European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday. December 12, 1985 William Safire Gramm Rudman puts . In budgetary Straif a Kef tick rat re  Batter of k5 is in mind to an end. The official dress of the .  for the next i i scars will be a . With the  stifle and signing of the  balancing act. Congress and attic president will avg acc to reduce the deficit on the instalment Phin to a Point of supposed balance by 1991, barring War. Recession or i sweeping Liberal Victory in the next elect Ion. Now comes the Battle of 86. Lilt her we will Cul. Spending drastically beginning next month or we will be faced with the retirement for a whopping lax increase. There is no other a out unless it is some combination of the two the Strait jacket stops us from More borrowing. I he upcoming Battle was first fought in Athens in the sixth Century. The statesman Draco facet ill Public complacency in the face of a crisis in crime devised a simple method of maintaining order kill All offenders. Thai plan woke everybody up and a Slick lawgiver named Solon came  to say let s be responsible about this and make a  the ancient Media sided with Solon which is Why harsh measures Are now derided As draconian while legislators Call themselves solons. In the Battle of 86, Draco will propose a budget that kills or slashes All offending Domestic spending except social Security and handouts to the truly needy. Whap . Hap to student Loans and other Middle class welfare mass transit Educa Tion. Medicare. He has to Cut $40 billion to get Down to the Gramm Rudman Ceil ing for the coming year and then Cut another $20 billion to make room for a 3 percent real increase in defense. My pre diction is that Draco will submit a budget with the necessary $60 billion in culs and no tax increase. Solon will look Al  and Sug Gest a Deal forget that extra $20 billion for defense and make do with current Levels Well go along with an equivalent $20 billion in non defense culs and now to make up for the last $20 billion let s talk about thai supposedly Revenue Neutral tax Reform Bill you wanted so much. Tax Reform will then become hostage Flora Lewis n. Ali. Owe. In you Ute uncles Case. So less a in for a to by 5m�,47t" to the balancing act. Solus will say. You want tax Reform a lowering of rates simplification of Well give you a version of inc democrats to Slonkowski Bill which scraps the investment tax credit stretches depreciation schedules and retains the  of slate and local taxes with a 38 percent top individual Rale. Well modify its Impact on business a Little around the edges. Bui you Musl accept a tax Reform thai contains some new tax revenues an Oil import ice or a variation of the value added tax called the business Transfer tax. That is where the Battle of 86 will be fought. Draco understands that the Only Way to change the nation s direction is to hold the line on tax increases forcing Solon to reduce inc deficit by dealing with the spending Side of inc Ledger. Solon contrariwise has come up with a method of fiscal discipline by mail jacket Slutt lakes the business of painful cutting Mil of his hands but with the proviso that cuts come out of the defense budget As Well As social spending. On that new playing Field the Only room for political Man Euver seems to be on the tax Bill. Democrats in Congress along with Many republicans running in 1986, want the president to fund any de sense increases out of new taxes. The president who wants to press the advantage of discipline caused by the Hor ror of the deficit is himself faced with the requirement to sequester defense funds late next year unless he can Gener ate a Surprise second wind he May be forced to choose Between new taxes and no tax Reform or Between no new taxes and no defense increases. 1 think the president against All responsible advice should do Battle with Congress on spending even if it jeopardy is defense increases. Let Draco be draconian. He should Call for the $60 billion Cut in social programs out of less than a half trillion in reducible spending and expend his political capital fighting it Oul All summer. His popularity would plummet his press would be terrible his relations with Solon would suffer but he would be doing exactly what he came to Washington to do. Is this Likely no. The Best bet is that Reagan will submit these drastic cuu for the record in his budget message add a rhetorical nourish about a last Chance for a reversal of big government in his state of the Union address and then make a Deal to fund his defense spending with a lax increase gleaned from his watered Down tax Reform. Face it athenians even Draco caved in. New York time new service european Community finally getting act together the european Community has finally decided to make a serious Effort to pull itself together. The government Heads at the Luxembourg Summit last week who usually Crow loudly when they be produced practically nothing arc being a typically modest about their agreement. It is a Good sign. At last they Hare accepted that moving on with european economic integration is More important than making headlines for Domestic political kudos. It is in the underlying interest of the United Stales As Well. A faltering Europe can Only undermine America s position in the world a Strong healthy Europe Means a better balanced and stronger Alliance. Next january Spain and Portugal will swell the Community membership to 12 countries with 320 million people most of Western Europe. In Luxembourg the 10 plus the two coming members set the end of 1992 As the deadline for making the common Market live up to its name As a place where people goods Money and services can move As freely As within a single country. It is still a Long Way from a United slates of Europe the goal of the visionaries who set up the original six member common Market in 1957. The 10 could t even agree on a deadline for a common currency but they promised to aim for it. The goad was t idealism. It was a desperate Awak ening to the reality of 10 years of economic stagnation persistently rising unemployment which now averages 11 i percent and evidence that internal rivalries make the europeans incapable of keeping up with the United states and Japan in a High tech world. Twenty seven of the lop european industrialists had petitioned the Summit garlic Ipanis pleading for ilium to get moving. There is a powerful business drive to Inte Grale the Market just As businessmen in he late 1950s moved the Community ahead of its timetable because they were More eager for its benefits and less fearful of the Short term disadvantages than were the politicians. When the Market was formed however it was mainly in response to the threats of the cold War and the need to provide a Safe framework within which West Germany could redevelop and rearm. The easing of outside pressures and the enduring lugs of National ism braked the momentum. There seemed Little Hope that Europa As the vision was called would Ever be brought any nearer unless an overwhelming new crisis forced a reaction. There was a relapse into nil picking grand standing grab bagging and it led to the futile kind of thinking which apparently brought president Reagan to ask Mikhail Gorbachev to imagine a threat to this world from another species from another  the presi Dent said just think How easy his Lask and mine might be in these meetings. We d forget All the lilt a id differences that we have Between our countries and we would find out once and for All thai we really Are human beings Here on this Earth  ironically it is not a terrifying military or political i " is a no n8 european Heads together Hyime it is the fear of gradual economic decline and it s to the credit of the political leaders thai at last Iley have accepted the need to act intelligently before the rink of disaster. They compromised on choosing the tools to give Ihms Clvis for what is bound to be a difficult even painful task. Their differences arc still Loo Garcal their Mutual Trust still Loo Small and i hair attachment to local habits and Iii tucs still too stubborn. So they Are proceeding cautiously without enthusiasm without As much As they need in institutional change. Bui they have changed their style. Greece s Andreas Papandreou dropped his Bravura. Britain s Margaret Thatcher complained that in parliament some commit tee of underlings would be doing the line by line draft ing and haggling that kept Heads of government up Alt night in Luxembourg. But she said if the Community had to work thai Way she would adapt to it and go along. There was a new atmosphere and a new sense that the Point in l to score Points but to get an essential Job done. Of course there had been a lot of preparation a lot of disappointments a lot of intrigue Ana friction before they got this far. And of course How far they really move Europe will depend on future behaviour and their ability to keep the focus on the larger goal. Still it is encouraging to find government leaders can look ahead without being driven by another species from another planet to Rico Gnu a their tasks absolutely require More cooperation. One surprising Day it be comes possible. New York Tolmei Newi service