European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday october 28. 1987 columns George will America must restore Confidence in Economy it is said that Public officials seeking a Ijac Are usually just seeking accomplices. However in times of turmoil they actually want advice. Then there it a nerd for the likes or Herbert Stein who is jus a few months shy or 50 years As an observer of and participant in inc formulation of economic policy. Stein who was chairman of the coun cil of economic advisers under Nixon and Ford has two favorite propositions thai arc particularly germane today economist do not know much and they know much More than the politicians and others who set economic policy. These propositions Are today grounds for a policy of Don t just do something stand i Herr meaning let markets work. Stein urges a Modi tied form of that policy allowing the Jollar to fait but doing something by undoing some things. The . Government said it will resist the decline of the Dollar and was not believed. It promised International coordination of policies and was not believed. There u & new chairman of the Federal Reserve Board whose inclinations arc not known. We have Stein says an artificially Uncertain Situa Tion uncertainty Breeds anxiety and hence volatility. St can recommends aligning pc lations by informing the world that the Dollar will be allowed to fall As far As Market forces drive it. Such a decisive movement would eliminate the destabilising expectation thai he Dollar is going to fall further an expectation that is fueling the flight from . Assets. The Only direct Way to resist Down Ward pressure on the Dollar indefinitely is by raising interest Rales. But thai would fuel inflation and risk stagnation True a declining Dollar would generate inflationary pressure by making imports More expensive but that should be treated As an exogenous event some thing not to be responded in with the anti inflation Medicine of higher interest rates. We arc. Stein says in danger of getting into a kind of keynesian  Keynes said that expanding the Money Supply could not propel the Economy out of the depression because the enlarged Supply of dollars would Only be held rather than used to buy stocks and Bonds because yields of those instruments were too Low Anthony Lewis the parallel with today s situation is this increasing the Supply of dollars might not drive Down interest rates. Rather than remaining Here invested in stocks and Bonds new dollars might flow abroad because of an for the moment unlimited demand for non Dollar do nominal cd assets such As German Marks or japanese yen. But no demand for anything is unlimited absent irrationality. Today s need is for a restoration of reason beginning with recognition of this the dramatic change in inc Stock Market is not a re Flection of any change in inc producing Economy. In the Economy Here is steady non inflationary growth employing More people than Ever before. It sometimes seems that All economic news is bad or can be so construed and All news is economic news in thai it has economic consequence but actually no news is economic news because All significant economic events arc at Bot Tom political a the Stock Market plunge shows. It dramatizes the huge psycho logical component of All social arrange ments. Everything from the value of economic instruments currency stocks Bonds to the authority of govern men rests on a willingness of the Public to believe. The world runs on political As Well As economic credit a word Wilh a latin Root to  when the dust and inc Dow Jones set the there will be time to ask to what extent has government addiction to Bor rowing foreign capital and a Large por Tion of Domestic savings contributed to a general disbelief in inc soundness of cur rent arrangements thai is. To what extent has the indiscipline of government As a budget maker which reflects the unrestrained appetite of government s Sov Ereign inc electorate subverted belief in the economic instruments by which we Szorc the values we earn. A collapse of hat belief can cause our lives works to evaporate although awfully costly it is probably profoundly Good for the nation to be forced to face inc fact that the foundations of its arrangements Are mailers of quite literally Faith. Faith must be earned every Day by Good habits. Con Gress which cannot pass appropriation Bills and can be manipulated by interest groups As in its slide toward Protection correction this is Mot just a  Stel ism and its vote against judge Bork should consider its daily contribution to the loss of Confidence out beyond Walt Street there is a country on which Wall Street depends absolutely. Owl there men and women Are making things. And out in the larger world there is an enor Mous Pool of Money seeking profitable investments. Investors at Home and abroad soon will see that Here in what is Stilt the world s strongest Economy and safest Haven for Money a lot of stocks Are suddenly a lot less expensive than they were a Little while ago. Then a Bounce Back will begin. A Wajih Inglem Posl Mafi our new rules on pleas for Asylum cause anxiety rules of procedure can look like lawyers technicalities. But Freedom often depends on whether the rules Are fair. The history of Liberty Justice Felix  said has largely been the history of Observance of procedural  an Issue rumbling in Washington now shows How much questions of procedure can mean in human terms. The Issue is How to decide pleas for Asylum in America the pleas of men and women who say they Are fleeing from persecution in another country. In the refugee act of 1980 Congress wrote into Law the tradition of granting Asylum to those seeking Refuge i my persecution. But not All claims of persecution arc genuine. Someone has to sort them out. Two months ago the Justice department issued  new rules Lor handling Asylum cases. They make a number of changes. One has aroused deep concern among the agencies and lawyers who Deal regularly with requests for Asylum and who know the heart rending human stakes. Today anyone claiming Asylum has the right before being deported or excluded from the ., to press the claim a a hearing before an immigration judge. The hearing includes the usual protections of due process representation by a lawyer the right to Call witnesses and so on. The proposed new rules eliminate the role of Immi Gration judges. Instead those who seek Asylum would go to the Agency that polices the Borders of this coun try the immigration and naturalisation service. Ins employees designated As Asylum officers would consider the cases. They could dismiss applications As  in non frivolous eases they would have what the rules describe As a non Adversa rial interview with the person seeking Asylum. That would seem to be less than a full hearing. A lawyer could be present but apparently without Power to subpoena witnesses or documents or to Cross examine. The crucial change is in the fact finder the person who decides whether the applicant has really suffered persecution or has reason to fear it instead of an inde pendent judge there would be an employee of the immigration service an Agency whose principal function is 10 exclude and expel aliens from the United states As a matter of appearance alone the proposal seems dubious. How can a refugee someone who Al ready of a weak and frightened have any Confidence in asking an officer of the very Agency that arrests and deports aliens for Asylum and it is not just a question of appearance. No american would think it fair to be tried on criminal charges by a police department employee. The president of the National association of Immi Gration judges John Gossart jr., has made the Point in a comment to the Justice department on the proposed new Rule. There is concern that the granting of Asylum will become even More politicized. The Reagan administration s focus on Eft Wing tyrannies heavily influences the process now. Persons seeking Asylum from the sandinista government of Nicaragua almost always win for example while fewer than 3 percent of Refu gees from Al Salvador do. Ever since the passage of the 1980 refugee act immigration officials Hare worried about the possibility of floods of aliens seeking Myrim. They have considered various proposals to Shin but the process. Bui there is no great backlog of Favl Clits now no Rea son for panic. The proposed new rules indu. " � that Are Sensi Tive to the fragile situation of Shiv  seek Asylum. The time for comment on thu  is is coming 10 an end. It should be possible. A i "., department Olidah to work out needed i in h those who know the human realities