European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday december 30, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 on now Walter Mears the government May be going broke in 35 years or so. Strong letter Fol s about the message of a commis Sion that spent a year looking for answers to the Long term problem of entitlements automatic government spending on payments to individual americans a but could Settle on a de tailed plan Socope with the Prospect of worse woes that lie ahead. And not for Lack of Effort. Sen. Bob Kerrey the democratic chairman of the panel tackled those politically perilous issues including changes in social Security while he campaigned and won re election in Nebraska. A. " / ". Now Kerrey said in a Telephone inter View he intends to build a mini crusade to gain Public understanding and support for action for Steps the commission could t agree upon. A tall order Kerrey acknowledges but a problem that can Only deepen unless something is done. He had hoped for a consensus tout the commission behind a specific set of proposals on entitlement and tax changes to rein in deficits and keep both entitlements and general government sol vent if less generous in the 21st Century. Instead the members of the commis Sion voted to Send a letter to president Clinton and the leaders of Congress warning that Tough action is needed sooner rather than in t the first time a High powered panel bearing a presidential Seal has tried to Chart a course out of the swelling entitlement costs and budget deficits fac ing the Natish in the decades ahead. President Reagan had one it ended i deadlock. Indeed Clinton held a Summit on entitlement costs earlier in his term in keeping with a pledge he d made for a vote on his budget. Again the upshot was talk not any action. indeed the new Republican leaders of Congress insist that social Security changes Are off the table although the new leaders in Congress seek to curb entitlement spending on items like medi Caid and food is the White House about to take on Long term social Security Reform de spite the warnings of the system s trustees three of them Cabinet members that the Trust fund will be exhausted in 2029, White House chief of staff Leon pan Etta said the president had made Clear that he was not going to touch social Security and we re Clinton treated the bipartisan com Mission on entitlements and tax Reform at the urging of Kerrey who delivered the vote that saved his 1993 budget and is tax plan Vuth Senate. It got the franchise to seek solutions and a year to do it but Kerrey said it got no real push from the White House or Congress. The cliche is that social Secu Rity is the third rail of politics touch it and die. Kerrey did and won in Nebraska with 55 percent of the vote in a re publican year. But the Nebraska Democrat could gain no such mandate on the com Mission where it would have taken 20votes of the 32 members to come up with a specific set of recommendations for entitlement and tax changes. Instead the product was a multiple Choice of rival proposals As time ran out and the commission shut Down on dec. Is that and the letter to Clinton saying that few easy or popular decisions Are available to Deal with a budget crunch that will Only Worsen after the turn of the Century it did make one fairly specific recommendation that major spending and tax decisions should be looking toward the Impact Well beyond the customary five year budget window to a 30-year time Frame. That s far Short of what Kerrey and the Republican vice chairman retiring sen. John Dah Forth of Missouri wanted. The advocated a gradual increase in the social Security retirement age to 70, curbs on the growth of both that program and medicare limits on popular tax deductions and other stiff Steps for Long term solvency. That Doest resemble the politic Lagenda for 1995. Clinton and the new Republican leaders of Congress Are advocating competing tax cuts for immediate Impact not solutions a generation or More away. V ironically the commission that could t Settle on proposals was All but unanimous on an grim interim report warning that by 2012, entitlement and in Terest spending will consume All the reve Nues the government takes in and by 2030, entitlements alone will take it action by the nation s leaders the panel said the deficit would swell from the current 2.3 percent of the nation s Economy to 18.9 percent. This is an Issue where it s Only a mat Ter of time Kerrey said. There Are a lot of issues you can sort of avoid. This one you can so Kerrey is making it his cause with out much encouragement this is a presidential commission he said. I m still trying to schedule a meeting with the president to report the results -.tha8�oclatedpress. My wife and i Are just Back from a sneak preview of the Michael Douglas Demi Moore sure fire hit movie s a terrific film entertaining provocative funny scary an sexy. The subject sexual harassment in the office is timely and there is a neat twist on the theme she a , the Story line May be just a Little too neat but to repeat it s a terrific Fil m. We enjoyed that s not what Sondra and i Are talking about. What hit us both on the drive Home will strike some Asa silly Cavil there Are no Black people in the film. I even have some misgivings writing about it now. I m reminded of a complaint i heard about a certain feminist columnist a few years ago. The soviet Union could launch All out and successful War against Ameri Ca and the headline on this writer s account the critic said would read nuclear attack devastates . Women hit observations bother me. Besides i be written More than once that Black americans tend to spend too much time looking for evidence of racism. Still Here is an up to Date film set in the downtown Seattle offices of a major computer firm and there Are no Black people in Are a few asian americans and a lot of women. There s even a hispanic cleaning there Are no african americans. Not managers not programmers not secretaries not messengers. I Don t recall seeing any even inthe Public scenes acid you if you re not Black must be saying what s the Point is this no matter How far Black americans Are from equitable treatment in America the concept of affirmative action is under increasing pres sure. What used to be accepted grudgingly As a when All else fails method of assuring fair recruitment and promotion practices is now widely viewed As a Way of forcing incompetent Blacks into jobs that unfairness ought to go to the White men who be always held them. Indeed there is some thought that at least a part of the recent Republican electoral rout was a revolt of White men tired of being vilified and shoved aside Byless qualified women and minorities. Disclosure was a Chance for a Little cinematic affirmative action at no Cost to anyone not to make a few More Low paid parts for african american actors but to help establish workplace diversity As an Ordinary fact of life. It would t have been necessary to make the cast William Raspberry look More like America As president Clinton promised for his Cabinet just More like Seattle. And the effect would have been As positive. Thanks to Clinton there s hardly a Cabinet Post that can be consid ered absolutely off limits to minorities and women. Weil maybe state and defense but you see the Point. When people get used to seeing diversity in the Ordinary course of things they come to accept it As unremarkable. As a matter of fact the Media used to go out of it Sway to enhance reality in order to change it. I still be Lieve those news photos of Black and White children playing together no matter How staged some of them May have been helped school desegregation go a Littlemore smoothly than it otherwise might have. If news photos can help a Little to establish so Cial ideals movies can help a lot. But what do we get in the movies an impression of Lack men As violent and foul mouthed fools and Black worn Enas victims of that savagery. �. Movies Don t cause the plight of Black people i America and movies can t cure it. But they could help not by depicting the pluperfect Demigod of the sort Sidney Poitier used to play but by acknowledging our existence As Ordinary Menand women As americans. Washington Post
