European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 Cal Uris the stars and stripes tuesday november 24. 1987 Anthony Lewis White House views financial crisis from afar for some years now Washington has been the site of a fascinating controlled Experiment. The study has been seeking the answer to this question can the american system of government work in the modern world with no one in charge the results Are in and they arc conclusive. The answer is no. The decisive test has come Over the last month. The Stock Market crash of oct. 19 brought a great demand and Opportunity for presidential leadership. Financial markets and political leaders around the world looked to president Reagan. A month later it is Clear that there will be no meaningful response. And the consequences Are menacing. In the american system the president docs not govern atone it is a system of multiple Power centers. But Noth ing can happen without presidential leadership. We Are Rel Caming that old truth in this time of a president detached from reality detached from responsibility. Consider the endless negotiations Over measures to reduce the budget deficit. The world s financial markets breathed in and out As the talks wavered Between hints of Success and failure. The end when it finally came seemed not a bang but a whimper. It is not Likely to restore Confidence which was the Point of the exercise. Congress has its share of responsibility of course some members of both parties thought of Short term politics instead of the financial urgency. But the extraordinary thing about it was the detachment the passivity of the president of the United states. Reagan Over those weeks did Little about the Bud get negotiations except repeal his familiar political argument that tax increases arc bad and could be Only a last resort. To make that Point in the circumstances was eerily counterproductive since the one Symbol the financial world wanted for reassurance was a tax Rise. Almost any imaginable president in those Circum stances would have turned necessity into leverage. He would have said something like you know that i have been opposed to higher taxes. But in a time of financial concern and in order to prevent worse we must All make compromises. I am calling on Congress to raise the gasoline tax it will still be far less than other countries and to limit Cost of living adjustments for social the gasoline tax and social Security adjustment ideas were in fact discussed at a meeting of congressional Lead ers with Reagan on nov. 6. But he took no firm position leaving everyone confused. Some who attended the meet ing said they found the president s performance scary. In the absence of a commitment from Reagan a willingness to take the political heat for something like a limit on Cost of living adjustments democratic Congress William Safire men naturally would not stick their necks out. That Nec Essary step and it is necessary can come Only by political agreement. And that in turn requires presidential leadership. Another remarkable example of ineptitude in the White House has been the fumbled proposal to have Mikhail Gorbachev address a joint meeting of Congress. The idea was certain to outrage right Wing re publicans in Congress. How could anyone put it Forward without anticipating that reaction where was Howard Baker whose special value As White House chief of staff is supposed to be his familiarity with Congress once the Adverse reaction exploded it was essential for the White House to come up quickly with an acceptable alternative. To have the controversy run on was to give Gorbachev a slap in the face something no sane american official would want to do with Gorbachev in a tense internal political situation on the eve of the Summit meeting. But the More worrying leadership failure has been the president s non response to the financial crisis. For me the most powerful sign of that failure has been the intense criticism from Britain s conservative govern ment once his most adoring foreign Friend. The Chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Law son called Early this month for a Clear and credible package to reduce the american budget deficit preferably with at least some increase in some form of that he said has become the Touchstone of whether the United Stales has the political will to make hard choices and to do what needs to be the United states docs not have the political will today. It cannot while it has a president adrift in slogans out of touch with urgent necessities. C now Ycek Titos economic political Freedom go hand in hand belting too Many westerners Are accepting the idea that communism can achieve Prosperity by employing a form of controlled capitalism. Buyers of this notion find few Sellers resulting in a wild run up in the Market of political optimism. In our euphoria we embrace Deng s rejection of Mao s dictum take class struggle As the key link the philosophy that caused a generation of turmoil. On the contrary Deng decided that production was the key link and the Progress in his decade has been stunning. The last time i was Here was soon after Deng ousted the maoist gang of on that morning in 1977, the Airport had not been expecting a plane and after a wild scurrying about a bowl of noodles was produced for each pioneering West Ern traveler. Today the new Airport is bustling immigration procedures Are easy and tourists Are whisked through bicycle and Auto traffic to High Rise hotels the giant pictures of Marx and eng Els Lenin and Stalin have been strip de from Tiena men Square which now Fea Tures the smiling face of Comrade Sanders and the world s largest outlet for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Deng s Triumph is this the chinese now not Only feed themselves Well but Export food a claim the russians cannot make after 70 years. He has redirected the revolution so As to Unetter the industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit of the chinese. At 83, Deng has now ostentatiously stepped Down taking a group of the old comrades Over the Side him to demonstrate that orderly Succes Sion is possible in a communist state. Is it we can be glad to see the relatively Good Guys in the Saddle but we should not Overlook the san Andreas fault run Ning Down the main Street of this political system. Because there is no outlet for the expression of opposition democratic or communistic seismic pressure is build ing. Consider three elements i. Deng has reduced the Power of the party in everyday life. Cadres the loyalists who nosed into every local Deci Sion Are being told to stick to High policy and leave operations to practical manag ers and mayors. Great for efficiency Butof the 46 million party members half joined during Mao s cultural revolution logic suggests that a great Many party activists arc resentful of this loss of Power s Perks and Are eager for a re action against Deng s policies. 2. The size of the people s liberation army has been reduced by one fourth a million men were demobilized and waiting for work is the euphemism Many use for unemployment. In chinese history the Central government usually vied for dominance with regional warlords and Deng has effectively Cut Down the Power of the Pla. The generals cannot be Happy with that. In All of Deng s Well publicized stepping Down the one Post he kept was chairman of the military commission and it seems Likely he saw that As a source of potential trouble if left Only to Zhao Ziyang his chosen successor As party chief. In his 70-Page speech to the13th party Congress Zhao devoted two Brief paragraphs to the army. 3. Can these Guys ride out a Bear Market up to now Deng s changes have brought Prosperity and a sense of Relief to most of the population. Life is less onerous in the summer heat millions can aspire to the luxury of an electric fan. But with Prosperity and a necessary relaxation of Price controls has come inflation. The government admits to about 5 percent but some say it amounts to four times that. Soon a bankruptcy Law will be passed permitting uncompetitive businesses to fail. With free Market pric ing comes the. Old business Cycle perhaps abetted by worldwide recession. Would such a slump ignite a match in the Gas filled rooms of the party and the army nobody knows. Most of the people Are still disgusted at the excesses of the cultural revolution and the memory of those terrible Days is an argument for stability but the possibility that the system will revert to its pattern of regular upheavals cannot be set a certified longtime foreign Friend with Nixon Ian associations i would advise a dose of political Freedom to go along with the economic loosening. That would allow dissidents of right and left to let off steam. Bui such a course is not part of Deng a primary stage of neither Blu ing nor Moscow realizes that the productive profit motive gives Rise to nobler yearnings and that free Market production cannot Long succeed without institutionalized political key link is Freedom. That is Why with everybody feverishly buying the political contrarian Sells. C nem Noih time
