Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, September 23, 1985
l
Opinion
vm
Time to slay Goliath
The national debt is approaching 2 trillion dollars. Ameri
ca’s trade deficit is projected to reach $150 billion dollars by the
end of 1985. To help slow our economic troubles, Congress is
attempting to pass protectionist legislation. But keeping Foreign
goods away from our shores will do more harm than good to our
economy.
Protectionism basically means placing trade restrictions on
imported goods. Such restrictions harm the economies of devel
oping nations because we aren’t pumping our money into their
economy. As a result, these same countries can’t afford to buy
American exports, which harms our already endangered econ
omy.
Foreign imports are blamed for stealing manufacturing jobs
from American workers. Many people feel other countries are
being unfair by charging high tariffs on American goods or by
not importing them at all. Such “unfairness” is a minor eco
nomic Foss when compared to our overall export shortcomings.
As long as the deficit remains in its current out-of-control
state, the trade value of the dollar will remain high in the world
market. As long as the dollar remains high, many countries will
refuse to buy American goods.
To compete with foreign trade, we must get a grip on our
runaway deot. Instead of working on more than 300 bills that
would limit the sale of foreign goods. Congress should pass leg
islation curtailing government spending and bring our Goliath
like deficit under control.
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Decreased defense spending key to social prosper!
Loren Steffy
About the time
John Lennon was
shot I was begin
ning to appreciate
many of the things
he stood for. He
couldn’t fathom
war. He couldn’t
comprehend how
countries could
fight each other
when both sides . n. i h =
had numerous internal struggles. He
couldn’t understand how countries in
which thousands of people were starv
ing could afford to spend millions of
dollars to buy guns.
The problem hasn’t gotten better in
the five years since Lennon’s death. The
world spent almost $700 billion on
weapons this year. But increased weap
ons expenditures has a partner in rising
statistics — the world unemployment
rate increased by 500 million as well.
At the same time the nations of the
world are making war, or preparing for
it, they also are breaking new records in
unemployment rates.
Obviously, just because the figures
rose at the same time doesn’t mean un
employment occurred because of an ip-
crease in defense spending. But a de
crease of 8 or 10 percent in military
spending could curb disease, illiteracy
and hunger.
Studies in the United States and
Western Europe have shown that high
spending in military equipment in
creases inflation, sucks up natural re
sources, causes setbacks in technological
development, hurts the standing of liv
ing and generally does nasty things to
the economy.
Out of thirteen nations surveyed be
tween 1960 and 1979, the United States
ranked first in defense spending but
only eleventh in gross national product
growth. Other studies by economists
such as John Kenneth Galbraith and
Seymor Melman found that reduced
military spending boosted the economy
and generated employment.
The common arguments in favor of
defense spending usually come in two
varieties:
• A strong defense is necessary to en
sure protection from enemies.
• Defense contracts create jobs in the
private sector.
True, a strong defense is necessary to
protect a nation from possible attack by
its enemies. But if your enemy can wipe
your country off the map thirteen times,
and you can eliminate his twelve times,
what difference does it make?
True, defense contracts do create
jobs — about 75,000. for every $ 1 billion
invested according to the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics. The Bureau also
found that the same amount of money
invested in civil engineering creates
'110,000 or 112r,000 jobs in consumer
goods production. One billion dollars
invested in education would produce
f87,000jobs.
If defense spending were reduced
and government expenditures were in
creased in other types of production,
more jobs would be created.
For developing countries, reduced
arms expenditures could mean even
greater benefits. Developing nations get
more than 80 percent of their weapons
from NATO. The money the average
developing country spends on one F-16
fighter could equip 7,000 classrooms.
Most of the world’s population is in
developing countries, but so is the larg
est number of unemployed. These na
tions, which have a lower growth rate
than developed ones, spend a much
larger portion on their GNP for military
expenses.
Even in nations such as Ethiopia,
where thousands of people starve daily,
much of the government spending goes
to the military. India spends an average
5.9 percent of their GNP on military,
but only 2.8 percent on education and 1
percent on public health care.
If developing nations are ever going
to develop, they need to divert more of
their funding to programs aimed at up
grading the quality of living.
This doesn’t mean that no money
should be spent on national defense, but
the amount of money diverted from the
world’s defense budget and put towards
other programs would hardly be notice
able.
Letter to the Readers
A guide to Baft talk and other journalism jargon
To help alleviate some communica
tion conflicts, I’ve compiled a list of
some Battalion lingo.
article: An article is a news story. Re
porters are instructed to make all arti
cles accurate, fair and free from opin
ion. To quote from The Battalion’s
editorial policy: “News reporting in The
Battalion shall be factual, accurate, in
formative and responsible. Reporters
and editors have an obligation to ensure
fairness and to see that all aspects of
each issue are presented in all news and
feature stories.”
feature story: Features are lighter ar
ticles that are timeless and deal more
with human interest topics.
hard news: This term is used to refer
to those articles in which timeliness is of
.Rhoicrci
Many times news
paper folk get caught
up in a nether world
of journalistic jar
gon. We have many
words and phrases
that we use in our day-to-day operation
of The Battalion that often are under
stood only by those in the newspaper
business.
