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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 11, 1981)
Viewpoint The Battalion Thursday Texas A&M University June 11, 1981 fnting of i Slouch By Jim Earle “That was some dive, but why would he do it in the shallow end?“ The economy plan is always greener on the other side f ith the prc By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — There are times when the current tax debate sounds something like a lawn care manual. President Reagan, as we know, says a 5-10-10 formula would make the economy grow best. He recommends three tax cut applications — 5 percent the first year and 10 percent the next two years. While this is a switch from his earlier endorsement of the 10-10-10 formula, many congressional Democrats insist the mixture still is too rich. Democrats tend to favor just two applica tions, although some would rather give the economy but a single treatment and then sit back and see what happens. Both sides seem to agree it wouldn’t do much good to fertilize with tax cuts as long as the economy is overgrown with federal programs. So the present plan is to spray the economy with a powerful fundkiller be fore applying 5-10-10 or any other tax cut formula. The theory is that thinning out federal programs will give more desirable private projects room to take root and sprout. And maybe it will. Anyway, the conventional wisdom is that fall is the best time to apply a tax cut — particularly in an election year. The experts say spring applications may cause the economy to grow too rapidly, allowing inflation to spread and actually weakening the root structure. They say an economy that is shot through with infaltion has less chance of surviving longer summer periods of stock market slumps and dollar shrinkage. There likewise is a danger that interest rates will spring up too high, preventing the seeds of economic recovery from germi nating. But in the fall, the right tax cut formula will promote healthy growth and put the economy in better shape to withstand such winter shocks as the Christmas shopping season. Or so the experts claim. The warnings we hear most often are that Bji the lost i of the state. HWritten plard B. From Texas I) Heritag volume pub H Series s A&M Assoc dents. |The sig for the the 10-10-10 and 5-10-10 m ' x t ures «, mainly enrich the upper end qftM k .. , nomy, leaving barren spots m the r| tor “yhei and practically starving the lowereim ses tha Democrats contend the altemaftlapply. mulas they have proposed wouldlil Robinson conducive to level growth. Hobjectiv' a em P h If there were a greening ot tab; j^g], sc hol pay, that would be a pretty goodbe u the formula would benefit the roittKinunity of the economy. | interest t But if a thick mat of inflation cliolf^ i . i ,i Mlie book income gains and prevented their!*| maturing into savings accounts, tkiBj est i IK j be evidence the complaints abouttkaL. s truc nistration formula were well taken |dh centu 1 personally feel more expeii® should be done before Congressai® administration finally settle on a tar.® inula. I would like to see variousfoi® tested on small patches of taxpayers!■ being applied to the economy as a„ Having some guinea pig tendenciL A AU : econ that the; self, I would even he one ofthev Reagan's staff uses ‘recycled strategies' - Unitci EOLLE tie breeck methods t produce hi By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — One of the impress ive things about. Ronald Reagan’s opera tives is their shrewdness jn recycling strate gies that have worked for them before. Evi dence is found in the current propaganda campaign that might be dubbed, “Son of October Surprise.” “October Surprise I” was drummed up a year ago, on the eve of the convention that would make Reagan the Republican pres idential nominee. At that point, he was ahead of President Carter in the polls, but not securely so, and there was sharp con cern in the Reagan camp that Carter would exploit the power of incumbency to rescue himself from defeat. Particularly were the Reaganites worried that Carter might try to time some foreign policy spectacular like a Middle East sum mit or a breakthrough in the stalled Iranian hostage talks in the weeks just before the election, thereby capturing the headlines from his challenger and refurbishing his own leadership image. So word began coming from the Reagan headquarters that they fully expected an “October surprise” from the President. As they later acknowledged, those statements were not based on any inside knowledge, but were designed to minimize the damage from an event they could not control. And, in fact, when the last-minute flurry of hos tage talks did occur on the eve of the elec tion, the Republicans were able to say, “We told you so.” “Son of October Surprise” was launched last week by White House chief of staff James A. Baker III. He volunteered the observation in several meetings with repor ters that he expected a backlash to develop against the Reagan budget cuts this fall. “I think you’ll see some fairly strong reac tion to the budget cuts when they hit the street in October or November, ” Baker said in a meeting with reporters and editors at the Washington Post. Later, at the White House in a television interview, he re minded listeners that the President had said that curbing inflation would not be a brief or painless process. Expressing con cern about the impact of the backlash on Reagan’s standing and leadership, Baker said business, churches and volunteer groups all would have to help ease the pain that may be caused by federal program cut backs. It is easy to see what is worrying - the' White House, but hard to judge how effec tive the effort to discount the reaction in advance will he. Budget-cutting has been the