kind of behav
ior is ridiculous and childish. It
would be nice to see government
officials acting like government
officials. . .or at least like adults.
pay later
U.S. to trouble
countries borrowed heavily
against the once higher oil pri
ces. Now that prices are so much
lower these countries are having
difficulty keeping up on even the
interest payments on the debt
and may be facing bankruptcy.
The impact of this on the inter
national capital market would
be very unpredictable poten
tially being devastating.
The biggest fear with the cur
rent oil glut, however, lies in why
it is occurring and who stands to
lose or gain. Word has it that
Saudi Arabia grew tired of per
rennial "overproduction" by some
OPEC and non-OPEC nations and
decided to produce as much as
they could as a means of "disci
plining" the errant nations. If
the Saudi move is successful we
can expect much higher oil pri
ces in the future with no hope of
relief.
Although the United States
does not have sufficient pull to
avoid all potential problems,
concrete steps should be taken
to mitigate the impacts of the
current oil glut. One step that
the United States can take is an
increase in the gas tax to avoid
increasing reliance on a short
term price decrease. Addition
ally, the United States should
boost its current oil reserves and
store oil purchased at cheap pri
ces for future emergencies. All in
all, the nation needs to look
beyond today's price at the gas
pump and toward its implica
tions for tomorrow.
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Protectionist stance hamifiil
Nebraska Republican campaign embraces economic ignorance
The state of Republican politics in
Nebraska is, at times, quite de
pressing. The same week that
Vice President Bush comes to Nebraska
and defends the administration's free
trade policy (as well he should), the
Nebraska Republican party retreats
into the protectionist pettiness of the
mercantilist mindset and embraces a
"beggar-thy-neighbor" policy by begin
ning a "buy Nebraska" campaign.
In announcing a campaign blithely
described as an effort "to promote
homegrown products," the Republican
nominee for lieutenant governor, Wil
liam Nichol, and state Sen. Elroy Hefner
advanced the proposition that economic
protectionism is good.
Said Nichol, "We could easily add
millions of dollars to our economy if
Nebraskans would purchase products
made in Nebraska."
Hefner, not to be outdone in display
ing economic ignorance a posture
radically at odds with President Reagan
and the concept of American federal
ism, shamefully asserted, "It's good
business to promote the products in
our own state."
On an economic level, the disad
vantages to protectionism are not limit
ed to the arena of the international
economy. The gains from trade are
experienced as much by the free flow of
commerce between American cities
and states as they are by free trade on
the world level.
Reagan's justifications for supporting
free trade are not unique to trade
between countries. For obvious reasons
the overwhelming number of economists
support an open trading policy; first
year economics students have a much
better grasp of the importance of the
free flow of commerce than the above
named Republican leaders. At best,
Fate still frowning on Stevenson
in Illinois gubernatorial campaign
CHICAGO The Chicago tone
unminced words about elemental things
was struck in a recent headline
about the reaction of Dallas Green, the
Cubs' general manager, to his players'
performance: "Cubs Nauseate Green."
Adlai Stevenson III feels that way
about his two opponents, Gov. Jim
Thompson and Fate.
Stevenson uses the word "lie"
repeatedly in his litany of accusations
against Thompson, whose job Steven
son wants. He nearly won it in 1982. The
weekend before that election a poll
showed him being shellacked by 18
points. On Election Day he lost by just
5,034 out of 3,627,128 votes. The polls
had missed the surge of black voting
that would soon elect a black mayor in
1983.
Stevenson is an unlikely beneficiary
WE TU1MK IT HAPPENED
IN Rl&RT AFTER THE
HEJED DISCUSSION OJJ TRADE.
SOMEHOW THE JAPANESE
MANAGED TO KEPLACE HIM
VJimASaiED-DOWN,
W COMPACT VERSION.'
protectionism is justified only to
develop fledging industries or for de
fense purposes neither of which
were the basis for the "buy Nebraska"
campaign begun by the Republicans.
Important as the economic considera
tions are, there are broader impacts
than mere economic disadvantage. The
parochialism expressed by Hefner and
Nichol can only be considered a throw
back to the era prior to the ratification
of the U.S. Constitution.
Almost 200 years ago Alexander
Hamilton foresaw the tendency toward
protectionism into which the state
Republican leadership has fallen.
James
Rogers
Hamilton traced the consequences to
be expected if this contentious spirit is
not quenched: "The competitions of
commerce would be another fruitful
source of contention. The State less
favorably circumstanced would be
desirous of escaping from the disad
vantages of local situation, and of
sharing in the advantages of their more
fortunate neighbors. Each State, or
separate confederacy, would pursue a
system of commercial policy peculiar
to itself. This would occasion distinc
tions, preferences and exclusions,
which would beget discontent.
"The spirit of enterprise, which
characterizes the commercial part of
America, has left no occasion of display
ing itself unimproved. It is not at all
probable that this unbridled spirit
would pay much respect to those
of increased black voting. Think of
everything Jesse Jackson is, beginning
with: electric. Stevenson is not. Even
when things are going swimmingly, and
Stevenson is chipper, he is so diffident
he seems melancholy. Today, when
George
Will
absolutely everything is going rottenly,
he seems almost chipper about the cer
tainty that things can not get worse.
These dog days of summer were pre
ceded by the dog days of spring and
may be followed by the dog days of
autumn. In last spring's primary,.
. 4 rjlf
regulations of trade, by which particular
States might endeavour to secure ex
clusive benefits to their own citizens.
The infractions of these regulations on
one side, the efforts to prevent and
repel them on the other, would naturally
lead to outrages, and these reprisals
and wars."
Hamilton later wrote that "an unity
of commercial, as well as political
interests, can only result from an unity
of government." Conversely, the burden
of Hamilton's argument earlier is that
unity of government can only result
from unity of commerce.
No less a man than Alexander Hamil
ton disputes Hefner's assertion that
"it's good business to promote the
products in our own state." Hamilton
wrote, "An unrestrained intercourse
between the States themselves will
advance the trade of each, by an
interchange of their respective pro
ductions, not only for the supply of
reciprocal wants at home, but for
exportation to foreign markets."
On my 18th birthday I registered as a
Republican because I believed that
party in particular was committed to
principle over politics. Sadly, the Ne
braska Republican party has committed
itself to the political expediency of
protectionism.
Ironically, Walter Mondale, the candi
date of interest groups in the last
presidential election, also embraced
protectionism. Given the interests in
volved, no room should be made for
such parochialism, and the Nebraska
Republican party should disavow such
a policy as indeed the national party
has in its historical support for free
trade policies.
Rogers, typically an economics graduate
and law student, is picking up some
math hours this summer.
because no one was paying attention,
candidates from Lyndon LaRouche's
not-so-funny farm of political extrem
ists beat the Democratic organization's
candidates for lieutenant governor and
secretary of state. Stevenson instantly
said he would not run with them. (Gov
ernor and lieutenant governor candi
dates are voted on as a team after the
primary.) He resigned the Democratic
nomination for governor, hoping to run
as an independent.
However, Illinois has a "sore loser"
law designed to prevent losers of prim
aries from running as independents. (It
is not aimed against third parties.) It
says independent candidates must file
months before the primary. Stevenson
challenged that law's constitutionality
See WILL on 5