Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, June 8, 1983
Bankers distrusted at Capitol
by Robert Shepard
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The nation’s
bankers may walk away from the 98th
Congress with their legislative prizes
neatly in hand, but their standing in the
eyes of federal officialdom could be se
verely bruised.
The bankers angered many members
of Congress and administration officials,
including President Reagan, with their
high-pressure lobbying campaign to kill
the new law requiring withholding of
taxes on interest earnings. A second issue
now building up steam in Congress — the
International Monetary Fund — is caus
ing even more suspicion to fall on the
bankers.
The administration is seeking congres
sional approval of an $8.4 billion increase
in U.S. support for the IMF, but many
members of Congress think the plan is
just a bailout for banks that are facing big
losses because of imprudent loans to sev
eral debt-ridden nations. Administration
officials such as Secretary of State George
Shultz and Treasury Secretary Donald
Regan are the ones dealing with Con
gress on the IMF legislation, so the bank
ers are able to maintain a low profile. But
the banks and their interest in the legisla
tion frequently are mentioned at com
mittee hearings.
Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., is one
of those opposed to the requested in
crease in the U.S. contribution to the
IMF.
“The banks refuse to acknowledge any
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culpability in their international lending
practices,” she said last week.
She criticized the banks for not con
ceding that they are stuck with bad loans
and instead carrying the loans on their
books at full value. The practice results in
overstatement of bank profits, she said.
Kassebaum suggested the banks write
off the loans in “an orderly, systematic”
manner. Such a move “won’t be popular
with bank officers or stockholders,
however, it’s the honest thing to do. If
these were consumer or farm loans they
would have been off the books long ago.”
Conservative Rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y.,
agrees the banks are being “unrealistic in
not writing off part of their non
performing loans.”
The banks “should assume their share
of the burden,” Kemp said recently.
Shultz and Regan have insisted before
several congressional committees the
IMF bill is not a bailout for banks. They
do agree, in hindsight, that the banks
could have been more cautious in their
lending policies.
The officials say the countries with
debt problems need continued credit in
order to revive their economies, but pri
vate banks will pull out if the IMF is not
able to go in and press for reforms that
will stabilize the situation.
“The IMF’s financing does not pay
bank debt, but rather encourages in
creased bank lending,” Shultz told a
House committee last month.
Regan, in May 17 testimony before a
Senate committee, acknowledged a possi
ble bank bail-out.
“Many would contend that the whole
debt and liquidity problem is the result of
the banks — that they’ve dug themselves
and the rest of us into this hole through
greed and incompetence, and now we
intend to have the IMF take the consequ
ences off their hands. This line of argu
ment is dangerously misleading,” he said.
Berrys World
) 1983 by NEA. Inc.,
Opening lines good,
closing remarks better
by Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher’s call for British par
liamentary elections Thursday prompts a
not-so-surprising question in this coun
try: If the Brits can limit their campaign
period to 24 days, what’s to keep us
Yanks from doing something similar?
After all, America’s unending pres
idential circus has only made politics
more boring and made front-runners of
those who can best stomach 1,001 nights
in Holiday Inns.
Who and what, then, would collude to
prevent shortening the presidential sche
dule? Too many American institutions is
the answer.
Journalists, who bear substantial re
sponsibility for encouraging presidential
ambitions and early announcements,
would have fewer straw polls and Florida
trips to bank on.
Consultants and pollsters, who bear an
equal responsibility for America’s politic
al promiscuity, might be forced to live in
middle-class neighborhoods.
Politicians would lose an excuse for
missing roll-call votes. Harold Stassen
and John B. Anderson might lose speak
ing dates. Ronald Reagan would have to
decide his own intentions, dousing
months of cocktail party conversation.
Iowa would return to being just
another wholesome farm state and New
Hampshire would, well, be forgotten.
John T. “Terry” Dolan, the 32-year-
old troublemaker who is already plan
ning pro-Reagan television commercials
for his National Conservative Political
Action Committee, would have to retire.
