ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 11, 1997 TAG: 9702110031
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Talking It Over
TYPE: LETTER
To the Editor: APPARENTLY, there isn't one in our body politic with enough backbone to tell the American public the truth about where this country is headed. Initially, as office seekers, they appear genuine enough, but quickly degenerate into jellyrolls. And immediately after election, they switch off their brains (or at least the portion that responds to the will of their constituency).
Not one will admit that: Our standard of living is declining and is being deliberately lowered to meet that of our North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade trading partners. Financial interest is controlled by big business. American industry has sold out its workers in favor of a cheaper foreign labor pool.
Companies are being raped and plundered at the top by high-ranking officers, driven by greed and self-interest, in an unchallenged, unchecked money grab. They pillage our companies from within by collecting lopsided and unwarranted salaries, perks, bonuses and benefits - none of which is pegged to company performance. All this while they downsize the rank-and-file. (Maybe to understand how we're being driven to financial ruin, it helps to know the chauffeurs are all blind.)
And let's not overlook Social Security. With the retirement age being raised, the present generation can expect to work for 50 years on average, and maybe draw 10 years of benefits (five years for males) while politicians retire with full benefits after serving just 10 years.
It would give us a glimmer of hope if at least one leader could demonstrate enough residual bone fragment to stand alone, unassisted by special interests, and honestly address our economic slide.
- ARNOLD D. ST.CLAIR
Our Reply: THIS IS a powerful letter. We share some of the concerns it touches on. But we have gripes with a couple of points: (1) the impulse to blame America's problems on a conspiracy, and (2) misguided trade-bashing as an expression of diminishing national confidence.
Yes, many politicians resemble jellyrolls, a feast for the special interests that converge hungrily on government. Yes, many top executives make too much money in light of their companies' performance and in comparison with their employees' wages. Yes, Social Security looks like a better deal for current retirees than for young workers.
Let's address these problems - together. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has warned, the country is drifting toward a "two-tier" society with rising wealth disparity and spreading social alienation. The sense that we, as Americans, are all in the same boat seems to be eroding.
And yet, if our politicians are failing us, it's not entirely their fault. Sometimes those who pander or divide get elected. Citizens are responsible for choosing better leaders and holding them accountable for articulating and making hard choices. In a time of unequal prosperity, some of these choices involve how to spread the wealth more fairly.
The best answer is better and more equitable educational opportunity. America shouldn't try to compete in global markets on the basis of labor costs. We need to compete with our smarts and skills. And we can compete - as long as avenues for commerce remain open.
You think international trade is a threat? It is to some jobs. But since 1988, almost 70 percent of the U.S. economy's growth has come from exports. Because competition holds down prices, international trade increases American families' standard of living. Conversely, trade restrictions inflate prices, protect uncompetitiveness and depress commerce - a sure prescription for "economic slide."
- The editors.
The Last Word: IF NOT a conspiracy, then what label would you give it when our own government gave tax incentives to U.S. manufacturers to leave our country and move to foreign soil (especially favoring Mexico)?
Companies amass great wealth and then donate to charities or purchase art to assuage their consciences or, more likely, as a tax shelter. Have any of them ever considered passing some of this wealth back to those who made them rich in the first place - their customers - in the form of a price reduction?
The Social Security Trust Fund should have been just that - a trust fund. If this were an interest-bearing private fund, each of us could expect to retire with, on average, a quarter-million to a half-million dollars. (If a private fund were this shabbily run, someone would go to prison.)
More education at what price? College tuition is now approaching the cost of a house a generation ago. In the not-too-distant future, property taxes to support primary education will reach the point where low- to -middle-income families lose the ability to support home ownership.
I am not against foreign trade, if done on an equal footing. But Japan and other countries sanction their businesses, refuse to honor our patents and copyrights, and close their markets to our products so we cannot compete with our exports. That's a sure recipe for their economic gain!
- A.D.S
Arnold D. St.Clair is a communications technician who lives in Hardy.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB