Viewpoint
The Battalion • Texas A&M University Thursday • June 7, 1979
Monsoon season strikes
While it is true Texas A&M Univer
sity isn’t heaven, it can’t be hell — no
fire could exist in a place with such an
obscene amount of water.
During the fall semester of 1978, it
rained quite a bit in College Station.
During the spring semester of 1979,
it rained even more in College Sta
tion.
Now it’s summer, 1979 and Mother
Nature again has begun a monumen
tal, moistened offensive against us —
the T-shirt-clad and sandal-wearing
peasants in College Station. •
She ain’t no kin to me, pal.
It wouldn’t take Jeanne Dixon to fi
gure out that a rather monotonous
weather pattern has begun to develop
in College Station.
Despite arguments by the Univer
sity administration and their minions,
the Corps of Cadets, rain is undoub
tedly the most sacred and revered
tradition in Aggieland.
However, despite the continual
shower of rain on the area, most
people are unwilling to accept it a£ the
way of life. These people actually
think it’s supposed to be sunny during
the summer. Imagine that.
College Station and Texas A&M
without rain is like Houston without
murderers and gas stations without
lines — some things are made for each
other.
Considering the almost obscene
amount of rain the Bryan-College Sta
tion area receives, one wonders why
the local radio and television news
casts even waste their time with
weather reports. It would probably be
much more effective to simply an
nounce when its not going to rain.
This anti-forecast could be used as
“the top story of the hour” whenever
(and if ever) the situation arises.
Another perplexing situation is the
ridiculous condition of the streets in
the area. A few months of driving in
Aggieland is like tying your car to one
of those paint mixing machines in a
hardware shop and shaking it at full-
throttle for a few weeks. Automobiles
driven in the area for a few years look
like the losers at a demolition derby.
Still, everytime it rains, the respec
tive city governments spend
thousands of dollars patching the
newly spawned canyons, uh, I mean
holes, in the streets. What a waste of
time! Why fix the streets? The holes
will always win out. Bryan and Col
lege Station have been and always will
be automobile hell! '
Fixing the streets will not solve a
thing. For that matter, paving them
won’t even help the damn things. The
cities should save the money spent on
street repair and construction and set
up a local agency to distribute umbrel
las to the needy or subsize a study to
invent a splash-free bicycle.
If the chuckholes don’t ruin the
suspension, the humidity will rust the
body off! This has prompted several
car dealers in town to offer custom
1979 cars with plastic bodies at sub
stantial mark-ups. These dealers also
offer heavy-duty shocks and roll-bars
for drivers who drive on FM 2818.
Now, windshield wipers are being of
fered at outrageously high prices.
Also on the financial front, despite
all of the business opportunities in
new specialty cars for the weather, the
smart money is being invested in
“while-you-wait” shock absorber/body
shops for the used cars. All of the
shop’s mechanics were once armored
tank mechanics for the U.S. Army.
The free-enterprise system triumphs
again.
As far as the campus is concerned,
is it possible for anyone to imagine
Texas A&M without the perennial
holes in the Prarie Film (the trade
name is misspelled) sidewalks? I have
seen many students step into a cre
vasse, never to return.
And what about the sidewalks
themselves? When wet, Prarie Film
has the same traction as a waxed ice
skating rink. There are rumors the
U.S. Winter Olympic skating team is
going to have tryouts right here at Ag
gieland.
In addition, a few more heads-up
businessmen have decided to petition
the government to ship thousands of
refugees from Southeast Asia to Aggie
land to provide cheap labor and to
help initiate a sizeable rice growing
industry in the swamp/farm land in
the county.
There’s no doubt about it; if people
would accept the monsoon situation
like the business community has, we
would all be as happy as sitting ducks.
Roy Bragg
Oil imports not only cause of deficit;
confusing federal policies to blame
By LeROY POPE
United Press International
NEW YORK — The notion so widely held that oil
imports are the only, or even the biggest, cause of the
mounting U.S. trade deficit is illusory, says a survey
just concluded by Heritage Foundation of Washington.
