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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 1, 1985
We have been having some very cold weather here. Sabbath ser
vices were canceled and also Bible study. We certainly missed
both and everyone was happy to be together again this Sabbath.
Mr. & Mrs. R.W. (Crete, IL)
We just had a killing freeze here in Florida. Although my hus
band's work is not directly tied to agriculture, it will be felt
in all areas of our economy. Florida has truly been blessed and
protected for some time now. We were wondering how long it would
continue, as we watched the terrible conditions in_ the rest of
the U.S.
R.R. (Lakeland, FL)
Here in central Texas we are having one of the coldest winters
I've ever seen in my 56 years on earth. I know this is something
we people have brought on ourselves. May God have mercy on us.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
M.R. (Temple, TX)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
U.S. FARM CRISIS; AUSTRALIA'S KEY ROLE IN ANZUS;
THE CHANGE IN RELIGION; MR. REAGAN EXALTS HEROES
The first big domestic crisis confronting President Reagan is the explosive
farm credit crunch. State house representatives from the Midwestern farm
belt have trekked to Washington this past week, imploring the Administra
tion for interest rate reductions and emergency loan guarantees for hard
pressed farmers, who might not otherwise be able to plant their fields in a
few weeks. Some aid may be forthcoming, but Mr. Reagan has promised to veto
any expensive measure that would seriously impact the already strained fed
eral budget. He is proceeding from a top-level report that contends that
the problem of failing farms is concentrated in about one farmer out of
every 15 who got overly aggressive in buying rapidly-appreciating land in
the late 1970s. Farmland values have since fallen drastically and these
overextended farmers are stuck with huge indebtedness and a shrinking net
worth.
Of course there are other factors as well, such as depressed
·
commodity prices, mountainous surpluses of some products, the strong dollar
(which has reduced some export sales) and the carryover effects of past
government political decisions, such as boycotted grain shipments to the
Soviet Union.
Furthermore, the President and Budget Director David Stockman have an
nounced their intentions of gradually eliminating most if not all farm sub
sidy programs. It just could be that the Republican Party could get nailed
with the blame for the farm crisis by voters in the Midwest in the 1986 off
year elections. The February 4, 1985 U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT carried a
feature article entitled "America's Farmers Down the Tubes?" Some excerpts
follow:
A recent Agriculture Department survey found that as many as
243,000 of the nation's 2.3 million farms may have serious finan
cial problems, and 145,000 more are in extreme trouble. Many of
these debt-laden farmers fear they will be forced out of business