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Page 6

Tuesday, July 20, 1982

The Michigan Daily


Sinclair

The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCIL No. 43-S
Ninety-two Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan

A compromise
for the jobless
AS THE ECONOMY continues to look for the
bottom of the recessionary abyss.it began
descending nearly a year ago, the unemployed
worker in President Reagan's legendary town
of South Succotash must be wondering how long
his unemployment benefits will continue.
In Michigan, more than 600,000 people are
currently out of work, putting a severe strain on
the state's resources. Already the state has had
to borrow more than $1.5 million from the-
federal government to fund its unemployment
benefit program, and therein lies the problem.
Although Congress agreed last week to ex-
tend unemployment for another 13 weeks, new
federal rules impose substantial penalties on
borrowing states. Michigan will have to pay
substantial interest rates on the money it
borrowed and finance the repayment through
higher premiums levied on employers, at a
time when the states resources are nearly
exhausted.
The Reagan administration opposed the ex-
tension of benefits, of course, but most of
Congress agreed that continuing high unem-
ployment warranted the continued benefits.
The penalties for states that have to borrow
however, are especially severe and need to be
revised.
No one in Washington, much less in Michigan,
could have predicted the depth of the nation's
economic collapse. The state labor department
simply was unprepared to fund claims from an
unemployment rate above 14 percent.
If Michigan is to recover from the recession
and attract new employers, it must have some
help from the federal government. Such help
could take the form of forgiveness for some of
the borrowed money and reduced interest rates
on the rest. In return state officials could both
slightly reduce the benefits it pays (among the
highest in the nation) and reform its system so
it can better cope with economic crises.
Many economists are now predicting little or
no economic growth in the next six months.
Unemployment benefits have been extended,
but someone has to ensure that the jobless and
their families are fed beyond the 13-week ex-
tension period.
These are extraordinary times, but a little
compromise between state and federal gover-
nments could go a long way toward ensuring that
those most seriously affected - the jobless -
make their way through them.

AS you KNOW,
WE HAVE SHARFLl
CURTAILEP THE
ACTIVtT'{ OF THE
OVERN MENT OFFICE
MROWEVEK F rn wE RAVE
SE&UN PRODUCTION OF ONE
NEW CoNfSUMEr GU(E
THAT WE FEEL WILL t3E
~iMELY USEFUL, MAD
PRACTICAL .

WE. FELT THAT TAXPAYERS
MONEY SHOULD NOT BE
SPENT ON LAVISH PAMPHLETs,
MANY OF Wi leC ESTJUTE
CoNSuM4RIsTt [E)Locy I
'Coo~l
~ O 5-J

Countdown to the
end of little Mankind

10:
LEBANON - Israeli troops in-
vaded Lebanon this morning in
what was called a defense
measure to preserve security.
A highly placed source in
Israel's army said, "It's a purely
limited military action. We have
no intention of driving as far as,
c^- "^'r-' "i

Once upon a time there was a.
cold war. After a while, it was put
on the back burner. But the back
burner was on HIGH, and it
began to boil ...
8:
LEBANON-Israeli troops,
using mortars and U.S. built
cluster bombs, laid seige to
Beirut today ...
7:
Dr. Reagan and Dr. Brezhnev
tegretfully reported to the
grieving parent. "We're sorry,
Mother Earth, but little Mankind
is at death's door. But we'll do
everything we can to pull him
through ... "
6:
IRAQ - Iranian troops invaded
Iraq this morning in what was.
called a defense measure to

preserve security.
Highly placed sources in Iran's
army said, "It's a purely limited
military action. We have no in-
tention of driving as far as, say,
Baghdad ... "
5:
Once upon a time the PLO was
dressed up with nowhere to go.
Some people said they were
terrorists, some people said they
were freedom fighters, but
everybody said they weren't in-
vited. They thought they would go
to Syria, but Syria changed its
mind so their neighbors would
look bad. Then they thought they
would go tQ Libya, but kindly old
Colonel Khaddafi, who could ;ne-
ver resist a good joke, changed
his mind, too, and suggested
they all kill themselves. "And if
you don't," he said, humorously,
"I know somebody who'll do it for
you..."
4:
WASHINGTON - The USSR
today publicly renounced a
nuclear first strike, and the U.S.
refused to follow suit.
Defense Secretary Casper
Weinberger commented, "It's an
obvious propaganda ploy. It's a
matter of policy that the U.S.
regards the possibility of a first
strike as its only effective.
deterrent against Russia's over-
whelming advantage in conven-
tional forces in, say, Germany.
We just don't have enough tanks
over there..

3:
Today's physics lecture is on
the bomb. As you know, a ther-
monuclear bomb fuses two atoms
of hydrogen into one atom of
helium, releasing tremendous
amounts of heat energy and
radiaton. Either is emphatically
fatal. This is the same surce of
energy by which stars shine. To
call a hydrogen bomb a falling
star is more truth than poetry,
and damn little of either...
2:
BERLIN - German troops in
U.S. built Patton tanks and ar-
mored personnel carriers today
routed demonstrators protesting
NATO nuclear policy in Western
Europe ...
1:
Once upon a time Mommy took
her baby to the park. It was a
pretty park, with tall green trees
and a calm blue lake,-and it had a
pretty name, a lot prettier than
Ground Zero. But that was what a
lot of people called it, people who
had never ever been there. They
sat on a soft round hill and wat-
ched dusk wrap softly around
them. There was a long yellow
flash of light in the sky that
seemed to stretch toward them,
but of course it only seemed so.
"Look, Baby," said Mommy,
"a falling star. Make a
wish..."
0....