European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes Friday March 30,1990 column George will demos poised to unleash a Moynihan weapons like an orchestra tuning up before a concert the democratic party sounds More cacophonous than it soon will. They have no conductor but sen. Pat Moynihan has supplied some invigorating music. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland recently told some new Hampshire democrats that to win the party needs a a defining economic purpose,�?T1 such As it has had whenever it has won since the Days of Andrew Jackson a struggle Over the Bank of the United states. The economic purpose about which americans argue perennially is the proper balance of efficiency growth and equity distribution. The purpose can be defined in Small details. Speaking in new Orleans to the mod crate to conservative democratic leadership Council l. Douglas Wilder Virginia s new governor boasted of cutting his stale so regressive sales tax by exempting non prescription drugs. And he complained that Virginia has a a $179 million balance in the Federal governments Highway Trust fund a the states share of the Trust fund being hoarded rather than spent to mask the Federal budget deficit. Roads and non prescription drugs a subjects dry As dust you think think again in Light of the growing support for Moynihan a proposal to Cut social Security taxes. The proposal would put the system on a pay As you go basis and deny the government surpluses of $1 billion a week now $2 billion a week by 1993, $3 billion by 1997 and $4 billion by the year 2000, Virginia a sen. Charles Robb outlined to the dec the a austerity trap democrats Are in. Republican strategy is a to use Large deficits to stifle Public initiative and keep democrats on the defensive Over  meanwhile a misuse of social Security tax Revenue keeps the deficit Small enough to be manageable and Large enough to keep Congress preoccupied with the Gramm Rudman  so Public debate is a a marginalized in this atmosphere of a contrived austerity As everyone scrambles to protect existing programs which have vocal constituencies and to discredit new approaches which  but As Moynihan said in new Orleans for the umpteenth Timea the deficit is not a circumstance it is a policy a deliberate  Moynihan did not say but could have that the policy defines the Bush presidency which is almost All politics almost no governance. The Bush administration is part a single minded strategy to use the social Security surpluses to rent the White House for republicans for the rest of the Century and beyond. One Way for democrats to get off the defensive on taxes is for them to say Over and Over and Over what rep. Bill Gray of Pennsylvania the third ranking House Democrat said in new Orleans a nine out of 10 families Are paying More of their family income in taxes today than they were a decade ago. Another Way for democrats to get off the defensive regarding taxes is to enact Moynihan a tax  in new Orleans Gray preceded Moynihan who As is his wont was brandishing a report from the Bureau of the census. More dry As dust stuff the report says that it was not until 1988 that median family income finally got Back to the 1973 level. A never a said Moynihan a in american history has there been anything like this. Fifteen years. The depression did no to last 15 years. The panics of the 19th Century never  from 1946, americans never went even three years without reaching a new High for family income. Moynihan a measure would end the scandal As any Democrat should see it of using a regressive payroll tax to service a deficit with most interest payments going to wealthy individuals and institutions. The deficit is the basis of the a contrived austerity that affects Virginia a roads and everything else. A it was the republicans a said sen. Lloyd Bentsen in new Orleans a who built a Mountain of debt so High that it now takes the personal income taxes of every american West of the Mississippi just to pay the  Bentsen flinches from Moynihan a proposal because it is unclear what revenues would replace the voices in the wipe Ness social Security surplus Stream. Moynihan says that is a Good question but secondary. A first ask whether this Money is legitimately used As general Revenue. If you think not then Stop it. Then we will go to the question How do you replace that Revenue but you wont get to the second question until you ask yourself the  More and More democrats Are putting first things first. While the dec was endorsing the principle of Moynihan a proposal the democratic National committee meeting in Indianapolis was endorsing the proposal. A this weekend a said sen. Sam Nunn in new Orleans a a we be moved Moynihan from a tactical nuclear weapon to a strategic nuclear  this is going to get interesting c washing Tori Post writers group William f. Buckley upturn in Economy can help Thatcher rebound the other night on a saturday night Clive a which is London a equivalent of our late saturday irreverence the Host advised the audience that mrs. Thatcher had explained during the week the mediocre performance of the Economy in terms a so simple As to be understandable to schoolchildren Quot Flash to mrs. Thatcher on tape stopped by a reporter As she was leaving a building. How explain the performance of the Economy during the month of february mrs. T a Well you need to take into account the preceding month because a there followed a sequence of Para logistic thought that reminded one of president Eisenhower when at a press conference he faced problems. The difference Between them being of course that president Eisenhower was never thought to have got things exactly straight in the world of economics whereas mrs Thatcher has More or less specialized in economics during her Long reign seeking to reverse the ill Fortune her predecessors brought to Mer Rie old progressively indigent englande. Clive James Cut her off after a minute or two and got wild laughter from the audience by saying that her answer had been sent to the London school of economics for analysis. Mrs. Thatcher is in quite bad shape politically. The Issue that has brought her the most revile is something they Call the a poll tax a which has nothing to do with what we Call a poll tax. It is a Flat tax of sorts the equivalent of a property tax which the poll tax replaced. The idea behind the Community charge As it is also called is that everyone who lives in England whether or not he or she owns property is receiving services that have to be paid for. The police the army the doctors the firemen and the bureaucrats Are there to serve you irrespective of whether it happens that you own property on which you pay a property tax. Let the a councils a mrs. Thatcher emphasized when she bludgeoned in the new system against the counsel of her advisers set an appropriate a a rate of taxation for anyone who lives under their jurisdiction then let everyone pay the specified rate. Now the effect of the new system which is scheduled to begin in april is headline catching in its anomalous implications. It Means for instance that Princess Margaret inhabiting her 20-room Palace in the heart of London will be paying the Flat rate of a few Hundred pounds instead of the 20,000 to 30,000 pounds she had been paying under the old system. Conversely the property less renter who had been paying nothing directly would find himself billed 700 pounds or whatever. These disparities make for very Nice columns cartoons and rhetoric and not much attention has been paid to that part of the poll tax plan that would reimburse the truly indigent something like 80 percent of what they Are nominally charged. The effect of it has been catastrophic to mrs. Thatchers popularity and so convulsive is the opposition to it that Many of her sometime stalwarts shy away from any Opportunity to defend it. And a at the polls a she has dipped to 21 Points behind the showing of her rival Neil Kinlock the head of the labor party. Or. Kinlock profits from the poll tax. But he profits primarily from the diminished threat of soviet a Rop Jjo Alisa which threat would not have diminished it tie and other unilateral disarmament types had been running Europe during the past few years. Now any country that can ditch Winston Churchill is certainly capable of ditching Margaret Thaetner so that the Vicissitudes of life in a democracy Tell nothing very much. On the whole mrs. Thatcher Nathan and Otner done More for her country a Economy than any prime minister of the Century. It can to be denied that prime Mai Milci i me . She is imperious in manner. To invert the rotation of Clement Attlee a the has much to est about it can be said of her and should be. She has a lot to be proud about. This does not sex. In the mind of the exasperated listener her Ilia would expect of a making her Points in accents one teacher who held a big ruler in her hand. But mrs. Thatcher is mrs. Thatcher Andi asiago no ing personal mannerisms Are the kind on takes exception to in a Public figure when s. Thatcher has almost o Call an election. It one a a a a Iii Aipuu t rates and cuts monthly mortgage payments of the Many household property because of her policies  c takes exception to m a Public figure inn otherwise offended by him. Mrs. Thatcher has two years to go before needing to Call an election. Tames inflation reduces interest rates and cuts n own property Ueo aus i Uci a Jumi Miniee resent the Cost of that ownership things could for her As they have changed for her in the past. C in versa press Syndicate