         

=-=-=-=-=         
EDITORIAL 
 Stalemate: Everyone Loses 
   by Dave Bealer
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

  As this is being written the government of the United States is
"partially" shut down. There are people who consider this a good
thing, of course. Many of these same people not only worry about 
"black helicopters" watching them all the time, they believe that 
the space program is faked and that professional wrestling is real.

  The reason for the government shutdown is a budget impasse 
between the Republican-controlled congress and the Clinton 
administration. The Republicans want to reduce federal spending, 
which is primarily what they were elected to do. President Clinton, 
on the other hand, is desperately trying to stop the loss of ground 
(and influence) that Democrats have been suffering since November 
1994. Neither side wants to give in, since both sides are fighting 
to make their basic political/economic ideals the policy of the 
United States.

  Caught in the middle of this battle are the employees of the 
Federal government and the citizens of the United States. The
combatants have promised to continue government payments to most
recipients, except government employees. 

  The first week of January will bring reduced paychecks to all 
Federal employees, even those who are still working through the 
shutdown. After that, employees of unfunded agencies (which include 
agencies whose offices remain open during the shutdown) will receive 
NO paychecks at all until funding is approved. These employees, who 
are regularly maligned by their fellow citizens, continue to show 
up for work each day, despite this latest insult by Congress. It 
would be interesting to see how many of their private sector 
colleagues would continue to show up for work after their paychecks 
had stopped coming regularly (or could even deal gracefully with 
having the clowns in Congress deciding all the particulars of their 
employment and compensation).

  Throughout the budget battle, both sides have attempted to blame
furloughs and loss of government services on the other side. The
truth is, of course, that both sides are equally to blame. This
team is just not getting the job done, so changes need to be made.
The classic response in sports is to replace the manager rather
than the team. In this case the manager (Clinton) obviously needed
replacing long before the budget crisis ever arose.

  In sports the manager of an ineffective team is fired because 
"you can't fire the whole team." While that is not strictly true in 
the case of Congress (or at least the Senate), a few changes 
definitely need to be made. Obviously the liberal Senators who have 
kept the "Contract With America" from being enacted need to be dumped 
as soon as they come up for reelection. 

  Oddly enough, I'm also in favor of firing a few Republicans. 
There was absolutely no reason to be this nasty and impatient in 
ramming the budget down Clinton's throat. The man is cornered and 
will obviously lash out with vetoes whenever possible. Gaining 
concessions would have been plenty good enough for this year. 
Clinton will lose a landslide in 1996 and then the gridlock will 
go away.

  Newt Gingrich, along with those freshman House members who 
incited him to prevent a continuing resolution from being passed 
while the budget is negotiated, should not be reelected. That might 
teach the rest of the Republicans to exercise a little patience in 
future, and also warn them against thinking that THEY now have an 
unlimited license to do as they please. Don't worry about losing 
Republican control of the House - enough other Republicans will beat 
Democratic incumbents to maintain the edge. 

  One way or another all the gridlock between the executive and
legislative branches will go away in another year. Meanwhile, I
would urge anyone adversely effected by the shutdown to take
economic steps against the government. Few people realize that 
most of the national debt is owed to the American people 
themselves, either directly or indirectly. If those Americans who 
lose paychecks or needed services because of this budget stupidity 
would simply cash in all their U.S. Savings Bonds and other 
government investments, Congress would have to sit up and take 
notice. They would also have to refinance this debt at higher 
rates. (Note that people who are planning to make future use of the 
educational interest tax exclusion on U.S. Savings Bonds should NOT 
cash them in before they are needed.)

  Refusing to make future investments in U.S. securities would 
also raise the cost of financing the government. Above all, make 
sure you tell the President and your members of Congress what you're 
doing and why. Private citizens can have more influence over the 
day-to-day activities of government than they realize. No bombs or 
bullets are needed to exert that influence, simply the knowledge and 
willpower to act in a positive fashion.


Copyright 1996 Dave Bealer, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Bealer is a thirty-something mainframe systems programmer who
works with CICS, MVS and all manner of nasty acronyms at one of the
largest heavy metal shops on the East Coast. He shares a waterfront
townhome in Pasadena, MD. with two cats who annoy him endlessly as 
he writes and publishes electronically. Dave can be reached via 
e-mail at: dbealer@dreamforge.com
===============================(DREAM)==============================



                                                        