Heritage Foundation describes itself as “a conserva
tive think tank.” It is financed by other foundations and
individuals interested in the examination of important
issues from the conservative point of view.
The study, prepared by policy analyst Susan
Woodard points out that Japan and West Germany,
two countries even more dependent on imported oil
than the United States, have managed to avoid trade
deficits in spite of having to pay much bigger prices for
oil during the time the United States moved from a
trade surplus of $9 billion in 1975 to a deficit of $34.9
billion in 1978.
Conceding that the U.S. bill for imported fuel
spurted from $7.6 billion in 1974 to $39.5 billion in
1978 (down slightly from 1977), analyst Woodard says
confusing and contradictory federal government
policies on exports and business regulation in general
are more responsible for the trade dilemma than high
priced foreign oil.
She concludes that the American people must face
up to the deficit crisis and increase exports dramatically
because “the nation no longer can rely on its own abil
ity to supply all the desired social consumption items,
nor a sufficient quantity of raw materials. ”
The first big problem analyst Woodard sees as “the
absence of a definitive U.S. export promotion policy.”
Exports still account for only 7 percent of the Gross
National Product as against 14 percent of Japan’s and 22
percent of West Germany’s.
The only U.S. exports that have increased in recent
years are of such basic farm crops as grains, soybeans
and rice.
Although the Commerce Department claims U.S.
exports have been rising by. 7 percent a year since 1974
against a rise of 13.5 percent a year in imports. Miss
Woodard is more impressed by the finding of the Na
tional Association of Manufacturers that U.S. exports
did not rise at all in 1977 and that the country’s share of
global markets dropped from 18.2 percent in 1960 to
11.8 percent in ’77.
The complex of federal laws that discourage Ameri
can exports, she said, includes:
—^Amendments and provisions of the Trade Act of
1974 such as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which
limits the extension of most favored nation trading
privileges to nations who do not engage in restrictive
emigration policies, and the provisions giving the pres
ident the power to interfere with foreign trade.
—The anti-boycott provisions of the Export Ad
ministration Act of 1977, and the export controls for
national security reasons provided in the act. “It is dif
ficult to measure, ” she writes, “the cost of restricting
U.S. export growth (by these amendments) in the
Middle East where a market newly glutted with pet
roleum dollars is anxiously looking for ways to absorb
the growing wealth.”
—Restrictions on the activity of the Export-Import
Bank such as the 1974 prohibition against financing
trade with nonmarket (i.e. communist) countries which
practice restrictive emigration policies, and Section
143 of Public Law 95 requiring consideration of any
country’s human rights policy before any loan can be
granted. Also the restrictions on financing nuclear
equipment sales and the recent ruling that any loan
made by the bank must first be determined by the
President to be in the national interest. Miss Woodard
does not challenge all these restrictions, she simply
points out their restrictive impact on exports.
—The Carter Administration’s phasing out of the
DISC (domestic international sales corporation) tax de
ferrals for American companies operating abroad. Miss
Woodard calls DISC “the country’s only tax export in
centive” and points out that it has been the only
American machinery for counteracting a foreign coun
try’s ability to rebate value added taxes on exports.
Section 615 of Public Law 95 raised the U.S. taxation
of Americans living abroad so drastically that it greatly
increases the cost of doing business abroad and under
mines the competitiveness of American goods.
—The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, de
signed to halt the use of bribery by American firms to
promote sales abroad, has so many ambiguities that it
discourages many American companies from engaging
in new ventures abroad.
—Over regulation and divided regulation of high
technology exports. This, Miss Woodard implies, may
be the most serious cause of the trade deficit aside from
the high cost of oil imports. She gives example after
example of conflicting rules of different government
departments, with resulting bureaucratic waffling,
jealousy and stalling on approval of multi-million dollar
orders with the result that the company involved lost
the sale to foreign competitors.
—Economic sanctions for moral and political
reasons against such nations as South Africa. Again
Miss Woodard does not challenge the sanctions but
points out their effect.
