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SPAIN BRACES FOR MORE
PROBLEMS
3
Western Europe's last remalnlng authoritarian
reglme may be headlng fast toward its vlolent
end.
AGONIZING REAPPRAISAL
FOR ARABS
4
A new Middle East equilibrlum ls In the maklng
as Arab leaders reatlze that to prosper they
need peace.
THE STRANGE ORIGIN
OF HALLOWEEN
6
Thls Fríday night, líttle gobllns wlll beslege
your home. Where did thls strange hollday
come
1
from? Should your chlldren observe 11?
ONE MAN'S SMOKE 15
ANOTHER MAN'S POISON
8
Seconó-hand "sldestream•· smoke may be more
dangerous to your health than the main drag.
So,
for
the
innocent bystander, STOP SMOKING!
12
THE SUGAR CONSPIRACY
The hlgh cost of sugar may
be
a blessing In
dlsgulse. Save your teeth and your money -
buy honey.
YOUR STAKE IN THE
BEEF ( RISIS
12
Despite current adequate supplles of meat,
changes on the ranges may once again empty
our supermarkets-_
14
EMPt Y OPTIMISM
The United States ls sick - and wlshful thinklng
by government offlclals will not cure the
slckness.
15
A SEARCH fOR SATAN
At the first World Congress of Wítchcraft In
Bogotá, the real Satan sent a counterfeit.
2
GOTII OH DI MATIRIAUSDC
MIRRY·GD·RDUNO:
by
Jef! C.lldns
n aeemed lhat no ona ...,.r noUced, but
throughout tha social amoke and polltlcal
hata generated by tha turbulence ot tha
1960&,
the material condltlon "of most
Arrierlcans improved lmmensely. Tha
aame d<K:ade lhat ap8Wned campua tur•
mol!, rfots
In
the-· and lhe Vietnam
war
llao
produced tor tha avwaga Ameñ·
can consumar •n unprecedented In·
crease In reallncoma.
Durlng this tima tha Unlted States and
tha wortd as a whole were blessed wíth
ebnormally
good
weather. and
food
pro–
ducllon made galna aach year. Ameri–
cana tound tha percentage of thalr
lncomelhat went tor food on !he decline.
The sama condltlon characterlzed
houalng and tranaportatlori. There waa
atlll open suburban land to be had tor low
prtcea, and constr\JcUon costs -
eape–
clafly lor
raw
materlal8 - were lower than
today.
As
a consequence,
1he
everege
tamil)l tound ltself able
to
afford a largar
houae ora t>etter apartment than belora.
And whlle urbanologists murmurad
abOut "suburban aprawt," what they
reall)l were lamenting wera lhe moat com·
tortable
mass
!Mng condltiOns in hlatory.
tnnallon had yat to Jack up the
prtce
ot
a
n- car. The average prlce increase ot
ona ot Detrolt's behemoths stayed ctose
to two percent par year. Cheap food,
houslng. and transportation more than
offset the lncreaslng cos!S of medica!
core,
pa~$0~\81
servlcea, and recreation.
Those were indMd llalcyon
da)1
when
lnttation, al
11$
worat.
reached lhe tower·
lng peaks of flve and slx pencent - and
usualty crept along at about hall that fig·
ure. By contrast, nowadays wa have to
have the worst recesalon since lhe
1930s
In order to
coax
lnnation
down
to eight
percent.
"Real discretionary lncome" - econo–
mlst jargon tor what people llave at the
end of lhe month with which todo
as
thay
please - was on the risa. The relat.ive
costa of tife's necesslües were golng
clown,
so
the average person found he
hed money lett ovar
to
pursue his lanciea
and
Whims -
somelhing Which hlatory
hed previously
reservad
onl)l tor lhe rtch.
For many. lt all congaaled lnto a
seml–
hedonlstlc l ife-styl e. Predictably,
U·
pectatlons were ralsed atlll further - untll
they soon sur'pasaed the
abilíty
ot the
economy to
fl l
them,
a
fact wllicll halped
apawn
dornestic
turmoll, dlssatisfactlon.
andunrest.
