European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes wednesday october 19, 1977 George f. Will canal political Issue will not Benefit gop recently the resolutions committee of the California Republican party s convention was gripped by an impulse too Jolly to resist. It urged a criminal trial for sol Linowitz for the crime of negotiating the Panama canal treaties. But the convention was comparatively tepid and merely denounced the treaties. The Republican National committee has done the be great Charles de Gaulle said is to pkg wedded to a great quarrel. Many re Tom Wicker bold action needed for youth jobs reputable statistical studies suggest that if cyclical unemployment could be reduced from 7 to about 5 per cent in today s National Economy something like full employment would have been reached. But that leaves out of account the structurally unemployed a More delicate Way to describe them than a High percentage of structurally unemployed persons Are Young people Man of them ill educated and untrained Black Urban teen agers among whom officially measured unemployment is running at a rate of nearly 40 per cent unofficially in cities like new York it s probably much higher. Many of these Young people Are not Only a current source of numerous social problems notably Street crime if they remain unemployed past their learning years they Are going to be a social an economic Burden on the nation for years to earlier article outlined innovative proposals by Arthur Okun of the Brooking institution formerly the chairman of the Council of economic advisers for presi Dent Lyndon Johnson to maintain stable Price and wage Levels while the Economy was expanded to reduce cyclical unemployment from above 7 to about 5 per cent. That is important in itself but such a pro Gram probably is necessary too to Clear the Way for a Broad scale attack on youth unemployment. That s because the experience of the training and jobs programs of the 60s and Early 70s was that it s politically difficult to provide that kind of assistance to Young people while older established workers and family Heads Are unemployed. Reducing cyclical unemployment by 2 percent age Points moreover would substantially increase income tax revenues to the Feder Al government while reducing unemployment Benefit costs thus providing funds for youth employment and if such programs become politically and economically feasible however to be effective they should not merely provide training periods at the end of which no desirable jobs Are available or Short term income assistance without Long Range employment or revolving door jobs that is jobs that won t Las Long so that their holders soon will have to seek requirements dictate that the most effective youth employment Mea sures should be taken through Federal in vestment to stimulate private sector Job for Young people. Lester Thurow an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of technology believes the most effective approach would a Federal wage subsidy for Young workers. A wage subsidy would differ from lower minimum wage for Young people in that the subsidy would make Young work ers less expensive for All employers not Tim opinion expressed in the column end cartoons on this do represent Thost of the author Dro in now a 10 be considered As representing the View of the str and Stripe or the United state government. Just for those who. Hire minimum wage workers. A subsidy program thus would open More career opportunities for Young people while re balancing unemployment rates As among younger and older work that re balancing had been accomplished monetary and fiscal policies to stimulate employment could work More effectively. As things Are now such policies scarcely touch youth unemployment while helping to drive up the wages of experienced older workers thus fueling s subsidy plan would reimburse employers for say 20 per cent of the first two year s wages of Young people hired for their first full time jobs possibly excluding College or professional school graduates. Its Cost would be substantial and labor Union opposition has already caused president Carter to Back away from the in Terest he expressed during his Campaign. Another proposal put Forward by Felix Rohatyn of new York s municipal assist Ance corp., would Combine youth employ ment with a constructive response to the Energy crisis. He would create a Federal Agency on the lines of the old reconstruction finance corp. And target its invest ments on for example a massive development of american Coal resources. This in turn would create a demand for numerous corollary developments in mining tools rail equipment and Road Beds Plant reconversion from Oil to Coal and the like. Federal financing of such development would be conditioned on private companies agreements to train and hire Young people and where feasible on their willingness to locate plants and facilities in the Urban Are not the Only possibilities for Federal investment in private sector Job for Young people. Nor should the possibilities of direct government employment be neglected particularly while longer term programs Are being put in place. But approaches of this kind Are not Only vitally needed for economic health and Urban re construction. Politically they could pro vide Carter with the kind of imaginative Domestic action he seemed to be promising in 1976. C new York times Funk Tetlus it my publicans think the treaties will provide a quarrel from which they will derive great Ness. The treaties certainly Are a serious Issue. And they conceivably could be a voting isue like abortion or gun control. That is Many people opposed to the trea ties May oppose a candidate who favor them no matter How he stands on other , Many of those most ardently opposed to the treaties Are White southerners. Although it is said Blacks were the decisive voters last november White southerners were at least As important. Blacks voted for Jimmy Carter i about the proportion they voted for Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and for George Mcgovern in 1972. But although Carter did not get a majority of White southerners the key to his Southern strength was that he won Back Many Whites that the democrats lost in 1968 and 1972. But when speaking of the treaties As possibly useful political Issue this also must be said no party can rely heavily on an Issue that is peripheral to the Broad Range of Concrete interests of the Genera Public. Unfortunately the warm Republican embrace of the canal Issue suggests that they value it not least because it delays the evil Day when they must con front the poverty of Republican doctrine regarding the Public s More Central inter Republican doctrine is that most americans resent big government and for example a Republican Leader recently said to me that the gop is for people who Don t want anything from i replied that All those people could join us at the Small table where we were dining. Declining political parties develop some attributes of aging persons including fail ing vision and hearing. But republicans should use what remains of their sight to read the article by prof. Everett Carll Ladd or. Of the University of Connecticut in the october Fortune Magazine. Ladd notes that the democratic party dominates most social groupings including business All education and income Levels even self educated conservatives. He tries to explain Why in an Era when twice As Many americans Call themselves conservatives As Call themselves Liberal the More Liberal party has become the established governing party to a degree unequalled by any other Alliance since the answer is implicit in his reference to the governing party. Democrats like the Public have a Large appetite for government. Ladd notes that last year Potomac associates a respected polling organization asked americans whether spending for a Long list of programs should be held steady increased reduced or ended. It urged respondents to remember that All spending comes from taxes you and other americans the Public favored in creased spending on All 15 programs at the top of the impressive says Ladd is the degree to which this support spreads out across the social spectrum. The pro portion of people from families earning$25,000 a year and higher who think government should spend More to improve education is almost identical to that for persons with annual family incomes of $7,-000 and under. College graduates and those with less than a High school education Are about equally supportive of greater Federal expenditures on health services. Professionals and managers on the one hand and unskilled workers on the other give equal backing to increased spending on Urban , this is data about a Public in which self described conservatives out number self described liberals two to one
