European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 06, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Martin Gottlieb Moynihan social Security plan profoundly right in a dangerous place _ 1978 Book on foreign policy. Pat Moynihan Solcs on Page i that he predicted the race riots of the late 1960s in the Winter of 1964-1965. When other decent White men were blithely euphoric about the recently passed civil rights legislation. On Page 2 he says he wrote the speech that Lyndon Johnson considered the greatest civil rights speech lbs had Ever Given Moynihan s words. On Page 4 we learn that he predicted in 1967 the later turn of the political left 10 terrorism. On Page 6 the plot picking up Pace it turns out that i when he became Richard Nixon s Urban affairs Counselor he accomplished the one thing that had to be  which was to prevent Urban riots from breaking out inthe summer of 1969. And that 2 he knew even by the Spring of 1970 that president Ninon s enemies had got to him. And that Nixon would waste Good portion of his Ascendancy hating those who haled  at this Point any Normal person stops Reading having concluded that this is Book length Job application though it is difficult to imagine a Job for which the author is not Over qualified. When Moynihan was elected to the Senate in 1976. Many expected big things. Here was a Man who thought big no tinker or. No cliche Vendor but Aman of ideas a latter Day Churchill who could swing Back and Forth Between the panics without destroying himself be cause he had a special intellectual inventiveness. He was the Man who and surely this must be recorded on Page 7 identified the major inner City problem Ashe collapse of the Black family Back in the mid-1960s. He was the Man who was the first to approach the  to the United nations wih a combative attitude toward the third world in majority that supported the soviets. He had a resume like George Bush later had. But if Bush never left an imprint. Moynihan never failed to. But Moynihan spent his Early cars in the Senate mainly tending to the interests of new y9rk state. He had noticed that a succession of people holding his Senate scat had been one Wermers. He decided that incumbency in t an advantage in new York unless one takes advantage of it to do people favors. Now he s got a lock on the Job. Still there had to come a Lime when he would move on to bigger things. Still thinking big Moynihan sees the Central flaw in a paganism and its relics these people Don t try to Square things. They Don t Square what they say with what they do and they Don t Square what they do with other things they do. They say and do whatever they want having devised an ideology substitute that says they  say they Are cutting taxes when they arc simply borrowing Money that will have to be paid Back by future tax payers. Meanwhile the taxes that hit most taxpayers hardest social Security taxes go up and the Money is used to fill the Gap that a paganism s tax cuts created. They say they Are getting the deficit Down near $100 billion but they Only do that by shifting those social Security taxes. Their duplicity in t even Clever. You Don t have to be Clever. But Moynihan is pretty Clever. By say ing the social Security tax must be Cut if it in t going to be used to build a surplus for future retirees and by suckering the president into responding As if people who Call for tax cuts for the struggling arc missing the whole Point of tax cuts he has defined the situation As no one be fore. Unfortunately the situation is that democrats in Congress arc by now As much hooked on that social Security surplus As the republicans. And few peo ple Are willing to risk letting the deficit expand for fears about the markets and interest  the Moynihan proposal May not affect policy concretely in the Short term. But it is like a great one liner that hangs in the  represents a new crystallization a new understanding that is profoundly right and perfectly stated. It la change things somehow eventually. And the beginning of Moynihan s next Book will be even More insufferable. Oot Liob is i columnist with la Dillon of in in Jim Fain Bills will soon be due for Reagan Bush Binge this could be inc year a full blown recession exposes the damage reaganomics inflicted on inc Nalion. You won t find a clue in the Alicc in wonderland budget Bush sent Congress last week. It cobbles t9gether the usual wildly inflated assumptions of Prosperity and lower interest Rales. Then there arc the customary higher lacs disguised As user  Assacl sales. Illusory spend ing culs. The nonsense about lower Capi Tal gains rates increasing Revenue. Accounting tricks. All designed to blur the fact that the operating deficit is not being reduce though some of it is masked by inc si00 billion plus surplus piling up in various Trust funds including social Security. President Reagan changed the architecture of government finance. He trebled the National debt to pay for an arms buildup. And. In tandem with con Gress he shifted much of the tax Burden from the wealthy to the Middle class slashing the top income tax Rale by two thirds and increasing payroll taxes. These so called social Security taxes no make up 37 percent of government reve Nues. Before Reagan ency produced 30 percent. President Bush through his no new taxes ploy is committed to holding inc line on what has become the most regressive tax system in the Industrial world. His priority is to make in Evenaun fairer by cutting capital gains rates. Sen. Daniel Moynihan d-n.y., says Why nol Cut the payroll tax and let mid dle class americans come to the party but he gets no help from other democrats. Some arc in bondage to fat cat contributors and have lined up behind the Cap gains Boondoggle. Others arc timid about reducing even an unfair lax while the deficit remains. The entire charade could come crash ing Down however because thanks to Reagan we re now the world s largest debtor. We no longer control our eco nomic destiny. With a slowing Economy threatening recession Bush pleads with inc Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The fed probably would love to comply but ils hands arc tied. We have to borrow billions from the japanese to finance our deficit. They be been paying our Bills for quite a while but now Totcy re sweating out inflation and hiking their own interest rates to Dampen it. Our interest used to be 4 or 5 percent age Points above theirs so they were Happy to lend us their Money and reap inc higher Clurn. With the spread Down to about 2 Points they re not so eager particularly when they see the Dollar dropping and fear they Al be paid Back in dollars Worth less in their own currency. Last week they walked when we tried to sell them new Bonds to begin paying by our savings and Loans bailout. We had to raise the rates sharply. That brought our Stock and Bond markets tumbling Down. As Long As we re spending More than we take in we have to borrow the Money. That Means paying out whatever it costs in interest. We have to meet the Market. The fed and our Domestic interest rates arc captive to rates Over  the . Economy already Stag Nail and Home and Auto sales sinking recession could strike at any moment. If so All Bush s Rosy budget numbers Fly out the window. Government reve Nues will plummet and expenses soar. Thai s when it la be morning in Ameri Ca when the Bills come in for the 10 year Binge Reagan and Bush signed to our collective or Ceil  new sort to the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to reconsidered As representing the views or the stars and stripes or the United states government