Editorial
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Erie Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegert, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
No new tax (system)
Budget plan is start, but overhaul is answer
The party’s over.
Congress and President Bush have sent that message
to the electorate with their budget compromise. The plan
| shoots for a deficit reduction of $40.1 billion by 1991.
The goal appears to be ambitious, and taxpayers have heard
| the message before. But this time negotiators seem to have the
plan to back it up.
And, this time, they’ve seemingly tried not to play favorites.
Specific taxes target the higher-income bracket. A 10 percent
I luxury tax would be applied to expensive cars, boats, jewelry
j and furs. And taxpayers with incomes over $100,000 would
j lose some deductions.
Another specific source of increased revenue would be
j excise taxes: on gasoline, cigarettes and alcohol, products
' bought by all income brackets.
That sounds fair. Unfortunately, statistics from the Congres
| sional Budget Office show that such taxes have a greater
I impact on lower-income people.
I The poorest 20 percent of U.S. families, with an average
after-tax income of $8,200, spend 14.6 percent on fuel, alcohol
and tobacco. The 20 percent of American families just below
the richest, with an income averaging $38,000, spend 6.2
percent on the same commodities.
The discrepancy speaks for itself. Once again, the people
j who could afford it least would be forced to pay.
The plan itself is an admirable start. The $4(3.1 billion
reduction goal would dent the projected deficit of $293 billion,
leaving the U.S. with a $254 billion deficit in 1991.
But that’s not the answer. The government can’t continue to
close its eyes and nibble at the deficit by raising taxes on
luxury ilems. Delaying a restructuring of the lax system is not
going to make the deficit disappear.
Before a real impact can be made on the federal deficit, the
whole income tax system will have to be restructured. The
current proposal only lessens the projected deficit. But the
$254 billion deficit still would set a record. And that means the
overall debt will grow by another $1 trillion, the government
estimates.
Only one group of people can af ford higher taxes, and only
one group should have to. The wealthy.
The move may appear drastic. But every year the govern
ment delays such a move, it slides deeper into debt.
- Diane Bray Ion
for the Daily Nebraskan
White unions seek to divide
I have a question for Andy Gal
braith, whose letter referred to white
student unions on university cam
puses (DN, Sept. 25): Do you really
think that while people and people of
color are ‘ ‘ reversing roles” in Ameri
can society today? At a panel discus
sion in the Cnb Sept. 26, faculty
member Helen Longsoldier said that
not a day goes by that a student doesn’t
come into the Multicultural Affairs
Office and reports a racist remark,
action or attitude that student had
experienced. How often do you sup
pose a white student goes to the Stu
dent Affairs Office and reports racist
treatment by other students and pro
fessors?
Andy’s assumption that ethnic
student unions and white unions can
be judged on the same level indicates
he believes both k inds of unions serve
equal purposes on college campuses.
This is obviously not the case.
Ethnic student unions and white
student umonsarc formed under com
pletely different circumstances and
for completely different reasons. Ethnic
unions arc formed because people of
a certain background have no other
way on a campus to learn about,
experience and develop their cultural
heritage. White people, on the other
hand, experience our cultural heri
tage everyday, every minute, on the
UNL campus. We read textbooks in
class by white authors, we are taught
by while teachers, we learn about
white leaders who formed this white
nation. We have to lake certain
“special” classes to even be exposed
to the contributions people of color
have make to this country and the
world. It should be obvious that people
of color, when growing up in a white
dominated educational system, know
far more about our culture than we
know about theirs.
Ethnic student unions, unlike white
unions, do not intend to separate people
from each other. White people, as far
as 1 know, are welcome to attend any
ethnic student association meetings,
and their public events arc always
well advertised. The article about w hite
student unions (DN, Sept. 19) reported
lhatat the University of Florida, * ‘any
group that doesn't benefit under af
firmative acuon is free to join the
white union,” meaning, of course,
white males only. Whereas ethnic
unions arc for the purposes of diversi
fying the campus and increasing
awareness of various cultural back
grounds, white unions are xenopho
bic enclaves designed to shut oul
anything ‘ different” and prevent the
new experiences that are w hat cduca
lion is all about.
