European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 2, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 2. 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 Anthony Lewis solving budget woes Means sacrifice for All the Federal budget deficit is now up to $400 bit lion a year and effectively out of control. Practically everyone in Washington says that is a terrible thing damaging to the Economy unfair to our children but no one does anything about it. Why Well think about the following Small Story. In the 1990 budget agreement Between Congress and the president one Small item called for coast guard a user fees on recreational boats. The Bill that was passed exempted boats up to 18 feet Long. The owners of larger boats paid fees on a sliding scale up to $100 a year for the largest. Boat owners were furious. They did not want to pay for the emergency services provided by the coast guard. They complained to their congressmen. Two weeks ago the House voted to repeal the boating fees. The provision was attached to a shipbuilding Bill that passed by a vote of 33978. There in miniature is the reason Why the budget is so grossly out of balance. The american people want government services but we do not want to pay for them. Indeed it is More than wanting government benefits. We believe we Are entitled to them. When someone tries to put realistic limits on them we scream. Here is another example grotesque in its greed and Folly. Twenty five years ago the government began subsidizing insurance on houses built in dangerous waterfront areas. It did so because private insurance companies were reluctant to Issue policies on Homes that might be hit by hurricanes or might fall into the sea As the storefront eroded. Eventually someone woke up and asked Why the rest of us Shoula buy insurance for americans who want to put houses in danger zones. Or Why the government should be encouraging construction in such fragile areas. Legislation was introduced that would gradually reduce that Federal insurance subsidy Over the coming years. It passed the House last year. But then the Beach homeowners and real estate people woke up and screamed you can to do this to us it s unconstitutional. Whether the Bill can pass the Senate is now Uncertain. The larger if less piquant examples Are in the programs of benefits that go to people regardless of their need social Security medicare and the like. They Are called entitlement programs a name that accurately reflects what people feel about them. A few years ago Congress passed legislation that made wealthier retirees pay More for medicare benefits. The protest was so loud that the statute was quickly repealed. Even the idea of limiting Cost of living increases in social Security benefits arouses so far invincible opposition from the powerful lobby for the elderly. The reason the Federal government persistently spends More than it has in Short is that we the people want it that Way. We think we Are constitutionally entitled to a free Federal lunch. We demand that our political leaders give us the benefits a and then denounce them for not balancing the budget. If the real source of the budget disaster lies in Public desires and illusions then the Only Hope of a cure is in leadership that Prill persuade us to limit our desires and shed our illusions. And there is no sign of that leadership. Ross Perot gets cheers when he denounces the deficit. A a we have got to get the debt under control a he said the other Day. A pay it Down and pay it  the cheers Are sincere i have no doubt. But the question is whether Perot will Tell the truth about the budget and keep them cheering. The truth is not his empty talk about eliminating  it is something like this a we Are going to have to tax social Security payments to the Well to do and limit Cost of living increases. A we have to Stop Federal Aid to airports including my own. We cannot build the space station. There can be no More sea Wolf submarines. We have to put a big new tax on  commenting on the Perot phenomenon recently the economist of London said his supporters a seem to believe that the mess present leaders have made. Has nothing to do with the self interested actions of the voters themselves Over the past few  Shakespeare said it first a the fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves a c Tho new York times Willuam f. Buckley  $16,000 . Car is $43,575 in s. Korea the bad news is that there is endemic interference with the free Market in South Korea. The Good news is that such interference with the Market is widely acknowledged indeed the most damning compendium of the obstacles to free Commerce was the result of heavy thinking by a korean think tank no less. Members of the chamber of Commerce of Korea will Tell you All about it graphically. But of course the transcend entry Good news is that we Are talking about a country that Rose from the ashes of the War with North Korea and for years has managed a 7 percent annual Rise in Gross National product. But this Rise is now threatened by two factors one of them an extraordinary 60 percent Rise in wages Given out during the past three years Well above corresponding gains in productivity. That and an inflation rate that is pounding in at 9 percent the official figurer perhaps As High As 15 percent some insist pointing to critical items not included in the official tabulations by which Price inflation is measured by the government. If you remember one thing of All that 1 am about to Tell you a the injustice collector at the chamber of Commerce stresses a it is that in the Long run it pays to do business in kore3. That presumably is Why there is a robust american Community Here of entrepreneurs. But their complaints Are eloquent and it is heartening that High officials in the government Are sympathetic to those complaints even if they Are not about to do anything to Cope with them not with elections coming up and a new president scheduled to be sworn in a few weeks after our own inauguration Day. What Are such obstacles they begin with something very much like a National mood which is just Plain xenophobic. No doubt much of this traces to the japanese occupation for 35 years punctuated by acts of violence Many of them sadistic in character during the War. Details continue to transpire As when we read recently about the slave labor in prostitution. The japanese grudgingly admitted that there were grounds for reparations and some years ago paid out a half billion dollars or so. But unlike Germany where Hitler tales Are a major Industry the japanese seek to discourage Public knowledge of their atrocities. Any this hostility however differentiated should extend to other countries is a cultural imponderable and entirely inconsistent with the personal warmth of the South korean. Then there Are the minor annoyances there is a volume of piracy in South Korea quite extraordinary in magnitude. The government is finally moving to enforce what is called intellectual property rights but even now you can buy a Green soft drink can labelled a sprite a Ana one that looks exactly like it Only it is labelled  the former is the property of a . Company the latter the property of a South korean pirate. Up until a year or so ago an estimated 25,000 South korean mom and pop houses were busily engaged in making unlicensed copies of everything from Casablanca to Lotus 1-2-3. Stealing is not the Best Way to cultivate commercial affections. Here is a striking example of How to discourage a native from buying an american Mercury Sable. The Price of this Model in the United states in 1991 was $16,000. The Tariff in South Korea is $3,200 20 percent. But then there is a special excise tax of $4,800, followed by an a education tax on special excise of $1,440, followed by a banking and customs clearance fee of $480. So the Cost to the distributor in Seoul is now $25,920. He of course has to have a markup and this is $5,184. But before the car moves there is the value added tax of $3,110, so that now the retail Price on the showroom floor is $34,214. Go in to buy the car and it is yours a after you pay an acquisition tax of $684, a registration tax of $2,002, and something called a subway Bonds tax of $6,675. You can walk away with the $16,000 car for $43,575. That is the kind of thing that inflames american car manufacturers. And for that matter americans in general a for instance me. It cools us off a Little to reflect that we sell More to South Korea than they sell to us. But of course the Point of the exercise is to remind ourselves that tariffs Hurt Consumers More than they do manufacturers. As someone pointed out a blockade in wartime does to an enemy country exactly what the same country does to itself in peacetime by erecting protective tariffs. C uru Armi press syndic too the a hmm a pwt Quot new Ana cartoons an Tea pans Wawa woo my we a Law Anam in m by la As Caa Amadae a map a Ataii to doors of Tho Stan Ana Impola or but a unto Mui Sci Remmem