4 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, January 11, 1983 The Michigan Daily Is Helms a statesman or a Scrooge? By Dan Aronoff recovery in the near future. Disagree with his traditional Keynesian practice. In some objec- 1 1HOU tIf W A Asupply-side theories as you wish, but you can't tive sense, Jesse Helms and the other suppor- Anyone who read a newspaper or watched hdeny that the issue Sen. Helms addessed is one ters of his filibuster may be the only television during vacation undoubtedly was A 5W AT FIRST.. of the foremost facing our country. Keynesians left in the U.S. Senate. aa thatmany Americans were in such dire In Keynesian terminology, the government4 financial straits that Christmas cheer was Ap HELMS FEELS that raising taxes in the currently is running a full-employment budget simply a distant memory. cheer wa midst of a severe recession will unfairly burden deficit. This means that at full employment tax As I pondered this cheerless news, I also y.o taxpayers and create disincentives for private revenues would increase and entitlement ex- Asci ed th i reprtess nes se EMO sector growth. When asked how this jibes with penditures would decline enough to balance the Helms, This arch conservative and leading his advocacy of the balanced budget amen- current federal budget. This is a Keynesian spokesman for the New Right from North dment, the senator points out that levying huge policy par excellence. As Helms put it, Carolina, was obnoxiously abusing the rules tax hikes-regardless of whatever else the "Deficits are not the cause-but are rather a and filibustering the Senate. His efforts were government may or may not do-will burden consequence-of bad economic policies.bg causing inconvenience to his fellow senators, the economy by discouraring effort, savings, HELMS WOULD not be flattered by being who desperately wanted to go home to their and capital formation. In addition to impairing labeled a Keynesian. Moreover, he supports families for the holidays. recovery, Helms reasons, the tax increase will large reductions in government spending-ex- IT HAD ALL the trappings of a Dickens 'iii add to unemployment which will cause the cept, of course, on subsidies for a certain cro novel-Helmspotae the mean old Scrooge, budget deficit to further increase, they grow down there in North Carolina. But he while achts p ayed bye vearous cother, also knows that policies, like raising taxes, that while Cratchet was played by various othernd Helms advocates vigorous tax-cutting and will impair economic growth will only Christmas day with their very own Tiny Tims. deregulation to spur private sector growth and aggravate our problems. In his opposition to The poor senators as much as accused Helms defends his position by pointing out that, for the tax increase passed last August, Helms of being Scrooge; why even Barry Goldwater every percentage change in unemployment, compared the policies being pursued by the golfing in sunny Arizona, was rudely interrup- the budget deficit changes by nearly $30 billion. Reagan administration and currently endorsed ted when his presence was urgently needed in Thus, if we cut taxes and spur economic by a majority of the Senate-policies of fiscal Washington to put an end to Helm's heretical growth, unemployment will decline and the austerity and monetary contraction-to those filibuster. Our worst suspicions about therNew budget deficit will fall even if revenues fall in of Herbert Hoover in the 1930s. Right were seemingly realized. This man absolute terms. You might think that Helms is wrong. Still, Helms was the embodiment of evil. He was out Helms: Warts and all his arguments are not inconsequential. They4 Htoms ruinChs the mbdnt of l.He waHelms usually is painted as a conservative deserve serious consideration, whatever time I nearly vomited at the media's performan- admitted, During this holiday season, he was Senate and prolonging the session for no ap- ideologue. And no doubt he supports supply- of the year it is. If this inconveniences some ce. The press is so biased against anything that willing to put the interests of this nation ahead parent reason or - depending on which side policies out of his deep conviction that the, lawmakers, then perhaps they aren't cut out to deviates from the traditional liberal party line of his own creature comforts. This much can- newspaper you read - to push some crazy free market is the only viable economic system be public servants. that it was willing to turn this affair into a not be said for most of the other members of the New-Right social agenda. Helms, in fact, was and that pro-free-market policies are Aronoff, an LSA junior, currently ia right-wing plot to harm other people. In reality, U.S. Senate. opposing a proposed five cent-per-gallon necessary for a sustained economic recovery. just the opposite was the case. Whether or not The press painted he issue as if Helms was gasoline tax. He believes that such a measure But his opposition to raising taxes in the midst studying at the , London School o you agree with Jesse Helms, one thing must be gratuitously obstructing the proceedings of the will impair the chances for strong economic of a recession is thoroughly in keeping with Economics. Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Wasserman I 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 . Vol. XCIII, No. 82 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board No requirement necessary SE- ROiAN'S NOT I-WOIAP -H e RFINEDELZ~t D1. 