—Arms export limitations.
—The January, 1979, executive order to eventually
extend the implementation of stricter environmental
standards in the United States “to include the en
vironmental effects abroad of U.S. exports.”
—Such anomalies as the sudden refusal of the Carter
Administration to permit continued selling of the Loc
kheed C-130 cargo plane abroad because it might be
used as a combat transport after Lockheed already had
sold 1,500 of the craft in 45 countries.
Similarly, the sale of Swedish Saab Viggen aircraft
containing American components to India was blocked
although the planes had been sold to both Israel and
certain Arab countries.
1001 definitioi]| (ll
for inflation
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter is having his usual troubles
making the administration speak with one voice on a given subject.
A recent announcement that Treasury Secretary Michael Blu-
menthal will head the Economic Policy Group that will meet three
times a week at the White House is a reflection of the Carter’s grow
ing annoyance with the free-wheeling comments from other advisers
on the economic outlook.
From week to week, the public is treated to various assessments of
the picture from more inflation to no recession in sight, or maybe a
slight recession.
Press secretary Jody Powell insisted that the designation of Blu-
menthal as the chief economic spokesman is not a putdown for chief
inflation fighter Alfred Kahn. From time to time, White House aides
have cringed at Kahn’s outspoken frank economic prophesies when
they undoubtedly would have liked a little more sugar coating. Kahn
is articulate, amusing and not afraid to revise an opinion.
It is not the first time Carter’s laissez faire approach to his top-level
staff has caused him some grief. He finally laid down the law that on
foreign policy matters, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was the voice
of Carter diplomacy, not national security affairs adviser Zhigniew
Brzezinski.
More recently, the administration has been turning the other
cheek on recurring reports that CIA director Stansfield Turner has
deemed questionable certain aspects of verifying the strategic arms
limitation agreement. Turner’s posture is that he does not make polit
ical and policy assessments. That gets him off the hook, temporarily at
least.
In an earlier period, presidential assistant Midge Costanza was
being encouraged to do her own thing. She was designated as Car
ter’s public liaison staffer, and the public indeed did come to call,
picking up the chits the president had passed out during his cam
paigning days.
But soon after he got into the White House, Carter and his top
aides decided that Costanza was not on the same wave length. The
coup de grace occurred when image maker Gerald Rafshoon decided
that she should not be allowed to appear on ABC-TV’s “Good Morn
ing America” program as a representative of the White House. She
resigned shortly afterwards.
Bella Abzug was fired as head of the President’s Advisory Commit
tee on Women because her panel took a broad view of women’s affairs
to cover most of the issues of the day, including Carter’s budgeting
for defense versus social problems. The president replaced her with
Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, wife of the lieutenant governor of Virginia
and daughter of Lyndon B. Johnson, on grounds that she would
represent a “typical” housewife’s viewpoint.
Probably the most outspoken and the most difficult for Carter to
muzzle or corral is U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, who has his
own opinions and does not mind expressing them.
From time to time, it is apparent, though the White House won t
admit it. Carter has tried to bring Young into line and has toned him
down. The president also has personally disagreed publicly with
Young, and has had Powell do it for him as often.
Young’s views on “political prisoners,” likening the death penalty
of John Spenkelink to the Ayatollah Khomeni’s executions, run
counter to Carter’s opinions. His view that the elections in Rhodesia
were not fair also may come in conflict with Carter’s, depending on
whether the president decides to lift sanctions against that .African
nation.
But clearly Young is an unguided missile, and all Carter can do
about it is dissociate himself from the U.N. diplomat’s positions from
time to time.
Ta.
Un
GORD
ibout the
mall, inc
The m:
>essna an
11, Bette
their flag <
jjty Tuesda
[town own
I The Ce
town, poj
estimated
fhe price
[eral store,
find sever
sclents and
priority v\
ive.
The 5-ft
Uni
WASH]
roups an
-ireme Cou
Jtate law
lifetime pr
jobs to ve
Bre men.
