SAl , SEPIEMBER 26. 1981
THE CAROLINA TIMES-IS
iiics is everything in this country and affir-
''action is no exception. Even economics and
'[ontrols what is fundamentally a political
why so many have expressed concern
I “Reaganomics” and its impact on the
■ j and economic health of blacks. For the
with Reagan’s snatching of milk from
Lth of babies and gorging of the Pentagon,
Lomic version of the “Titanic” is expected to
r black community.
rhicago recently, Congressional Black Caucas
hers Augustus Hawkins (D-Calif.) and Harold
Iv ton (D-111.) listened intently as a series of
■jjes testified as to the expected devastating im-
jfthe proposals to change affirmative action
L|j5ns which were made by Vice President
IbusH in March.
(loost ominous comments at the hearing were
j by Rc''- Herbert Martin, Chicago director
IjHIAACP. He refuted the notion that there is
llic lethargy” over Reaganomics. Like others.
Led that the full impact of the cuts would not
,|t until after the new fiscal year begins on Oc-
I 1981. The subcommittee hearing became
itl'y quiet as Rev. Martin, a long-time propo
uf non-violence, charged: “We feel that ugly
Bare brewing and in the next riot we will see
i white and middle class throwing bricks.”
President Bush and the-Administration have
virtual mantra out of their vocal opposition
ijotas”. Most recently he preached this line to
(oup of corporate executives meeting in
jiugion. Feeling the pressure from skeptical
I critics. Bush felt compelled to add
Affirmative Action;
Reaganomics and
Affirmative Action
Gerald C. Horne, Esquire
lain Talk About The Law
Credit and the
Consumer
By North State Legal Services
ur economy runs on
ji American con-
ers have become so
mdeni on credit that
[eaies problems for
j of us. The low-
me consumer is no
piion.
'e at North State
il Services receive
ms call*; from
iimers who owe
ley.They owe money
I bank, a furniture
pany and very often
I! loan companies,
ti’s took at some of
protections when the
on or place that we
money to does not
the debt over to a
xiion agency and
lies to collect the
: himself.
1 1977, North
jlina pas,sed legisia-
which covers those
lors who choose to
K! their own debts
Hheir customers,
heimportant thing to
finber is that as a
on who owes money,
have certain legal
is. You are not a se-
I class citizen just
use you owe money.
'ou get to a point
re you can’t keep up
I payments, notify
[creditor immediate-
nd try to work out
onable ar-
lements. If
onable arrangements
tot be worked out
your creditor tries to
tci the debt himself,
> these things in
i
The creditor cannot
It that non-payment
lead to your arrest,
lember, owing
ley is not a crime,
tors prisons were ■
3wed long ago.
The creditor cannot
obscene or abusive
Mge when trying to
w a debt.
If you have a phone '
'ome, you have the
•to tell the creditor
locall you at work,
creditor cannot call
at unreasonable
or with
tssonable frequency.
•The creditor cannot
your debt with
®iee!,se or try to col-
''through a relative
®tir employer.
: They can’t leave
|ccsat your home or
'^of bu.siness so*that
Tone can see that
owe money,
dhe creditor cannot
J’Pt to collect or ac-
'y collect frofh you
oebt collection fees
T* attorney’s fees
''permitted by Saw.
■Thecreditor cannot
hnue to contact you
J fie has been
hedbyyour attorney
f'c is representing
you feel that your
"'Or is not treating
ij“rly, you can call
.Subscribe To
Carolina Times
■^'1682-2913 Today
the Consumer Protection
Division of the Attorney
General’s office in
Raleigh at 919/733-7741.
If you are completely
overburdened with debts
and have no way of pay
ing them, there are pro
cedures to work out a
partial repayment plan
or gel a fresh start from
your debts by using the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
For more information
on your rights as a deb
tor, contact your at
torney or North Slate
Legal Services.
hypocritically, “I must convince the nation that this
administration is not anti-black, anti-minority, not
anti-anything.”
But witnesses at Congressman Hawkins’ hearing
in Chicago were adamantly unconvinced. Virtually
all spoke out forcefully for the continued need for
quotas. Paul King, speaking for the National
Association of Minority Contractors, said pointed
ly, “company voluntarism won’t work. Contrac
tor don’t seek minority workers when they do
private jobs. But when federal funds are used, as in
the O’Hare (Airport) transit extension, you’ll see
large numbers of minorities. Without affirmative
action compliance and enforcement we’ll be back to
1969 when we had to enforce the moral law
ourselves.”
Mr. King is understating the case. It might be
fairer to say that Reaganomics will take blacks back
to 1869!
A basic tenet of the Reagan Administration is
that if they starve the rest of us long enough, the
rich will accumulate all that capital, invest it in
manufacturing and provide jobs for all us working
stiffs.
But even before the Administration’s tax cuts
were approved by Congress, evidence had mounted
that corporations would take their windfall and not
create new jobs but act like monopolies always have
by gobbling up other corporations.
In anticipation of the Reagan give away, in the
first half of 1981, $35.7 billion was spent on ac
quisitions, more than was spent in all of 1978. Take
the recent highly publicized effort by Mobil Oil,
Seagram’s (the liquor barons) and DuPont that
competed eagerly to swallow Conoco, the ninth
largest American petroleum company, ,
Did these monopoliis try to create new jobs? Of
course not. Why should they when it is a much safer
investment to buy an already profitable enterprise
rather than go the speculative route of creating new
enterprise.
