MARCH 29,1991 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3
Income gulf is widening in America
(Continued from Page 2)
paper, backfired.
Hie corporations were getting
their tax breaks and earning in
credible sums of money, but they
did not invest into important as
pects of the American economy.
(Cwtiiia^ from Page 2)
asked me to tell her about ho-
father as a child, and I realized
that his histoiy was up in my attic,
too.
After we went to high school,
my friend and I never lived in the
same place, but we always wrote
to each other, so I told my friend’s
daughter that I would try to put
together a collection of his letters.
One Sunday morning when I
should have been grading papers
I went up those funny little stairs
and spent most of the day sur
rounded by dusty fragments of a
multitude of half-forgotten
memories.
As I searched for the boxes
with the right letters in them, I re
discovered —just to take a few
examples — a paper I wrote in
high school about the lefty phi
losopher Herbert Marcuse; a box
with all of my school report cards
(I got a C in courtesy in the third
grade); a collection of newspapers
from the day John Kennedy was
assassinated; some crazy sun
glasses and beads I wore in col
lege; and my family’s and friends’
letters.
Letters are second to nothing
in the pantheon of saving stuff.
Perhaps because I’ve moved
around so much, I have always
corresponded with people. I had
forgotten about the intense inno
cent passion of my high school
sweeflieart (I hope her daughter
doesn’t ask for thosel).
I’d forgotten my parents’ ago
nizing about some of my youthful
indiscretions. I’d forgotten how
many people cared enough to
write down thoughts about the ups
and downs in their lives and in
mine, about politics, about our
slowly developing philosophies of
life.
How could anyone throw away
a letter, I wondered, and what a
Instead, they invested overseas or
into merging without corporations
or buying other corporations.
They did not reinvest in American
Steel or even in rebuilding their
own corporations. The quick fix
was the theme of the ‘80s, and it
killed many small towns and
shame we dcm’t seem to be writ
ing as much lately.
Luckily enough for my
friend’s daughter, I was able to
let her learn about her father —
who died in a car accident last
summer — through his own
words.
By NEIL LATTA
“It is back,” said one Wesleyan
professor as the recycling bins
were put into place. The new light
blue containers that took the place
of the old cardboard containers
were placed in the academic
building on March 13.
About a year ago, old bins
stopped being filled and just laid
around the offices collecting dust.
Now, with the new bins being
filled on a constant basis, the re-
many inner cities.
The workers of America paid
for these investments. Well-paid
manufacturing jobs and the pur
chasing power of manufacturing
paychecfo shrunk considerably.
The average of all workers in
constant dollars in 1977 was
$191.41 per week, whereas in
1986 it had drc^ped to $171.07.
An AFL-CIO economic in
WashingUMi, stated, “We con
centrate on what our mmbras^ps
want, and a lot of unirais have
decided to give up wages fcnr
guaranteed jobs and fw i^raining
progtams.”
Hie econrany has diminislied
the power of the union.
Disinvestment into America is
raising unemployment and stag
gering corporate America’s
growth. Since Reagan’s siqjply-
side cuts, America invested 12.2
cycling project is on its feet again.
There are two kinds of paper
that can be recycled, white and
computer. The stipulations on the
white paper include cardboard,
newspaper, and colored paper.
Any paper that is colored all the
way through is considered colored
p^r; some examples are yellow
legal pad paper and yellow
memos.
White paper that can be re
cycled include envelopes (win
dow envelopes need to have the
percent into new plants and ma
chinery. Since then tax cut in
vestments have fluctuated from a
low of 11 percent to a high of
12.6 percent. Not much, of,a
strategy. It has become blatantly
more evident that policies are set
to suppress the poor and support
the rich.
Where does the future lie for
America? George Bush continues
the policies of the Reagan ad
ministration, even today trying to
cut the capital gains tax again.
But who can blame the fcnrmer or
present presidencies; it doesn’t
se^ anyone is questioning their
policies.
The fiiture is not Ivight. Two
similar eras have occurred in
American history—the Guilded
Age, which followed the Civil
War, and the Roaring Twenties.
Now we have Reaganomics. The
window tom out first), stationery,
notebook paper, letterhead, and
photocopy paper.
Computer p^er includes both
impact and laser paper. The rea
son for the separation of the two
is because when they break down
the paper, it takes a different
process to get the ink off com
puter than off white paper.
The paper that is recycled goes
to Tri County Industries where it
is later shipped to a company
called Brame who makes toilet
Guilded Age and Roaring Twen
ties ended in depression, and
some would say we stand in the
same predicament Savings and
lo^s will cost Americans an es
timated $200 billion in the ‘90s.
Also this whole policy of de
regulation seems to be killing our
financial system. If supply-side
policies continue, American can
look forward to an inevitable de
pression.
Finally, let us not ride the
coattails of the Posian Gulf War
into the elections of 1992. Our
generation is America’s future. It
is neither undemocratic or
unpatriotic to questicm govem-
menL It is quite the contrary. The
questions are to challenge our
elected officials, to make our
country once again an economic
pow^. The future is in our hands.
Step iq> to the challenge.
campus
paper, n^kins, and paper towels.
Carolina Telephone recycles one
ton of paper a day, which is equal
to 17 trees a day.
Bins will be distributed in the
dorms soon. AU that is asked is
that the bins only have paper and
not trash. Students who see
someone throwing trash in a bin
should ask them to take it out.
Monthly reports will come out
on how much p^er the campus
saves and on how many trees the
campus saves.
1991-1992 Room Selection
Monday, April 8
9:30-10:15 p.m Same Room Selection —All
Students
Tuesday, April 9
9:30-10:15 p.m New Room Selection — Rising
Seniors/Rising Juniors
Wednesday, April 10
9:30-10:30 p.m Rising Sophomores
All selections will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room of the S.A. Center
Housing Form Deadline: April 5
Attics are treasure
chests of memories
Recycling bins return to