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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1981)
iioom <anos * gggm gngs # amusMunj mcgm anos rage od me oa i i alIUim WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1981 W*- v .«* . Government discourages individual freedom Economist opposes idea of black leadership United Press International ; DALLAS — Black economist Walter E. Wil liams is an advocate of the supply-side school that opposes welfare, minimum wage and govern ment involvement in business. ^ To make himself even more controversial, .Williams, an advisor to the American Enterprise institute in Washington and the Republican Na tional Committee, says he is also skeptical of black leaders and the idea that blacks require Jtheir own leadership. v What I think they (black leaders) need to ask tbeinselves is why do blacks need leaders?” Wil iams said. j-’ “The question one should ask is who are the ft-ish leaders? Who are the Chinese leaders, or the Japanese leaders? There aren’t any. So what kind of assumptions would you make about black people who say they require leaders? j “The assumptions I don’t find flattering, ” Wil liams said. Improving the nation’s ghettos will not be Accomplished through government programs, ^Williams said, and he is critical of those who look to the government for solutions. £ “One of the overall problems of helping peo ple is we forget to ask, What effect will my helping you have on your incentive to help your self?”’ Williams said. V “Many of the government programs have ifrade it economically advantageous not to help jfourself. It is nowhere more tragically demons trated than when we had all these so-called black leaders running around in a state of frenzy be cause Reagan won. “This is a very sorry comment on the strategy of these people; to make the welfare of blacks dependent upon who is the president and what the spending mood of the country is, because both change. Williams holds the view that most people in the United States are members of a minority, “Many of the government programs have made it economically advan tageous not to help yourself. ” — Black economist Walter E. Williams noting the white Anglo-Saxon is the largest minority with 15 percent of the population, fol lowed by blacks. Williams, who was in Dallas recently to address the Free Enterprise Seminar at the Uni versity of Texas at Arlington, said 70 percent of the population qualifies for minority status under the Affirmative Action program. “But some of it is ridiculous,” Williams said. “The Irish do not qualify for minority status but the Chinese and Japanese do and their income is far above that of the Irish. And we blacks are damn near the majority in this country in terms of a specific ethnic group.” Williams believes in freedom while he claims other black leaders expect the government to provide for the needs of his people. “(Urban League President) Vernon Jordan and (NAACP Director) Benjamin Hooks believe it is a legitimate function of government to take what one man produces and give it to another,” Williams said. “I find that general principal a violation of individual freedom. “You don’t take money out of my pocket to buy food for someone else; that’s just corrupt gover- ment.” The economist said he differs from civil rights leaders in that he has nothing to gain from gov ernment programs, while they do. He noted that several groups receive grants from the govern ment. Williams’ message is simple: regardless of any group’s plight, they are best served by a mini mum of government interference and a max imum of personal and economic freedom. Williams didn’t wait for the Reagan adminis tration’s conservative gravy train to begin speak ing out against big government and its effects on minorities and society. The Pennsylvania native began publishing his outspoken, and sometimes blunt, point-of-view before anyone knew about the Laffer Curve. “I’ve always been a radical,” Williams said. “Anyone in the United States who believes in freedom is a radical. I was raised in the North Philadelphia ghetto, long before the idea that someone owes you anything. I was taught to work hard and if you wanted to be equal to whites you had to be better than them.” Williams refuses to recognize any ethnic or racial boundaries when discussing the problems of the country. The cure to many of the ills is “I’ve always been a radical,” Wil liams said. “Anyone in the United States who believes in freedom is a radical. ” simply to make the “economic game” in the Un ited States fair, Williams said. “These are human problems we have to deal with, not black problems. There are very few black problems. But what happens when the economic game isn’t fair, blacks suffer the effects in a disproportionate manner. “It’s like flipping a penny. If you flip the coin 10 times and it comes up heads every time, you don’t weight the tail. You check to make sure the penny is a fair coin and keep flipping and even tually it will flip 50-50. Williams said life isn’t any different than flip ping a coin and blacks don’t need any speoi advantage as long as the “economic game is f '' The reason the economic game isn’t i because of government-supported collusion Williams said. He said an example was the In licensing laws in New York City requiring a dni er or company to pay a $65,000 licensing fe before they operate a cab. “One of the most effective ways to enstn monopoly power for oneself is to price the coj petition out of the market, ” Williams said, “U the government supports many people in ttei efforts to price their competition out of the mu ket. One way to do it is to set minimum price; such as the minimum wage, truck regulation®! airline regulation.” Williams said