This will be the pattern for all those corporations
wnich will benefit from Reagan’s counter
revolutionary, astounding effort to abolish the cor
porate income tax. In fact, if anything, jobs may be
lost by these mergers. For example, if Mobil had
won the battle to buy Conoco, there would have
been a duplication of jobs that would not have
made profit-making sense; thus certain jobs in
evitably would have been eliminated.
This facet of Reaganomics — eliminating jobs
rather than creating them — is reason enough for
blacks to vociferously oppose what George Bush
himself once called “voodoo economics.” But this
facet, damaging though it may be, is only part of
the story. The monopolies that tried to buy Conoco
lined up over $20 billion in credit. Mergers sOaRmp
available credit and tend to keep interest rates high.
Further, at a time when many black businesses
cannot get one dollar in credit and prospective
black home owners are in the same boat, here we
have the spectacle of big banks falling all over
themselves trying to press billions in credit on Du
Pont, Mobil and Seagram’s.
This is Reaganomics in action — an unmitigated
disaster for black workers who don’t get (and may
lose) jobs, black businesses, prospective black home
owners, etc.
But that’s not all, Reaganomics also involves the
largest jteace time military build-up in the history of
human kind. Despite protestations to the contrary,
the only way this can be done is by gutting Social
Security, eliminating food stamps, abolishing any
federal aid to college students, etc.
The. amounts to be spent on the Pentagon are
mind-boggling. Just the cost overrun alone on the
Navy’s Aegis cruiser program is $8.4 billion. How
many students could be sent through school on that
amount? Nuclear weapons funding for fiscal 1981
alone is $5.6 billion. How many unemployed black
teenagers could be trained and hired with this king’s
ransom? The initial cost of the MX missile sy.stem
was estimated at $34 billion. How many black
.senior citizens could be saved from eating dog food
v/ith this gigantic sum?
The insanity of Reaganomics is already straining
municipal budgets that rely heavily on federal
allocalions. New York City officials are talking
about the possibility of closing'a hundred or so care
centers for children and the elderly. Imagine the im
pact on unwed black mothers who are being told to
“go back to work” or incapacitated senior citizens.
Fairfax County, Virginia expects to increase the
cost of school lunches by 15 cents to 75 cents per
pupil. Atlanta is considering increased transit fares.
New York and Chicago just raised theirs. Denver
plans to charge its residents for use of its parks.
Students in schools at Longmeadow, Massachusetts
will be asked to pay for one-fourth of their athletic
expenses.
Federal cuts in housing aid will force poor
families receiving government subsidies to spend
more of their personal income for rent. These cuts
will significantly reduce the ability of state and city
housing agencies to build new housing and renovate
dilapidated buildings. Richard A. Berman, Com
missioner of New York State’s Division of Housing
and Community Renewal is scathingly critical of
this aspect of Reaganomics: “The bottom line is
that t’ne federal government is walking away from
the housing problem.”
This, as is clear, is not the only problem the Ad
ministration is “walking away from.” Affirmative
action, is not only being walked away froth, but
Reagan is practically running away from the pro
blem of blacks being last hired-first fired and at the
bottom of the economic ladder.
With this dire picture painted, you may rightfully
ask what a group of “black supporters” of Reagan
were doing conferring with the President in the
White House. - :
Did they raise any concern about Reaganomics
harming blacks? No. Did any walk out in outrage
and protest? No.
In fact they appladded the President and endors
ed hhis program thoroughly. Historians of the
future will no doubt be interested in which blacks
had the gall and temerity to sell-out for a.mess of
pottage. Let the record show that this list included
Lionel Hampton, George Haley (Alex’s brother),
Barrington D. Parker, Jewl Lafontant (prominent
Chicago attorney), William O. Walker (recently
praised by closest Reagan supporter Tony Brown),
Stanley Scott, James Cummings, Art Hetcher and a
‘’Biack^oSS/rats have no reason to point their
finger in dts™ust for their party tried to outdo the
GOP in giving away the store during the vote on
Rpaean’s budget and tax. cuts.
Right now the Democratic Party is in the process
of oassing rules to insure that blacks will not carry
L S weight in higher party councils. The parly
leader Charles Manatt, is a wheeler-dealer lawyer-
baie^ from way back who has been going hoarse
lately in saying “me-too” to every GOP proposal.
Visitors to the recent Philadelphia gathering of
the once liberal young Democrats have little reason
to feel reassured. One visitor waggishly observed
that he thought he had wandered into a junior John
Birch Society meeting by mistake, so vigorously did
the delegates attack striking workers, so-called
“Soviet expansionism,” and other favorite targets
of the extreme right.
It has become increasingly clear that new poUbcal
direction is needed if Reaganomics is to be beaten
back. The September I9ih demonstration in
Washington, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and
NAACP, is a gigantic first step in the right direc
tion.
Letter to the Editor. . .
On Naming Planet for MLK
How naive can the white man be, to think the
black man is honored to have a minor planet named
in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
What about the long agitation and petitioning for
a-legal holiday in his honor? Maybe, I do not
understand the honor. If I am, forget it.
Mrs. B.M. Edwards
Gary, Indiana