P The cou
i Massachus
Htatute —
|jin the cou
■etual re\
: public emj
ffho serve
leanor Sr
ional Org;
But anot
Say was ca
r<
per
Employee rip-off
too much leisure,
not enough work
By LeROY POPE
United Press International
NEW YORK — Possibly the biggest cause of declining produc
tivity in the United States is that too many Americans spend 45
percent of the working day doing nothing, says the head of a prestigi
ous group of management consulting companies.
James A. Skidmore, Jr., is president of Sciencxanagement Corp.,
of Moorestown, N.J., which owns a group of consulting firms includ
ing the Handy Associates, Hendrick & Co., O’Donnell Associates, A.
W. Martin Associates and the WOFAC Group.
Skidmore was an adviser to Presidents Johnson and Nixon and has
held executive posts with Pepsico and other companies.
What makes his opinion most intriguing is that his company’s orig
inal division, WOFAC (standing for Work-Factor), has played a big
role in raising the productivity of the United States’ greatest interna
tional competitor, Japan.
WOFAC was formed in 1946 to create a system for monitoring the
productivity of blue-collar workers. It began working in Japan in 1949
and has since spread to England and many other countries.
In sounding the alarm about what he called the “widening gap’
between productivity in the United States and competitor countries,
Skidmore said other countries are beating American industry at its
own game and, for the most part, are using technology and methods
invented in America to do it.
What is missing, he said, is the drive and will to work hard and put
all the skills 1 American worrrrkers and executives to work.
Indifference is largely to blame, he said. “That is what creates the
productivity gap and the gap is the biggest cause of inflation — it is
the greatest threat in the United States, short of the threat a new war
would pose.
“People who don’t stop to think what it costs to stretch a five-
minute coffee break to 25 minutes every day just don’t realize how
much that attitude contributes to inflation,” he said.
Skidmore said 65 percent of Japan’s electronics industry, regarded
as the world’s model for technology and productivity, uses the
Work-Factor method of stimulating factory workers’ productivity —a
system imported from the United States right after World War II. So
do many other Japanese industries.
Originally developed by James H. Quick, the Work-Factor method
breaks labor into time measurable and analyzable steps. Over the
years. Science Management has added related services, including
VE-Fac, a way of monitoring and measuring the productivity of white
collar and supervisory workers.
Unir
I SACRAN
[Edmund (
nounced Cc
Inal sweeps
rain his po
Kveral wet
R'. That’s he
California S
fflrown’s p
lieutenant
judges and
ince the g
crosses the
The legal
pie govern*
Republican
tycoon and
Ronald Rea
tie chief ex
Brown a
Court to ru
thority whe
what he cal
that would
nor of powe
call away.”
Ncn
•ve
PARI
theory
better t
Kentuc
gold am
decker
record s
1 “Itwa
Jerry D
'I even
way. Tl
could al
time anc
to Paris
Dietr:
ence, K
children
II. He i
that ma
equipm
msiness f!
The Rattalion
lourget A
4,168 mile
nutes after
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the-editor should n(H exceed 300 words and are
subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The
editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does
not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be
signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone
number for verification.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College
\Station, Texas 77843.
Represented nationally by National Educational Adver
tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los
Angeles.
Dietricl
Weighing l
ounds.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from
, September through May except during exam and holiday
periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday
through Thursday.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per
school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished
on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed
fiberglass
McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77!$ Cttjft 5^
United Press International is entitled exclusively 5 UjR^gcl Stfl
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited 11 %-
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein re# 1
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX ' • Ulan SRid
193.35 mp
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Karen Rof
News Editor Debbie Pa*
Sports Editor Seaiift
City Editor .
Campus Editor Keith If
Staff Writers Robin Thoi#
Regina Moehlman, Carolyn
David Boggan
Photo Editor Clay Cod?
Photographer Lynn Bh?
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
University administration or the Board of
Regents. The Battalion is a non- r vj.,™
supporting enterprise operated by stui 1
as a university and community neiopfl?
Editorial policy is determined by the d'
EU