Editorials & Comments The Budget Dilemna in January President Carter proposed a fiscal 1981 budget that called for a $15.8 billion deficit. Now less than two inonths later, he wants a bal anced budget; that is, $16.5 billion in' spending reducation and' a projected $2 hilliori surplus. Those who favor the Presi dent's turn-about' budget have asked why it took so long, and those who oppose it are talking about' demonstrating in the streets. The'fact is neither group has much to cheer about or cry about because the new budget is being developed for all the'Wrong reasons - politics. President Carter’s so-called balanced budget is in reality a reaction to Ted Kennedy’s politi cal campaign rhetoric about budget propOsals as Well as some of' the move conservative * Re publican candidates’ fiscal view points. Furthermore, major' parts of the federal budget can not be' cut because they repre sent certain "uncontrollable” or on-going expenses. These in clude such items as interest on the'national debt, Social Security payments, veterans’ benefits, pensions, the federal utility bill and, to a lesser degree, salaries for federal workers. ' Unfortunately, the political paranoia over defense Spending has, fOr all intent and purposes, placed war preparedness spend ing the same category as the "uncontrollable” budget cate gory.' The fact is the Carter administrations ’ proposed bud get spending cuts Woliid affect nearly Svery government agency except defense.' Federal Spending '4.his means, too, that ail other federal spending fails into a discretionary spending cate gory. Therefore, wheh there are malfunctions in the nation’s eco nomy, surgery is performed on discretionary spending'. This fur ther means that the poor, the unemployed, the ill-housed, the elderly' Will, as it historically does, have to carry the bUrden of efforts to get the economy on a sound up-beat less inflationary track. Ironically, the President’s bal anced budget proposal leaves unanswered the question that has led to' the planned* budget cuts; that is, will a major re duction in federal spending have a significant impact updn the nation’s leaping inflationary ' rate'.' The question remains un answered because most know ledgeable economists apparently believe that* a' balanced budget for fiscal year 1981 and the federal spending year beginning October, 1981 will not lo*er the inflationary rate by e'ven one percent. Thus, to create further economic hardship for those al ready at the bottom Of the economic totem pole in order to reduce inflation by a negligible amount appears to be inexcus able. The fact is Mr. Carter’s pro posed budget cuts offer no a's surace that the cOst of food, clothing, housing, transportation arid health'pare will be reduced. However, it does guarantee* greater economic hardship for the poor arid middle income families while impacting ohly slightly upon the rich arid' the powerful. While we have expressed con cerns about the impact Of the Carter budget cuts; we are'mind ful that with spiraling inflatioh, the nation must begiri to take a stand at some point in order to restore sOme sanity into ah out-of-control economic crisis. Proposed Budget We believe that the only equit able and logical way to deal with the nation's inflatiohary problem is to develop a long-term - 15 years at least - economic policy that will transcend political* par ties and presidential administra tions. A policy of this Magnitude would be* workable if We had candidates for political office with sufficient maturity and love of country to resist the tempt ation to do 'what is politically expected and in turn do what is economically sound. Thus, with men and women in political office who* have the courage of their convictions and with a citizenry who are fully committed to equally'sharing the nation’s burdens for reducing inflation, we can begin to see a gradual decline in the annual inflationary rate. WMle inflation might only fall one half to one*percent a year, it could possibly be achieved with a minimum hardship for anyone. The only real question* is whether We ’are sufficiently mature enough as a nation to Make the minimum sacrifices as elected officials' or jusfrordinary citizens fn mfllrolf umrlr Abject Conditions Prior to launching the short lived war on poverty, most Ame ricans were unaware ' that so many of our own citizens lived under such abject conditions. The affluent in our society were never really aware of the stark reality because the mass media neglected to describe such suf fering, hunger, deprivation in all the gory details. The ghettos and the barrios were conveniently circumscribed by the planners of beltways and freeways so that suburban commuters need not come face to face with the misery of our poor. According to official statistics, over 40 million Americans are hungry and undernourished, 3.5 million white families and 1.6 million Black families are classi fied As poor. Let 8 Work Together For A Safe Community r As I See It Where We Are Headed And Whv! By Gerald O. Johnson Post Columnist If you have ever noticed a child an a daily basis it is almost impossible to real ize he is growing. But after a year or two you look at an old picture then you begin to realize how the child has matured over that period of time. This analogy is a good example of what is taking place worldwide right before our eyes. We are in the early stages of a new era that will change our lifestyles forever. I think it is very editing. , The signs indicating the radical changes occuring make the front pages of the newspaper everyday. The Afghanistan invasion, the Iranians holding the Ame rican hotages, inflation rate nearing 20 percent per annum, prime interest rate hits 20 percent, home mort gages tops 17 percent, nu clear power failures, and countless assassinations are just a few. Through careful observ ation it can be realized that several factors are contri buting to these changes. On the one hand we have sky rocketing energy cost coupled with nose-diving high technology cost. On the other hand we have invisible forces de-central izing government control. The impact of the two factors is forcing us into a new era. Politically, the