European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 26, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday october 26,1987 columns James Reston danger is psychological not economic recession the events of the last few months have been trying to Tell this country something about its mindless excesses. They have been saying you can t run a government on credit cards thai the politics of blame won t solve our problems at Home or abroad and thai when the party s Over he Bills come in. The evidence was All around us before the crash in the Iran Contra hearings in the budget deficits and the Trade deficits in the adventures of the persian Gulf in the moral squalor of the Hart and Biden campaigns. And you could go on even to some of the backsliders in the electric pulpits. So maybe these reckoning arc no All bad. Nothing wakes up Uncle Sam like a punch in the nose. The Contra affair cleaned out the while House and re stored some respect for the Law. The Bork hearings were a lesson in the Constitution still unlearned. And maybe the panic on Wall Street will remind us that a $2 trillion National debt and a $150 billion to s200 billion annual budget deficit arc a dangerous National disgrace having overestimated our artificial Prosperity in recent years the danger now is that Well overestimate the crisis. We arc not facing an economic de pression but a psychological recession. Some simple remedies arc at hand. As we Learned that you can t sweep mines in he persian Gulf without minesweepers it s equally obvious that the president and Congress can l handle the budget and Trade deficits by bad mouthing one another at tiie time of the crash the secretaries of stale and the Treasury were Oul of the country and the president As usual was out 10 lunch. He did t take to the television to quell the shouting but merely shouted Over the Din of a helicopter thai All was Well with the Economy. There s no Way the conservatives can get All the Money they want for defense and the liberals All the Money they want for their social Agenda without breaking the Bank and a Bolh know in. The ideologies of both right and left have tailed. What is worse the president has lost his Cool. Sore Al losing inc Bork nomination he ignores James Kilpatrick the defection of key Republican senators and says the whole thing was a democratic political  what is his remedy for this he threatens to appoint another judge who will be even less acceptable to inc Senate than Bork. The real danger in the nervous break Down on Wall Street and the president s Blithe reaction to in is that the other Industrial countries will lose Faith in lie ability of the president and Congress to Correct the excesses of inc past. They Are nol Likely to withdraw i hair investments in the United Stales. Creditors Don t shoot their Best customers. But they could withhold their future in vestments and slow Down the whole world Economy. That Confidence does nol Ceisl now. Tokyo Bonn and London Are relatively quiet about it nol wanting to make things worse but if you could read some of the economic and political reports going out of their embassies Here you would realize that their private anxieties arc much deeper than the polite expressions of sympathy out of their capitals. Also we have an election coming up and this is adding to the sense of uncertainly. Nothing mat has been said so far in he Campaign indicates thai the Post Reagan leaders have any remedy for the fundamental economic and political problem Sand the Campaign is Likely to lose Altitude As it picks up Speed in the coming months. Thus it is nol the mathematics of the crash alone hat Are worrying the leaders of both panics Here and the allies abroad but a feeling that Washington is Icador less and following a policy of spend and spend Bor Row and borrow that is threatening not Only the Security of the nation but of the civilization it is supposed to Lead. In living beyond ils Means forever it is setting an example thai has infected Many of the leaders of american Busi Ness and even Many of the Ordinary peo ple who have been on a spending and borrowing Binge. The chairman of the Senate finance committee and inc democratic leaders of he House and Senate have been calling for a bipartisan meeting to Deal with the crisis but Only the president can really provide an effective Lead and use his to talents to explain the problem to the people. As somebody once said America it a tune it must be Sung together lately it has been a Tittle Oil key. Market plunge no reason to lose Faith in nation scrabble a. My broker Champ Carney telephoned a few minutes after 4 o clock on monday the Market had just closed and he sounded a Little shaky. The Dow Jones average had dropped by $00 Points. He thought 1 had better know. I said. My my and cheer up Champ and ii in t he end of the  he said he did t believe the situation had plateaued in would t Bottom for a couple of Days. Brokers talk this Way investing nouns with the properties of verbs. We kicked things around and after a while 1 took the dog for a two mile walk Down to Clifton Clark s and Back. We arc having a middling poor autumn in this pan of the Blue Ridge inc Maples Haven t turned and most of inc colors arc Muddy but in was an afternoon made for walk ing and thinking. I thought about the Slock Market those of us who know nothing about the Slock mar Ket will never understand the Stock Market. That puts us right in the same class with economists and brokers who know Alt about the Stock Market. Tuesday mom ing s papers measured the dimensions of the crash. In one Day the Dow Jones average had dropped by 2z.6 percent almost double the one Day drop in the great crash of 1929. Investors had lost More than 1500 Bil lion. Meltdown now i Qualia to among the very smallest of the class known As Small  Champ Carney has bought me a Hundred shares in maybe half a dozen companies. That s the size of it. In our House we kid about my  1 asked Champ if we were wiped out and he said no because he had t sold anything and i said i would Wail until the weekend to jump through the window the window is about 4 feel above the ground and that made him feel belter. Champ i thought needs to come Back Home to Tappahannock county and walk his dog Down inc Ruda Sill s Mill Road. All of us ought to gel our values straightened out. Why the panic this is what i do nol understand. I have a few shares of coca cola. Are people going to Stop drinking cokes this stupendous portfolio of mine includes some Telephone Slock. Arc people going to Slop making Calls one of my prodigious investments is in Louis Ville Gas. Arc my friends in Louisville planning to Cut off the Gas and freeze no Way. The companies that attracted Champ s Confidence in August Are the same companies today they have the same assets the same experienced management the same real property the same prospects for Profita ble operations. They have Good records. Nothing essential has changed. One of the experts on to said that monday s col lapse was triggered by fear fear of War fear of Infra lion fear of soaring interest Rales fear of just about everything. But what is there to fear hat was t la be feared iwo months ago the Trade imbalance is bad but there s no compel Ling reason to believe in will get worse. The Federal deficits arc appalling but they Are getting significantly smaller year by year. Interest Rales Are nol intolerable inflation is Well in hand. Look at the employment Pic Ture this Economy has created i a million jobs Over inc past five years 92 percent of them full Lime jobs and 88 percent of them at Middle income or higher Levels. We have 121 million people at work. Some of those fearful Fellows on Wall Street ought to walk their dogs. Here in inc mountains the problem lies in finding people to fill the jobs. Tom Lindquist who Sells telephones in Culpeper is begging for help. So is r. Lee Payne who services swimming pools. Walt Mills our plumber can t find new bands. We have just latched on to a Carpenter name of Paul Novak he came to the county Only a few months ago and he s booked up with jobs until Spring. A Quail Lew headlong into a window off the dining room broke its silly neck and cracked the Glass. At the local Glass shop Mike is so Busy that it willbe sometime in november before we can gel on his list. This country s greatest resource is ils people. That sounds hackneyed but it s True. Lately i have been travelling a Good Deal talking with people in a dozen slates talking with fellow passengers in airports the people Are great. Sure they re concerned about the persian Gulf. In the Carolina they re concerned about the textile Industry. But Oul in Ilic Midwest spirits Are lifting. The farm problem seems 10 have bottomed and plateau cd. Before we Hung up i told Champ n slay the course. My own Confidence in Amenta is unbounded. This is no time to sell. With All those bail ims on the Market this is a Fine Lime to buy