most popular game in Washington this winter and spring, but the effects of those cuts may not be as popular around the coun try this fall. This autumn, prices of lunches in school cafeterias' will go up — and so may the number of kids crowded into a classroom. Transit fares will be higher and so will the cost of college-student loans — all because of reductions in federal subsidies. City jobs that have been filled by CETA workers will have to be financed from local taxes — or abolished. Workers losing private jobs will have fewer unemployment benefits. The likelihood is that many state legisla tures will be in special session this fall, readjusting the budgets they are not pas sing, in order to cope with the 25 percent cutback Reagan is imposing on many feder al grant-in-aid programs. In many states, the choice will be posed in politically cruel terms — higher state and local taxes or a real reduction in education, public safety, health and welfare programs. The impact of the cuts will be highlighted in mayoral campaigns that will be taking place in many of the major cities and in the spotlighted gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. At just about the same time, the House and Senate will be going back over the budget ground they covered this spring, setting the final terms for fiscal 1982 spend ing. If the Democrats are not completely inept, they will find ways to link the Reagan budget to the “backlash” Baker is predict ing at that time. Reagan’s great hope is that the recent signs of easing inflation will not prove illus ory — that the squeeze on state and local budgets will be assuaged by relief on the inflation front. But even so, the prediction of a budget backlash is a sound one. As usual the Reagan operatives know what they are doing — and they are doing it well. Reagan guarded from budget backk By HELEN THOMAS United Press International WASHINGTON — President Reagan is ex pected to see some backlash from his budget slash in the fall when the effects of the cuts are felt, according to a top aide, hut steps are being taken to assure Reagan does not fall in the popularity polls. Chief of stafff James Baker says the White House already has a plan for handling the situation. It will ask private volunteer groups to help the needy whose assistance has been severely diminished. “We re not naive enough to think that when the budget cuts become effective that they will not be noticed out there,” he said. Then he added that Reagan’s top aides also “are considering ways to treat with that,” and he does not believe that president’s popularity will be dramatically affected. “Were looking into the possibility of ways in which the private sector can pick up some of the slack through voluntarism proposals, industry, church groups and the like,” he said. When it was noted that he appeared more concerned about Reagan’s popularity than the deprivation that some groups might suffer. Baker said his popularity is “important for him to be able to continue to he able to get his programs through the Congress and to build consensus and to exert leadership. ” Meantime, Reagan is in a glamorized co coon, rarely speaking himself, hut permit ting his top aides to make the hard hall statements. Baker also has told the nation that Reagan will probably run for re- election to wipe out any problem of lame duckism. When Reagan himself is approached or a question is shouted at him by reporters from afar, he smiles broadly in a very friendly fashion, waves and goes on his way. All of his policies, actions and thoughts are being conveyed by his staff, while he re frains from news conferences and rare pub lic utterances. He has not held a news conference since March 6, and more and more his aides have blocked possible lines of communication with the president himself. Only once in a while, to the distress of their ever watchful eyes, has a reporter been able to approach the president was true in the case of an Oval office pit taking when Reagan met with troubla ter Philip Habib, who had just retrj from a Middle East mission. Democrats and Republicans t Hill, meantime, have been put on4 that to go against the popular presided] be a way of ensuring their defeat at tli(| in 1982. Members of Congress said that in ing support for his tax cut legist Reagan assured some of the Democrats that he “could not find ittj conscience to campaign against you f support my economic program.” Later, his aides explained the president was not talki tuity and if they were on tl on other programs he purs off. The same message has be publicans who may stray Warped By Scott McCullar The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congres LETTERS POLICY Editor Angelique Copeland City Editor Jane G. Brust Photo Editor Greg Gammon Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff’ News Editors Marilyn Faulkenberry, Greg Gammon, Venita McCellon StaffWriters Bernie Fette, Kathy O’Connell, Denise Richter, Cartoonist Scott McCullar Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 length, and are subject to being cut if they are ta# 1 editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters foril* 1 length, hut will make every effort to maintain the»•* intent. Each letter must also be signed, showth* 4 and phone number of the writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome.^ not subjeet to the same length constraints as >' Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Ei"* , Battalion, 216 Heed McDonald, Texas A&M h» 1(C College Station, TX 77843. EDITORIAL POLICY The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi ty administrators or fliculty members, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter should be directed to the editor. 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