Uikc it or not, people of color have
been essential to mak ing this country
what it is today. White people didn’t
and could not have, done it alone. W'e
stand to lose nothing by respecting
and more importantly, actively learn
ing about cultures that are not famil
iar to us. Ethnic student unions en
courage growth arid education. White
student unions only encourage divisive
ness and mistrust. Grow up!
Ginger Dzerk
junior
English
Fault not cut and dry in court
One drink too many leads to a $9.3 million reward for New Yorker
Francisco Merino was drunk.
He admitted it under oath. He
says he got drunk on his own,
pouring down several beers after a
hard evening of work.
That doesn’t make Francisco
Merino unusual. Every day, when
people leave their jobs, a certain
number of them slop for drinks to
unwind or socialize. Some overin
dulge, as Francisco says he did.
And of those who have a few too
many, some will get into trouble.
There’s no end to the variety of fool
ish things they do. The cops will
pinch some for drunken driving or
brawling. Others will get off easier,
with a lecture by an angry wife. An
unlucky few will run their cars into
light poles or trees and end up in
hospitals or hearses.
Francisco was one of the unlucky
ones, although he didn't quite make it
to a hearse.
The night he got sloshed, Fran
cisco intended to go home by way of
the New York subway. He says he
stumbled or lurched and somehow
fell off the platform as a train was
pulling into the station.
The train hit him and the doctors
had to remove one of his arms.
So whose fault was that? While
one can sympathize with Francisco
for losing an arm, I th ink most people
in our society would say that he brought
it on himself.
But that’s because most people
aren’t lawyers. Or members of the
jury that heard Francisco’s case.
You see, after Franc isco got drunk,
fell off a subway platform, and lost an
arm, he did what most people in our
society do when they have a problem
-- he looked around for somebody to
sue.
Actually, his lawyers did the look
ing, since Francisco. 31, is a Mexican
who was working as a dishwasher,
and wouldn’t have had the legal schol
arship to reason that his getting drunk
and falling off a subway platform was
somebody else’s fault.
Most of us would wake up in the
hospital and moan: “Oh boy, I got
Mike
Royko
drunk, fell off a subway platform, and
now 1 only have one arm. Am I stupid
or am I stupid?”
So that’s why we need lawyers -
to explain to us that what we did
wasn’t really our fault. And to find
those who really were to blame for
what we did and to make them take
responsibility.
That’s what Francisco’s lawyers
accomplished. And a splendid job
they did. A jury recently awarded
Francisco S9.3 million for his pain,
suffering, loss of wages, medical
expenses and so on.
And who is to pay the S9.3 million
to Francisco? It is to come from the
New York Transit Authority, which
operates the subway system. Or, pre
sumably, from the insurance compa
nies they pay to protect them w hen
people get drunk and fall in front of
trains.
If you re asking why the New York
Transit Authority should have to pay
Francisco anything, that proves one
thing: you aren't a lawyer, or you
wouldn ’ t ask foolish questions. Lack
ing a keen legal mind, you would
probably say that if a guy gets loaded
and falls off a subw ay platform, tough
luck pal, but next time slick to club
soda.
But that isn't the way it is in the
World of Law.
There’s a rule at the New York
Transit Authority that says that if a
transit employee secs someone drunk
or otherwise messed up, they are
supposed to call the transit cops.
As it turned out, the token clerk at
the station did notice that Francisco
was unsteady and the clerk made a
call. But Francisco fell off the plat
form before anybody could come and
get him. Timing is everything, I guess.
So the jury decided the transit
system had failed in its responsibility
to protect Francisco.
Or, as one of his lawyers put it:
“They should have looked out for
this guy, because the danger was very
great, and (they should have) moved
him off the platform”
Of course. What kind of cruel
society are we, to let someone like
Francisco get himself drunk, buy a
subway token, then fall in front of a
train? Where were the transit police
when Francisco needed them? Or, for
that mailer, where were you? Where
was I? How indifferent can we get?
The transit authority’s lawyers were
upset by the si/e of the award. They
say it is an outrageous sum for an
unskilled dishwasher and will be
appealed.
Of course they’d say that. It’s
obvious that none of the transit law
yers ever tried to get a job as a one
armed dishwasher.
And this should serve as another
lesson in why we should never drink
and drive.
Nobody ever made S9.3 million
by putting his head through his own
windshield.
(C) 1990 Chkugo Tribune
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editoriaL
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