Opinion
Page 8 Saturday, June 20, 1981 The Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily Inflation: whose fault?
Most people don't begin to un- All this because the supply of gold and more on various programs,
Vol. XC, No. 3- derstand inflation. They merely -money-increased at a rapid they financed the subsequent
say it is terrible, then try to find a rate. deficit by simply printing more
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom scapegoat: Among the fall guys Conversely, with a stable currency-which has been the
- are labor unions, big business, money supply any rise in the custom ever since.
Edited and managed by students Ralph Nader - and of course price of a product, such as peanut Society first felt only the pl-
at the University of Michigan OPEC. butter, would necessarily be leasant effects of the Democrats'
Most attempts to explain in matched by a decrease in price in currency expansion: Everybody
flation range from deficient to another section of the market. had more money, and the
There wouldn't be enough money economy seemed to be booming.
in circulation to pay more for As the disease progressed, the
Legracy-to-be? Common peanuts and keep other prices at bad effects soon appeared. The
the same level. inflation plague persists to this
"enSe HSN'T-T-Off H RUY day,'and will only get worse until
the patient either cures himself
HE SURPRISE resignation of Supreme By Mark Gindin or dies.
Court Justice Potter Steward gives Ronald silly. New definitions for the The medicine is to stop printing
Reagan his first crack at carving out an active malady have been invented, money at a faster rate than the
political legacy gauged to endure long after his while Gerald Ford tried to solve it economy grows. Just as drug
administration is history. It was an opportunity by passing out WIN (Whip In- 11.withdrawal he ure will bffer,
denied Jimmy Carter but lavished upon flation Now) buttons. Clearly, a some sectors worse than others
Richard Nixon, who made the most of it. realistic and understandable ex~ Because of the reduced supply of
planation is lacking. One more money, its cost (interest rate)
The former president's four appointees to the try won't hurt. will increase. However, the Ion-
High Court have helped to radically alter the curate definition of nflation as ger the patient does nothing, the
thrust of this once-liberal, judiciary, largely also the simplest: Too much more agonizing the remedy will
nullifying the civil rights-civil liberties ac- money chasing too few goods. Oe.
tivism which epitomized the Warren Court of That "primitive" definition has for economic progress can con-
the 50s and 60s. Each time Justice William been ignored by various groups tinue undistorted. The trick is to
Rehnquist casts his vote in still another 5-4 who have created a more keep Great Deficit Societies from
decision undercutting the rights of the in- in the overall price level. Comprehension of this concept occurring again. The disease is
dividual in favor of establishment might, you To find an inflation remedy, we rules out all villians except the curstanding- on the partafhe pubic
can almost hear Richard Nixon chuckling all must return to the original Federal Reserve Board - the anding on the part of
the way from San Clemente. diagnosis. If the supply of money nation's only money creator. and backbone on the part of
increases at a faster rate than do Government alone is to blame- politicians. Sadly, neither com-
Now Ronald Reagan has his first shot at goods and services, the money is not OPEC, labor unions, or con- modity is very plentiful these
surrogate immortality, and the case for a worth less - thus more of it is sumers. days.
progressive Supreme Court looks bleaker than needed to buy the same products. Among other transgressions, Mark Gindin is a Dails
During the Gold Rush, a room government loves to print money. MakGnisaDiy staff
ever. In nominating a successor to Steward, a costs ten times a comparable one As John Kennedy and Lyndon writer. His column appears
Court moderate, the president rejects even the in the East. Shovels went for $50. Johnson began spending more each Saturday.
pretext of political neutrality in his quest for a
nmea es;o:sa::himf Singinm' the domestication blues
and it's hardly likely a Republican Senatein th do e ic i n bl s
would reject even the most rabid judicial reac- By ANNE SHARP by blasting salacious AC/DC And that's not all. I've started
tionary. BOSTON - Just like our own tunes from their van speakers. waxing the floors of our apar-
Occasionally miracles occur: To the dear crumbling, roachy Motor ON THE OTHER end of the tment - washing the sheets
astonishment of all, Republican Earl Warren City, Boston has a fine tradition spectrum are, of course, the every week - reading the food
became a giant of liberal activism during his of incubating first class pop Punks. Oh, yes, the venerable section of the Globe every week
as Chief Justice. Still, the likely loser in music talent. New Wave fad has a thriving, if for coupons. I might as well con-
tenureasCiJuteStlthlAerosmith, the Cars, the J. somewhat attenuated, following fess. I've begun to long, not for a
this latest Court reshuffle will be the common Geils band all hail from the land here. In Ann Arbor, Punk Rock is cold water walk-up loft in the
man, whose basic rights - lately flouted by of the Founding Fathers; Bean a guilty pleasure enjoyed only by South End, but for a real home -
both White House and Capitol Hill - now seem a few Residential College a husband - BABIES.
doomed to denigration by judiciary as well. recluses, homicidal maniacs and Dear readers - all you won-
Plri s 16 year old heroin addicts. In derful, talented, rebellious kids
doomd t deigraionby udicaryas ell. PilrimBoston, however, punks/walk the out there in Student
eProgress streets proudly, in broad Newspaperland-hear the plea
daylight - sullen, baggy-eyed of a desperate woman. Don't let
By Anne Sharp with raspberry-streaked, skpiky me fall into the complacent trap
hairdos, purple leather jodphurs of normal behavior.
town also boasts the most adven- and the latest Dead Kennedys Already I feel danger in the air.
tous possive AOstation single clutched under their arms I'm getting strange things in the
^i turous progressive AOR station Ah h mail, pamphlets about medical
in the nation, WBCN-FM, and Ahh, where is the grand malpmhetabumdil
loads of aane little reo d bohemian life that I dreamed of insurance and tax-free annunities
{loads of arcane little record shops - , --Oliver wants me to meet his
and clubs that make Schoolkids in my college days? I fear Im parents over Thanksgiving, and
and the Star Bar pale by com- longer cut out to participate in he's postponing his vasectomy.
parison. So much for reputation. the youth movement. I have a heg ostponi hi a y.
As for the music/youth culture neurotic fear of all mood- eg - Semeayuth
scene out here this summer- altering chemicals aside from movement-something that I
- -It's deadvile, man. A cigarettes and gin-tonics, and a can grab hold of, something new
blseak, dsdviled moand suburban sense of decorum for- and fresh and angry, with seduc-
--- bleak, dust-devilled moorland s nsne fdcrm for ive, hypnotic music I can believe
where two ancient tribal factions bids me from wearing things iv hnoic musicnobli
lieina nes-amsheeo outlandish, in and a crude, rude, iconoclastic
live in an uneasy atmosohere of My spirit of adventure has philosophy that I can dance to.
$ I mutual derision: There are the failed me, at the tender age of My future is in your hands.
Heavy Metal Dinosaur worship-
_ ~ L per, sprtig bel-botomsand 21- I can't even bring myself to
__ _'spanking new Van Halen tour T- see the new John Waters movie. Desperate columnist Anne
-a- shirts (freshly ironed by Mother Last night -You won't believe Sharp will make an Ann Arbor
of course). A nest of them live this - I screamed at my room- pilgrimage in about a month; a
downstairs in our building, and mate Oliver for staying out till 5 mass turnout will be ap-
it wake us up periodically at 3 a.m. a.m. at a party. preciated.
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