individuals in government are not aware of this change. At least they aren’t aware of how to cope with it. Consequently, the issues facing our nation today are being treated with archaic solutions. This will come to pass as more adept and up-to-date people take over government. ' Some of the conse quences are obvious and others are not. Because of the high cost of energy our living patterns will change drastically. We will be*, come a resource sharing nation. This means that single dwelling homes will begin a steady decline and never again reach the rate levels of today. Condo miniums will be the living style of tomorrow. A build ing housing 50 families is much more energy effi cient than 50 single dwell ing homes. Lawn care is cut drastically. Heat, hot water and cooling is handled more convenient ly. The single dwelling houses will be much small er with smaller lots. The need to travel by automo bile will virtually dis appear. Mass transport ation will be the basic mode of transportation. Cars will be much smaller and much lighter. Advanced tech nology will allow many things to be do ne from the home that we currently travel to do. For example, banking could be done at home through a keyboard attached to your television. Shopping by catalogue and y using your keyboard to enter the transaction will be done in the home. Even a lot of office work will be done at home. Interestingly enough, technology will re place the need for a lot of travel. If you feel ill then just type your symptoms with your keyboard to your doctor and he will pre scribe a cure over your TV screen. Washington will not be as powerful as local and state governments. It will still act as an overseer with the constitution, but many laws will disappear. It should be noted that the centralization of our . go vernment and our heavy reliance on it is a direct consequence of the Great Depression. The Depress ion forced many people to rely and gain confidence in government. This fueled the rapid growth of govern ment. But it is the govern ment that is leading us to another Great Depression. Ironically, the very thing that caused us to centralize will be the cause of our decentralization. The decentralization of government and the as sociated laws will cause small banks, small col leges, small shops, and other small enterprises to either be absorbed by larg er institutions or to dis appear altogether. (“Black colleges in particular will disappear). Socially, we will find people relying heavily on other people. Private so cieties will take over a lot of the social chores burden ing the government now. More minorities and wo men will have key positions in major corporations. So see As I See It. Page 9 b F—Vnnion E. EQUAL Minorities Must Be Counted The 1980 Census officially begins Apri^l, and it is the most important event of the year for minorities; perhaps even more important than the outcome of the presi dential election. > \ That’s because the census results will affect just about every area of minority life. Part of the problems faced by minorities in the seventies derived from the fact that so many were counted out,' affecting a wide variety of federal and state aid programs. The Census Bureau itself admits that it missed five million people in the 1970 census. But while ohly one out of fifty whites was not counted, ode put'off fourteen blacks and one out of seven Hispanic-Americans were not counted.* Almost one out of five young ' black ,*^nei»‘ V&e missed By the census-taker^ Over the course of the decade that undercount cost minority communities bil lions of dollars in job programs and other social services allocated in part oh popu lation figures based on inaccurate census numbers. Apologists for the undercount claim that minority suspicions of official documents and government papers were the' main cause. out muic important was me lauure to design procedures to ensure that everyone is counted. Major efforts were not made to penetrate suspicions' and convince people that it was in their own interests to fill out and return the census forms. It is questionable whether the 1980 census will do much better on that score. There’s been Dttle evidence of concentrated adver tising campaigns directed at minorities. Some urban neighborhoods that are pre dominately Spanish-speaking will be mailed forms in English. This year’s census will rely more heavily on mail returns than ever before, although pilot tests show this method results in lower compliance rates. The forms themselves could be simpler. Most families will get a form that supposed ly takes fifteen minutes to fill out, but mjMy will get a longer form taking nearly an hour'. But do those time figures reflect the fact that many poor households are disadvant aged educationally? For them, even the short form will be a test of perserverance, arid many may just ignore it. These arid other shortcomings place a heavy burden on minority community orgariizations, churches and others'to en sure that people in their neighborhoods are counted. And that means providing iriform ation and assistance so that everyone'gets thdir census questionnaires filled out and mailed in. People have to know why their cooper ation is important. One key reason is redistricting. Exactly one year from how the Census will release the official population figures to states and localities for the purpose of redistricting legislative seats. Without maximOm minor ity participation in the census, Congress ional and legislative seats may be redis tricted out of black and brown communities and given to predominantly white suburbs. So minorities have a special stake in bpinb PAimtoH in 1AOA THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 “THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 1524 West Blv. - Charlotte, N.C. 28206 Telephone (704) 3784486 Circulation, 8,915 61 Years Of Continuous Service BILL JOHNSON... Editor Pa bibber BERNARD REEVES...General Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers __Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. All photos and copy submitted become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. "XX 'XL 8 Av« N” y"*’ N Y1**M Chicago, in.