San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein
might never make welcoming remarks at
a Democratic National Conventioi
York Mayor Ed Koch, whoundoii
has his city’s eyes set on 1988,111^
to lay off Ins “I Love New York H
No matter how much a sudder-
campaign might enthuse the eli
too many powerful Americans li
much at stake in the system as is.
a common-sense system such as
would leave campaign reformerl
with much less to complain abotitl
* * Briefs * *
liege
emen
fighting
r
Vice President George Bush, vH
begin a nine-city European tripn
June, is being pressured tomakeal
speech in Copenhagen, Denmarll
likely reason: Strong domestic!
lion is threatening to force Derj
conservative government to
NATO’s planned deployment
U.S. nuclear missiles in Europe. IkBUnited
...,n jtIREVE
F j ud g e
Washington and Copenhagen
that a pep talk is in order.
n there
Jntinue h«
ten in a gr
motel.
Update on insurance equity: AsboMAfter
House and Senate began considffltrs of te
of measures to end sex discrimiti2e e<:t ' v es,
insurance policies, the 500 mehibflH°^ onc
panics of the American Council«B en< ; e „ tc
Insurance pledged last week to urfi
customers — about 64 million U.i
cy-holders — to pressure Congn
vote against the bill.
ACLI President Richard
former senator and Reagan
member, told us that the political
f and Ke
EThe me
'tints each
one e;
on Capitol Hill was swinging aw
women’s groups, which have been
ing gender-neutral insurance polt
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — If a poll could be
taken, it probably would show that some
of the most likely locales of fragmented
conversations are health clubs, streetcor-
ners. Laundromats, antique shows, skat
ing rinks, Chinese restaurants, tennis
courts, incinerators and singles’ bars.
In such places, I understand, you
need a good opening line to make con
nections with the opposite sex.
Eric Weber, author of “How To Pick
Up Girls” and other instructive manuals,
has compiled a list of what he calls the
“101 Best Opening Lines.”
“We live in a fragmented society,”
writes Weber, who is partial to such
pseudopsychological jargon as “cut off
from traditional support systems ... a
sense of isolation, a withdrawal into self
... fewer opportunities to develop social
skills.”
But once in a while he coins a truism,
as in: “Although not every conservation
will lead to a relationship, every relation
ship starts with a consersation.”
To get the conversation rolling, de
pending on where one is at the moment,
Weber nominates these ice-breakers:
At the incinerator — “I see we have
the same taste in trash.”
Tennis courts — “You must be the pro
here.”
Health clubs — “Would you hold my
legs down while I do my sit-ups?”
Laundromats — “Is a cup of this stuff
enough?”
Butcher shops — “Excuse me, but how
long do you fry a roast beef?”
These are effective openers, I don’t
doubt. The only problem, I would im
agine, would be in making certain the
line and the site are compatible.
Although “I see we have the same taste
in trash” might be a great little gambit to
use at an incinerator, anyone who tried
that line at an antique show could be
making a big mistake.
By the same token, “Is a cup of this
stuff enough?” might go over big in
Laundromats. But anyone using that line
in a singles’ bar does so at his or her own
risk.
And clearly “You must be the pro
here” would not be the right thing to say
on streetcorners.
Moreover, the odds of encountering
someone at such spots with whom you
desire to strike up a conversation, must
less form a relationship — fragmented,
meanirigful or otherwise — are pretty
slim.
If I frequented those spots, I also
would want in my repertoire a number of
closing lines with which to discourage
further advances. Here are a few tried
and true verbal repellants that are
guaranteed to leave you in splendid isola
tion:
On an elevator — “Does this bus stop
at the Algonquin?”
At a skating rink — “Which one is the
intermediate slope?”
Bakeries — “Do you realize how many
calories there are in that cream puff you
just bought?”
Chinese restaurants — “How do you
say ‘moo goo gai pan like mother used to
make’ in Cantonese?”
Health clubs — “I see we have the
same taste in leotards.”
“Get lost, buster” remains a highly
effective all-purpose closing line, as does,
“I think I hear my wife calling.” But if
you insist on a more subtle way of getting
nowhere, you might try: “Haven’t we met
someplace before?”
Slouch By Jim Eart
‘Maybe that’s the end of the rainy season.'
good c