Rhetoric Offers No Solution
By Phil Drake
Staff Writer
Rhetoric isn’t going to help the poor and
the under-privileged, Mr. President.
In his State of the Union address, Presi
dent Bush avowed to "lift the nation." He
urged Congress to pass his economic plan by
March 20, which in the view of many mem
bers of the Democrats, is a case of too little,
too late.
The basic outline of Bush’s plan revolves
around four major points:
1) To reduce the Capital Gains Tax to
15,4%
This basically means that any profit which
comes from the sale of an individual’s
property would no be susceptible to less
taxation. This measure was supposed to
stimulate more investment in the stock
market, giving companies more capital,
thereby creating the opportunity to create
more new jobs.
2) Incentives for first-time home buyers.
Bush would allow buyers to borrow
against their pension fund as a dovm pay
ment on a house.
3) Repealing the controversial passive
loss for real estate, which enabled rental
property owners to write off their losses
against their other passive sources, general
ly real estate.
4) Bush also proposed to raise the per
sonal exemption for parents by $500 to an
average of $2800 per annum, per child.
For an economy in very deep trouble, this
is not the economic miracle every one was
hoping for. In fact, this seems only to be a
drop in the ocean, for there is a wide concen
sus of opinion that the drop in the ocean was
for the benefit of the wealthier classes in
American society,* thus those who were able
to survive the recession will fair even better
at the expense of the less fortunate.
Other aspects of Bush’s speech which are
worth noting are his promises to cut the
defence, which in the new world climate may
seem like a good idea, but may be counter
productive in that many jobs will be lost in
the defence industry. Still, these men and
women were bound to be the casualties of
peacetime whatever the economic state.
This was obviously a campaign pledge; his
speech was littered with them and other af
firmations to try to increase his waning
popularity vwth the American people.
The president tried to push the ideas of
traditional family values, hinting at the anti
abortion stand which he has decided to take
for the next election. He spoke of the fami
ly being the basis for American life and in
doing so must have won favour with the
many conservative voters in America.
Bush also urged the predominantly
Democratic Congress to rush through his
crime bill which would (according to Bush)
crack down on crime. The Democrats must
be careful not to be seen to be refusing to
pass it otherwise they run the risk of getting
involved in petty party politics when there is
a much more important issue at stake.
When addressing the administration’s
policy on health care. Bush failed to offer
adequate help to the millions who have in
sufficient medical insurance or none at all.
He rejected out of hand a move toward a na
tional system, claiming that it would lead to
a reduction of choice of doctors and hospi
tals and furthermore would lead to larger
waiting lists and lines.
George Bush kept referring to the
"miracle" which was America, and in doing
so distracted from the real problems at hand.
While hiding behind patriotic rhetoric may
influence his popularity in the short term, he
must know that America’s economic and so
cial problems will endure, and to tackle
these effectively can be the only way he will
once more gain popularity, and more impor
tantly, credibility wdth the American people.
Views From The
Editor's Desk
By Dawn E. Camp
Editor
Good grief! What do I have to do to get
a response from you people? All you had to
do was cut out a box (you could even rip it
out), draw a couple of circles, and MAYBE
scribble some comments. Had you done
this, you too could have been a part of our
opinion survey concerning the possible
change to university status.
Now, we knew that our survey wouldn’t
be very scientific, but we did expect some
response. Ah well, eternal optimism was
met with apathy—AGAIN!! Only nine
people—out of the entire student body and
faculty—returned the survey which we
printed in the last issue of The Pilot.
But, it’s your lucky day. I’m feeling
generous. I will hold off scraping the whole
survey until Feb. 14. So, if you feel so
moved, find a copy of the last Pilot (the blue
one) and send in your opinion. Surely, more
than .0045 percent of the GWC population
has an opinion. Why don’t you share it with
the rest of us??
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Gardner-Webb College Theatre Presents
Thomas Wolfe’s
"Look Homeward, AngeV
February 13-17
All performances begin at 8 p.m. except Sunday matinee at 2:30.
Tickets: $5 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens
GWC students admitted free with ID.
The Pilot Staff
Dawn E. Camp
Editor
Dr. William B. Stowe
Advisor
Christopher A. Glaves Marty White
Graphics Editor Sports Editor
Noel T. Manning, II
Entertainment Editor
Staff Writers
Kim Ballard
Erik Cummings
Barry Martin
Amy Sharpe
Aimee Stewart
Kevin Walter
Greg Carpenter
Phil Drake
Christy McHan
Brian Siatkowski
Mike Tansey
Shusuke Yoshino
Printed by Shelby Printing