From Xanadu
to
Noatalgla
On lnto tlle seventlas. America grew to
resemble a modern Xanadu, the anclent
land where Kubla Khan decreed hls plea·
aura domes be bullt. But lnsteacl of plea–
aure domes
1t
waa Astrodomes and
Superdornes. Kubla Khan tound his mod·
ern
counterpart In tha wealthy profes–
slonal sports ownera.
But the vision hu laded. Now Amerlca
revela in a nostalgia ktck, yearníng to
go
back
lleYOOO
tlll
prosperOtJJ sixtitl to
the
!)(&-boom
fiftles,
When
lile
was
iea8
hectic and cornplex.
Blame the Russlana. Eart Bu_tz, Blg Bad
AgMbusinau
1
or the Meddlesome Mlddle
Man.
or
whomever
you
wlll, the polnt ls
that the prloa of food has ahot up
40
percent since
1971.
' 'The era ot declínlng
food prlcea la over," intones ona govern–
ment
economist
More ot our budget wln
slmpl)l have to
go
tor
food.
The diacomtorting fact la that the "ame
thing ls echoed by the lnduetry
spokes–
men In both transportation and houslng.
Aueteñty'a
llaneftte
But the foregoing naecln, caat a spetl
ot gloom and despair, any number of
positiva reaults can emerge lrorn our d&–
cHning
lncome~
At the
tima
of the origl·
nal energy crls)s, many commentators
sald wa ahould use the shortage ol tuel to
make ooma healthy readjustrnenta in our
lif&-stylea. Amerlcans, lhey
aald.
had lhe
opportunity to risa abOve mere malerlalist
pursuits. Untortunatel)l once tha crisis
was "over" - of
course, "
raall)llsn"t -
Americana all too soon returned to many
of
their energy-wasting practicas, as any·
one who pattentty drtves at the 55-mlle–
per-hour
apead
llmit qulckl)l dlscovers.
A
dose
ot austerlty.
1t
can be
argued.
coulcf
be
good
lor
th8
nallon
as a
whole.
Alter all,
even
with ri$ing prlcea and de–
ctining real lncome, Amerlca·s standard
of living stlll ter surpassas that of most ot
the world. Evtn lhe prosperous nations
of Wastem Europa cannot match. lor
ex·
ample, what the average American
pays
lor either
food
or tuel. And evan lhe
new
"no
trilla" houses lhe hornebuilders are
now constructlng are mlnl-pataoas com–
parad to the cramped apartments In·
habitad by so many people In the rast of
the free wortd.
Perhapa
the
lesson ot thellxties
t.
tllat
Americen• became too accustomed
to
a
good
Nle
basad
excluslvel)l on material
acqulsltiona. There is a grave danger In
this ouUook on lite.
In a rettectlve moment on Meel
the
Preso, Calllornla"s Govarnor Brown
j)()Ontecl out lhat "every cMiizallon that
has gone to
a
sensata, sensual culture
has fallen."
America doesn't llave to
go
tlle way ot
sensata Roma.
1t
has Chrtst's counsel
that
"a
man's lile does not conslst In tila
abundance of hls possess"lons" (luke
12:15,
RSV).
A decllnlng standard of IMng can be
usad craativel)l: One can leam to derive
enjoyment from
areas
in kte whlch aren't
" monay Intensiva" '- such
al
apending
time wlth one·s famlly, talklng with
Irlanda, vlsltlng neigllbora, or do/ng
things
onase~
agaln.
Redefining lha
"good
lile"' In
1976
makes far more sansa !han hopelessly
scrambllng
tor
the last veatlges
of
1he
" good
tite" of
1966.
And Who knows?
People mlght even be tempted to break
loose long enough lrom tha stranglehold
of our secular culture to uk themselvas
lnfinltely more Importan\ phllosopllical
QUestioiiiU
lo !he real mMnlng
and
pur.
pose
of
Uta. Materialistic
merry.go.rounds
do not lend themselves to auch in·
trospectlon.
tt
la Ume we all got off.
o
WEEK
ENDINO NOVEMBeR 1, 1975