Many people — and for good reason
— don’t understand Batt talk. The dif
ference between articles and columns or
between columns and editorials are
good examples. The bewildering look
on some people’s faces as they stroll in
the newsroom makes it apparent they
are not sure to which of our 18 editors
they need to talk.
utmost importance. These articles are
usually sparked by events such as
speeches, accidents or protests.
column: This is one of the most mis
understood items in our paper. A col
umn is one person’s opinion on some
thing. These opinions are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of The Battalion staff (in
cluding the editor and the editorial
board), University faculty and staff or
Texas A&M University.
editorial: An editorial is the opinion
of the newspaper. Battalion editorials
are written by a member of the editorial
board and approved by a majority of ed
itorial board members.
editor: That’s me. As editor, I am ul
timately responsible for everything that
goes into the paper. The editor is re
sponsible for hiring and firing of the
staff, and is the leader of the editorial
board.
The term “editor” also is a part of the
job titles of 17 other Battalion staff
members. Our editors don’t just edit.
They organize, plan, counsel and super
vise as well.
managing editor: The managing edi
tor is responsible for the daily workings
of the newspaper. The ME works closely
with the editor to make sure the news
room runs smoothly.
city editor: The city editor is in
charge of coordinating all local stories.
Along with her two assistants, she as
signs stories that are of local interest.
Have a story idea? She’s the person to
see.
news editor: The news editors are re
sponsible for the placement of stories in
the paper. They also scan the Associated
Press stories and decide which ones will
be used each day. The news editor is in
charge of the newsroom at night.
opinion page editor: Deciding the
contents of each day’s opinion page is
this editor’s primary responsibility. He
chooses the columns, editorial cartoons
and letters that will run each day. He
also is the primary author of the editori
als.
Sports editor: This is one editor
who’s title actually reflects his job. He is
in charge of sports coverage and the lay
out of the sports pages.
Entertainment editors: These editors
are in charge of producing The Battal
ion’s magazine supplement, At Ease.
Thfey make the story assignments, edit
the articles and decide the placement of
those articles in the magazine.
Art director: This position used to be
known as the photo editor. However,
the responsibilities of this position have
grown to include not'only the coordina
tion of photos, but also artwork and
graphics.
We also have assistant news editors,
copy editors and a make-up editor.
These editors help the news editor edit
stories and place stories on the pages.
One more set of titles merits explana
tion. The writers of our articles are dis
tinguished as either staff writers or re
porters. Staff writers are paid reporters
hired to do two or three stories per
week. Reporters are journalism students
in an advanced reporting and editing
class. These students do stories for The
Battalion as part of their class require
ments.
Maybe these brief explanations will
give readers a better understanding of
newspaper terminology, who we are
and what we are doing.
The purpose of this column is to in
crease communication between the edi
tors of The Battalion and the readers. If
you have a question or a problem you
would like to see addressed in this col
umn, please send a letter to the editor or
call The Battalion editor at 845-2647.
Rhonda Snider is a senior journalism
major and editor of The Battalion.
_ , . Kornis
Man has been fighting man as 10 ,^, a
there has been man. It’s time to; Coon, R
don our militaristic ways and coi Blue, Pe
ourselves with the social weU-beinj®" 65 s
the peoples of the world. Speticf| rme(l .
$700 billion on weapons while 500
lion people are out of work is a harlJL,- ^
ger of disaster. Ks. v
Uneducated, sick and impovm’I^ 35
people can't help their countrydevelK^^
socially, politically or economically. p j
through quality education, healthoT
and jobs a country can provide^
with a better defense than any nunili
of weapons could.
Lennon was right, nations have:
sponsibilities to their people. A si more act
defense is part of that responsibilityilays. “I’d
so is social development, educatK®
health care, creating jobs and an I
creasing standard of living.
Loren Steffy is a junior journalism cl
jor and the Opinion Page Editor: j
The Battalion.
tosponso
ats. ere
iteeds, p
ials and
ays.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Steff y, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett, News Editors
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kirsten Dietz, JerryOslir.
Assistant News Editors
Cathie Anderson, Jan Pem
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smiik
Art Director. Wayne Grabein
Copy Editors Rebecca Adair.
Mike Davis, Sarah Oates
Make-up Editor Ed Cassavo)
Staff Writers Tamara Bel,
Meg Cadigan, Ed Cassavoy,
Cindy Gay, Doug Hal.
Paul Herndon, Wendy Jonnson
Tammy Kirk, Jens Koepk,
Trent Leopold, Mary McWhorter.
June Pang, TriciaParker,
Brian Pearson, Lynn RaePovec,
Marybeth Rohsner, Gigi Shamsy,
Kenneth Sury
Cartoonists Mike Lane,
Scott McCullar, Kevin Thomas
Columnists Camille Brown,
John Hallett, Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers Greg Bailey,
Anthony Casper, Frank Hada,
Jaime Lopez, Michael Sandier
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newsfapt'
operated as a community service to Texas AScM id
Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of tit
Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rtf
resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, Mo
or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper In
students in reporting, editing and photograph) da«e
within the Department of Communications.
The Battalion is published Monday through Frida) dot- B
ing Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holida)ad K
examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.15pent- ■
mester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. M- E
vertising rates furnished on request.
Our atldress: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDoroli I
Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, Vi I
77843. Editorial staff phone number: (409) 845-3316. Ad I
vertising: (409) 845-2611.
Second class piostage paid at College Station, TX 77MJ. I
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Ball)! I
ion, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tea i
77843