European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes monday. March 23, 1987 columns to William or. Some questions Don t deserve to be answered president Reagan Gat off a Nice line during hit press conference palpably underappreciated by his audience. The question was sir arc you distressed lint even your own polls show that a majority or american people including Many who voted for you believe that you Are not telling the full Ruth on the Iran Centra affair his answer Well in View or what they be been Reading and hearing for All these several months ican understand Why they might think not bad. Ronald Reagan lives these have been one or two press conferences Nixon s in Florida one thinks of after the saturday night massacre in which the attention was perhaps As sharply focused on style As on Content but not Many. The news junkies had a disadvantage last thursday that they did t suffer under where or. Nixon was concerned namely the con Trast in the behaviour of the two presi dents when they got into trouble. Or. Nixon was clearly on the defensive and it seemed during 1973, As though the Sun would never Rise save on a Day that made or. Nixon look trickier than he looked the Day before Reagan has been Hurt but it is less Likely since Flora Lewis the publication of the Tower commis Sion report thai the people feel that his lying to them. They have other complaints. So that when half Gem 1, half mordant by Reagan assumes that genial facial expression of his and says that he can hardly blame those who Sas Eccl him of covering up from thinking that he has done so Given what they see on television and read in the papers heis giving Back just a Little of what so Many so briefly have Given to him. It is possible to go from Cradle to grave wondering what is an appropriate answer to some of the questions regularly put to our Public figures nowadays. "60 min utes is first class investigative reporting tendentious to be sure but brilliantly directed. Still its interrogators can an sometimes do ask questions no Public official should deign to answer. A week or so Back Diane Sawyer was questioning vice president George Bush. Toward the end of the program she read one after another criticism of Bush foraged from a year s clippings mostly front pundits. Now it Isone thing to ask or. Bush something on the order of did you or did you not oppose the approach to Iran to which he can say yes i did no i did not or. Cabinet meetings Are confidential and can t a newer that question Bui what is a Public figure suppose Flossy in answer to the question president one columnist wrote Uear or so ago that the unpleasant so Jed you Are emitting. Is a thin line try the sound of a Lap what is a self Rob petting Man going to do when Juanc losses him a hand grenade of thank Ort what poor or. Bush was reduce Ono saying was that most Lap dogs Aren Junot Down at age 20 As Navy fliers act most wimps Don t watch a Daugh Lefoie gradually at age 3and survive . What or. Bush might by i said is that for All that he has trouw with hostile critics he has not yet bpm called names As ugly a those that save been used in american history Pinsl Washington . Is an obsession abroad that scam to require every Public figure to rep to every question and thai oses Sig ought to be made to go away. A Wiwie ice water would t Hurt a bit. I n t know what or. Dean Acheson Ould have said in answer to the ques Tion or. Secretary Why do the majority of he american people think you area liar or. Acheson never ran for Public office and could therefore say things Aboul the majority of the american peo ple with relative impunity. He d have been Loo tactful to say the majority of the american people can be dumb enough to believe asked to comment on the change that he is bes characterized As a Lap dog or. Acheson might have stared miss Sawyer in i deface and said please ask me an Intelli gent the folkways of the Waves but seriously folks serious folks ought not to accept just any question As warranting an answer. I once politely declined an invitation to spend an hour on a Public to interview after Reading the script of the interview one month earlier and discovering that the first question directed to new York mayor John Lindsay was John were you popular at prep school that was some years ago and i still can t think of an appropriate answer to such a question hat is publishable. Or. Reagan ought to add to his Agenda a clipped next ques Tion when asked one that admits of no dignified answer. 0 Una Grul Prassl syndic by Europe keeps wary Eye on . Stock scandals among themselves european businessmen and financiers arc quaking at the implications of the Wall Street financial scandals. For one thing they Are worried about a sudden loss of investor Confidence i the scandals turn out to be even More widespread than they appear. Stocks Are still High but prices Are consid ered to represent a speculative Bubble due in Large Pareto what is now called the Oil Bonus not to real growth. Industrial countries have saved Between $70 Bil lion and 1100 billion As a result of lowered Oil ask where that Money which would have been paid 10 Oil producer has actually gone. The answer seems to be primarily into the Stock markets bidding up quotations rather than expanding production and creating jobs. As a result of three important changes in the last few years a new global financial Market is developing linking National markets. Computer communicate providing instant information around the world run vat of regulations on capital transfers in majored _ Pean countries and what the experts Call Tina tial engineering new techniques for raising funds Navy combined to create an unprecedented flow of fancy across Borders without relation to actual Trade this spreads the risks and can be Eon a Rcd a new strength in the world system one econ a nest said but he pointed out that it also Means a Najuch bigger Blowout if the Bubble bursts. Another economist noted that it also a jeans pressures will mount for some standardization Market rules and practices which now vary widely font country to country. There is almost no America Type regulation in european markets and the deals dread the idea that it May be forced on them. A dutch businessman with widow top level International connections said sarcastic am thai there were three Basic reactions to the scandals among the euro Pean establishments. / one has been to sniff at Shahidy . Instrument such As Grcen mail and junk bids and say it can t happen Here. We Don t do sue things thai s Why it s americans who Are being uought. We always knew americans did t keep up Yio our High moral but he said that what two really meant was that the europeans keep la Weir orations secret and no one makes a careful Check Fin them we have political scandals but we hardly Ever have corruption scandals because we Aren t that open. Our dirty Linen never gets but he would t let his name be published. Even to the whistle blowers the habits of discretion arc too deeply set. Another reaction in Europe is to shrug Oft he Wall Street Hij inks As incidents nol part of a pattern be Treb Tell Thebeau cause that would be too damaging to the whole Finan Cial system. That is an Ostrich response. And the third reaction is Radical though it comes from conservative industrialists who worry that the Money markets on which they must rely Are deteriorating into Jungle capitalism. They talk about nationalizing Banks. The scandals it is pointed out. Have All involved financial manipulators takeover Anisis who move paper around nol the managers of productive Compa Nies. Further they Haven t involved he big Banks which arc accustomed to keeping detailed records and making full reports some europeans feel the commercial Banks should be allowed to move in on the relatively smaller invest ment houses and impose their stricter rules. But that would Only add to gigantism and the possibility of a few firms dominating the markets. So the idea is also spreading that Wall Street s scan dals offer healthy proof that the . System of Finan Cial regulation docs Caich cheaters i can use improvement but in is already far ahead of others. The traditional european system has been to rely on peer pressure the supposition that established houses will keep each other honest because in in t Gerleman by not to be. Of course Hal leaves it up to the gentlemen who run the Market to decide what is and what is not honest. They Don t at All like the thought of having investigators prying into their records and they worry Hal tie with american firms will subject them to unaccustomed scrutiny. Bui the Choice now is to open up National markets 10 outsiders or resign themselves tothe of the global Economy therefore it is Lime for the major countries to think about working up some International Market rules. This would be a useful subject to launch Ai the next seven nation Summit conference. The financial world has raced ahead of governments but All depend on its being kept in reliable working order c new Yetf k Tel i
