European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 17, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday september 17, 1985 Flora Lewis International Effort needed to curb Frade imbalance i i ism Mhz hmm hmm by attempts to Stem inc mourning a a sure fur Trade  arc breaking do1. N president Rea Gan s recent complaints against the common Market Japan.  Korea and Bra in were pinprick intended to divert Congress from launching a barrage against imports they Aren t Likely to defuse inc fur on Capitol Hill but Icv probably will increase foreign demands for retaliation the danger to world Trade is growing too serious to Deal with in this piecemeal Way especially when so Many countries arc unable to service i hair enormous debts with Export earnings. There needs to be a much broader intensive International Effort to reverse the imbalance in Trade and pre vent contraction. The biggest Burden necessarily Falls on Japan because it is building up surpluses like a sorcerer s apprentice who found How to Start the magic for Mula but can t turn it off. It in t enough for prime minister Nakasone to Sug Gest that his compatriots buy a Little More from abroad. He must explain to japanese Consumers that Thev arc really paying for their exports in effect subsidizing Consumers in other countries for no return even As they contribute 10 unemployment abroad. Japan is a Case where the prevailing ideology about cutting government spending is contradicted. It needs to spend a great Deal More on housing Public services and infrastructure and in ways that will generate demand for imports to bring a better balance. Us. Pressure on Japan has tended to urge a big increase in military spending so As to soak up some of inc resources flooding markets elsewhere. This is unwise and could destabilize Asia. A much belter approach would be for the Industrial countries to remind Japan of How the Marshall plan helped turn around a devastated world Economy and Send Trade soaring to everyone s Benefit. In those postwar Days the United Stales had All the goods to sell but nobody had dollars to buy. If a reasonable part of Japan s surplus were devoted to foreign Aid to struggling developing countries it would expand markets for All with a better Chance for equilibrium. West Germany Loo needs to increase spending. The fight against inflation has been largely successful but in arc comes a Point where he cure provokes new distortions. It took Loo Long for the major economic Powers to react to inflation and to Force it Down. Now selectively i Host whose excess Trade is working to depress other economics have a responsibility to gun Eric consumption. There have been dramatic changes in the economic scene since a decade ago. Zooming Oil prices provoked William Buckley  major distortions and changed the patterns of world Commerce. But now Oil exporters have  their reduced earnings. There has been a new shift in the economic Scales that requires new adjustments in the flow of goods and Money. These arc major issues that should have been addressed at the economic Summit meeting in May. The Opportunity was Fritz Rcd away submerged in the controversies about Star wars and Reagan s trip to the Pitburg cemetery. There will be another Chance at the world Bank International monetary fund meeting in Seoul. South Korea in october. The Basic trouble is that National economic decisions remain uncoordinated in an intertwined world where their Impact is inevitably International. The International tools for shoring up world economic health Are far Short of the needs. Reagan has been consistent with his principles in re sisting american protectionism As far As he can. But the fact that he Felt obliged to make some concessions and is still being pushed hard is proof that his Credo of Reliance on Market forces is not enough to prevent intolerable disruptions. In global economics it takes government intervention to protect free markets and free Trade. Few governments Are prepared to sacrifice advantages even though it is in their Long term interest. But the International Community can provide the context in which japanese prime minister for example would find it possible and advisable to explain to hit people Why Japan should invest More at Home and expand foreign Aid for their own future Benefit. There is no country but the United Stales that cd Lead the Way to new agreements. It is a far better we f than allowing Trade to shrink launching rival retaliations and then desperately seeking a Way out of Ritof. C new York Tirry non smokers complaints polluting smokers air the question before the House the other evening after dinner had to do with crystallizing folkways and How americans Are supposed to Deal with them. Specifically the matter of smoking. What Are the rights of the smoker what Are his obligations is there at work a vector of social forces that tells us that social smoking is on its Way out guests were invited to give autobiographical accounts. My own was straightforward i was a juvenile Delin quent who began smoking at about age 15. The Addic Tion took hold most firmly and soon my social move ments were governed by the question could i by going Here rather than there contrive to slip off and smoke my furtive Weed where were my parents least Likely to trip me up which deceptive Tongue sweetener Best concealed the Umcil of tobacco All of this went on until at age 26, one new year s Day. My wife and i stared at each other in disgust Over our decadence. We resolved there and then to give up smoking. Twenty four hours later we resolved either a to divorce or b to allow one of us to resume smoking the smoker would Ihen be responsible for marital conciliation. We flipped a Coin and depending on How you look at i won or i lost. I would continue my abstinence she would Light up. Thirty years later she smokes two packs a Day. A single smoker in the nuclear family unit governs All situations smoking is of save where the non smoker develops a serious allergy to smoke in which Case the smoker needs to stake Oul a room or a bathroom where smoking is confined. But what about the Public scene concerning which californians Are so exercised a colleague volunteered a serviceable distinction. There Are he said two classes of non smokers who object to the smoker. The first asks you kindly to sit to Leeward so that your smoke will not assail the nostrils of the non smoker. For such a person my Friend said he would walk a mile in order to oblige. Then there Are the anti smoking ideologues. One such Silling 20 Yards away in a restaurant summoned the Bead waiter one night last week and complained of my Friend s postprandial Cigar. The Plain Tiff was making an abstract Point because As a Mailer of fact Ine smoke did not reach out to infect the air above inc querulous gentleman. He simply did t want anyone to have the License to smoke in the same dining room As he. Such persons Are in their own Way oddly selfish Given what must be their knowledge namely that most smokers Don i smoke because they experience a Vel Leily for a Figarelle. They smoke because they Are gripped by a compulsion and to Lell them thai they cannot smoke particularly after a meal is to Quile ruin their evening. Bui my Friend said in fact he look he Cigar and left the restaurant because although he had the Legal and Chical right to continue to smoke to do so under the circumstances was psychologically impossible a non smoker can ruin a smoker s Day merely by his pained presence. But look said a theologian in t it this obvious the consolidating ethos is going to do to the cigarette what society did a couple of generations ago to the Spittoon. One must assume Given the Spittoon s abundance thai people liked to spit Back Ihen bul a creeping Reju duct against Public spilling look Over and out Well to Heipt Toons. Another guest volunteered the astonishing new from China where he had spent six months teaching Hal the failure to spit frequently in the classroom deemed an anti hygienic habit with the result hit tto children regularly Spil. Where we asked. Why on the floor. A socially a proved habit. But spitting once again is surely just that t conv Emion. Even if we Grant that if you Are used � spitting 20 limes every Day and you Are told you met Stop it there is a Brief period during which your Mart feels an excess of liquid. Bul surely Hal can l be com pared to the awful pangs of the smoker when told Fco cannot indulge his vice. One guest volunteered thai the signs no seen almost everywhere thank you for nol smok ing arc the cutting Edge of the Campaign. The Theo. Logian suggested the need for a Bou Lonnier on the order of a Campaign Button which would read thank you ror nol objecting to my  the subject in a quiet Way looms larger and larger and with the suggestion Hal smokers literally Coaum talc the lungs of non smokers warfare seems likelier Man not. Both sides should Send representatives to g c Universal Preu Syndicate