one way to solve the currej economic problems is to prohibit any si individual from interfering with the volunbi) exchange between people and allow businesse to raise or lower their prices without govemmei; restrictions. Williams says the effect of such an amendmei: would be to destroy the govemment-supportai collusions and restore freedom in the economi “But I think the chances are remote thattlf country’s problems will be solved,” Will said. “Doing so depends upon restoring vidual freedom and it seems Americans have; deep and abiding contempt for freedom. “The system is doomed because the \ won’t allow freedom.” QOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i NOW OPEN! UNFINISHED FURNITURE CENTER 314 NORTH MAIN DOWNTOWN BRYAN' 822-7052 WOOD FURNITURE SOLID WOOD FURNITURE • SOLID WOOD £ Limiting severance taxes dangerous, professor sayi United Press International Without the state severance tax on oil and gas — an assessment both criticized and bemoaned by many Yankees — Texans would be forced to pay a personal state income tax, says a political economist. And Dr. Bernard Weinstein of the University of Texas at Dallas pointed out that some top-ranking percent tax on gas in the same year. The issue was taken to court and six weeks agotlf U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Montana’s taxisnol unconstitutional because it does not discriminatf between interstate and intrastate producers or Bus I In 1974, severance taxes in the entire country totaled $1.2 billion. In 1980, that total jumped to $4.1 billion, with Texas, Alaska, Louisiana and Oklaho ma capturing a lion’s share 72percent. Texas politicians are playing a “dangerous” game of supporting federal limitations on severance taxes in other energy producing states. Thirty-three states impose severance taxes on producers for extracting nonrenewable resources such as coal, iron ore, sulfur, natural gas, oil, copper and uranium, Weinstein said. “Severance taxes have been around for a long time and no one paid attention to them until a year or two ago” when the amount of taxes increased, he said. In 1974, severance taxes in the entire country totaled $1.2 billion. In 1980, that total jumped to $4.1 billion, with Texas, Alaska, Louisiana and Okla homa capturing a lion’s share 72 percent, Weinstein said. “And the state controller’s office estimates that in the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, severance taxes will bring in close to $2 billion in Texas alone, ” he said. That total includes $1.2 billion for oil and $800 million for natural gas, the professor said. “That’s almost 30 percent of the total taxes col lected in Texas. If we didn’t have that, we would have a personal income tax. There’s no way to avoid that. ” The tax collected is rising because the price of oil and gas is increasing, he said. “A 4.6 percent tax on a $35 barrel of oil brings in a hell of a lot more than on a $5 barrel,” Weinstein said. “Severance taxes became a national political issue when Montana levied a 30 percent tax on coal pro duction. A lot of Northeastern and Midwestern con gressmen and Midwest utilities thought it was a high tax.” “But Montana’s 30 percent tax brought in $72 million in 1980, ” Weinstein said, calling that “nickles and dimes” in comparison to the $1.5 billion brought in by Texas’ 4.6 percent severance tax on oil and 7.5 “Within days of the Supreme Court decision, Sei David Durenburger, R-Minn., introduced a bill in posing a federal limitation of 12.5 percent onsevei ance taxes on coal, ” Weinstein said. Weinstein said he doesn’t know if the bill will “gel anywhere” because passage would cause the feden! government to interfere with what has historical been a state prerogative. It also would contradict Reagan administration’s attempt to return control I? the local level, he said. The issue has split the country “not along part lines but on regional lines of energy haves and have not, Weinstein said, claiming “the whole issueisi lot of nonsense. “First of all, the Montana tax rate may be high bit it’s not discouraging anyone from buying Montaii! coal. The reason the tax is so high is because coal iss cheap — from $6 to $8 a ton. That (the tax) addsaborf $1.20 a month to the average electric bill in tk Midwest.” In the Montana court case, Texas Attorney Genet al Mark White filed a friend of the court brief ® behalf of the plaintiffs. Both Austin and San Antonio use Montana an! Wyoming coal for producing electricity, the profei sor pointed out. Weinstein cited three members of the Texas cee gressional delegation as having “voiced support fo “It is sheer folly to believe thatfederi constraints on state energy taxationJ they come, will be limited exclusive!) to the coal producing states. ” limitation on the coal severance tax. ” He said the) were Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Reps. PhilGramman! J.J. “Jake” Pickle. “The energy producting states have got to together on this,” he said. “It is sheer folly to believe that federal constraint on state energy taxation, if they come, will be limited exclusively to the coal producing states when thebij dollars are accruing to oil and gas producing like Texas.” ^sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss August Through Monday Only! 20%-25% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE! • Loose Diamonds • Watches • Fine Jewelry • Gold Chains Unit< NEW stockhokk the acqui week, a q aftermath takeover 1 Did Co takeover moves? "There things coi courage a so much n powerful probably Conoco c< vent it,” s an expert with the N tein, Hay: Frank fessor at t go, said:" Conoco m vice to stc Denni: W.T. Grii termediar played its ended up wanted. 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