'o"I CBIE EQUAL RIGHTS A ENDET xONCE THE province of math whizzes and science fiction, it is becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives. It even supplanted mere mortals to become Time's Thing of the Year. The indispensible tool of the '80s? The computer. Recognizing this growing importan- ce, Western Michigan University is now requiring its students to take one course in computer literacy before they graduate. No doubt the officials at WMU hope to help students keep up with a rapidly changing world. After all, knowing how to use a computer will soon be a prerequisite for virtually every occupation one can imagine. But for all these good intentions, Western's requirement is not one the University should attempt to copy. Certainly computer skill and knowledge is important. But it's not as important as letting students decide for themselves what they want to learn. However good a vocational- and thinking - aid computer literacy is, it's no more important than art history of philosophy or chemistry, all optional courses that add up to the -t well-rounded student. Western and this university would be better off encouraging students to become familiar with computers by adding courses for those students just plain scared of the technology. Today at the University, students with no background in computers must com- pete in courses with intimidating-and curve-destroying - engineering and computer science majors. By opening up new courses designed for computer novices, the University could make computers a natural, less painful part of campus life. Western has acted in haste - something the University doesn't have to do. Computer literacy has not yet become as important as literacy in the English language. When and if it does, then University officials can consider making computer work mandatory. For now, the University should try an easier way of making the joys of computers known to the uninitiated. It should stick to the most basic of college requirements: offering better courses. A~c 4 WwpoPkCToNMAKING WomwW ONE AT A srr_ V -ali h y \w F c SN Can you train your mind to con- trol your health? Leading physicians and scientific resear- chers around the world say you can-through biofeedback. A relaxation technique less than 20-years-old, biofeedback enables people to gain control over some bodily functons previously thought to be "in- voluntary" and may help alleviate many ailments in- cluding high blood pressure, migrane headaches, muscle spasms, back and neck pain, asthma, general tension, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, some heart problems, rheumatoid osteoarthritis, drug and alcohol withdrawal, and some psychosomatic illnesses. BIOFEEDBACK IS basically the conscious monitoring of in- ternal body states. By watching and/or listening to sensitive recording machines-or amazingly simple home devices-you can learn to control many internal body processes. With a little instruction and daily practice, almost anyone can learn to regulate pulse rate, body temperature, muscle tension, or other internal processes. Prof. David Danskin, a psychologist who heads the Ap- plied Biofeedback Laboratory at Biofeedback: Health through willpo wer By John Alle Program at the Meninger Foun- dation in Topeka, Kan. Green has taught migrane sufferers to eliminate their headaches and to prevent new ones by altering their skin temperatures, one measure of relative physical ten- sion. ULTIMATELY, THE goal may be to rely solely on one of the inexpensive do-it-yourself home biofeedback devices now available, but people experienced with biofeedback advise the novice to begin with a few sessions guided by a trained professional. Suppose you've been diagnosed as having migranes. If your physician tells you you're too ten- se and need to relax more, fluid, to your forehead. The elec- trodes are connected to an elec- tromyograph (EMG) machine, which monitors muscle tension. FIRST, YOU can expect to hear a high-pitched tone that in- dicates that the muscles in your forehead are tense. Then the trainer probably will begin describing a series of pleasant images to help you relax. As you relax, the tension should begin to flow out of the muscles in your forehead and the pitch of the tone should drop to a low hum. When it's over, you may notice that your headache has improved or disappeared. After several training sessions where you turn those high- to help them regain muscle fun- ction. To move a partiall paralyzed arm or leg, there has to be sensory input to the brain as well as motor input. Biofeedback instruments can make sensory substitutions for stroke and paralysis victims. Dr. John Basmajian, professor of medicine and director of rehabilitation services at Emory University in Atlanta, has used biofeedback with more than 500 rehabilitation patients. "W4 never succeed in restoring full function," he said, "but we can restore some useful function." Does biofeedback work for everyone? Probably not. Success in biofeedback depends mostly on the type of ailment and on the degree of concentration the per- son invests in the training. Doc- tors explain that biofeedback may not work if a person has serious psychological problem or if severe pain prevents adequate concentration. Per- sonal motivation also plays a key role. Some patients are so used to thinking there must be drugs or other cures for them that they can't believe they can control their disorders themselves. As with any new and unconven- tional therapy, however, some doctors have expressed fears that \ U I