Basic HTML Version
PRIME MIN/STER Wilson and President Ford
at
the six-natlon economic summit in Franca.
ECONOMIC
SLUMP,
FEAR OF
TRADE
WAR
-~RICH 'NAJIONS~'
SUMMIT–
PRDMISfS HARD TD
KIIP
by
Gene Hogberg
"The al/ied statesmen who
shaped the.post-war inter–
national order wou/d not recog–
nize the planet we lnhabit
today.... In,terdependence has
spawned a host ofUJtprecedented
social, ethical and economic di–
lemmas. No government alone
can resolve the rage ofproblems
before it."
-
Henry Kissinger, Nov., 1975
11
was in
this
setting that the
heads of state of six leading in–
dustrial nations of the free
world met outside the French
ca pital at the Chateau Ram–
bouillet, November 15-17.
Together the six countries -
the United States, Japan, West
Germaoy, France, ltaly and
Britain - account for fully
sixty-five percent of the world's
production and seveoty percent
of its trade.
Our correspoodent at the
eonfereoce, Ray Kosanke, re-
ports:
,
"The leaders of thesc major
nations decided to confer at thís
liigh leve!
because,
with rising
levels
of
unemployment. de–
clines in industrial production,
high energy costs and a slow–
down in intcmational tra'de, the
present worldwide economic cli-
mate is the worst since the
Great Depressionofthe 1930s.
"As also in thc 'JOs there has
occurred a steady crosion of
confidence in democratic in–
stitutions to cope with these
problems.
"The prosperity !\Dd stability
of the industrialized societies
have changed dramatically -
and perhaps irreversibly - in
two short years. ·The five-fold
increase in the price of oil since
the autumn of 1973 has forced
the whole gamut .of problem–
areas out into the open."
Fear
of the Past
Presidents Ford and Giscard
d'Estaing, along with Prime
Ministcrs Miki, Moro, Wilsoo
and Chancellor Schmidt did
their best at
this
unique highest
leve! eeonomic summit to assure
the democratic, free-entcrprise
world that they and their gov–
ernn¡ents had both thc will aod
the policies to improve the
sluggish world economy.
A shoring up of a sense. of
eonfidence in the economic fu–
ture was critically importan! -
and with good reason. Np one
wants to relive the traumas of
the 1920s and ' '30s wheo tbe
WEEK ENOING OECEMBER 6, 1975
Boom foUowed by the Bust led
to worldwide social unrest, po–
litical extremism and tinally
global warfare.
The big
task
before the
six
men,
therefore, was to
try
to pul! the
Westero world out of the reces–
sion without spilling over into
either runaway inflation ora di–
sastrous trade war.
The results of the conference
sbo_wed how hard thís goal is to
achieve.
Good
Will,
Few
Spec:ifics
The 1,500-word joint declara–
tion issued al the close of the
summit listed 17 points whic:h
showed that good will was in–
deed present. lt did not, how–
ever, reveal any concrete steps
for improving the slumping eco–
nomic picture.
1n fact, sorne of the rhetoric,
such
as
"we will not allow the
recovery to falter; we will not
accept another outburst of in–
flation," gave one the impres–
sion that there was a certain
lack of perspective as to
eoo–
nomic realities in the world
today. For the plain fact
is:
(1)
Th~
old "boom" days of
rapid industrial expansion, full
employment añd ever-rising
standards of living, character–
istic of the 1960s are over. Any
attempts to restore the high
growth rates of thc
'60s
will
ei–
ther lead to new explosioos .of
inflation or intenSify cóm–
petiúon among the industrial
oations for the shrinking world
market. Thereforc, growth from
now on
wiU
be, at best, very
moderate.
(Continued on page
4,
col. 1)
Double Digit lnflafion–
ln.Crime!
While their worries over the
economy have slackened a bit
in the last few months, Ameri–
cans are not about to enjoy any
relief from the wave of crime
and violence - clipping along
at double-digit increases.
Aceording to the lates! FBI
crime report, the 1974 increase
was the largest yearly jump in
U.S. history - a whopping 18%
over 1973. Police reponed over
10, 1 million serious crimes for
the year-
four times
as many as
reponed only ten years ago!
One of the biggest surprises
in the anoual survey was the
20% increase for 1974 in subur–
ban and rural crime, while cities
of over 250,000 populalion reg–
islered "only" a 12% iricrease.
Another surprise was the rap–
idly increasing involvement of
women in crime. Arrests
~f
women since 1960 have in–
creased almost 110%; arrests of
males in Che same period rose
24%.
The "crime clock" shows that,
nationwide, there is a murder,
rape, robbery, assault, burglary,
or other theft every three sec–
onds. And since it has been
clearly demonstrated that much
more crime - from two to five
ti¡nes
in
sorne categories - goes
unreported than entcrs into,offi–
cial statistics,
an.
average of one
serious crime
, every secon4
is
probably much closer to reality.
SO
much for the criminals.
What of the victirns?
A Justice Department crime
su rvey showed there were 37
million victims of crime in
America in
1913.
Other studies
have demonstrated thal as-
."PROJECT POLARKA"
lounding numbers of Ameri–
caos do not think it is
worthwhile to report they have
been the victims of criminal at–
tacks.
Arres! odds demonstrate that
crime pays. Following the aver–
age of the past severa! years,
only 21% of serious crimes were
'.'clearéd" by ¡mest in 1974.
•• • for the land /s fu// of
bloody crlmes, and the
city is fu// of violence.
- Ezeklel 7:23
Many of the nation's lending
criminal justice officials met re–
cently in Washington, D.C.
Most doubted that merely more
police and better courts and
prisons would significantly re–
duce crime rates. Only a change
. in society's moral values will,
they agreed. And these values,
most felt, must be based first on
family eohesiveness, !ove, and
instruction il) self-discipline.
These character traits must be
further supported by the com–
muoity, the church, and the
schools.
Glenn D. King, execulive di-
. rector of the lntematioJtal Asso–
cialion of Chiefs of Police, said
at this meeting: "At the present
time there
is
no effective deter–
reot to crime at aJl In the p4$1
there· was a social stigma at–
tached to crime, but we don't
see much of that attitude now."
• And so double-digil crime in–
flation may be liere to stay. Al–
ready it
is
up 13% in the first
halfof 1975.
o
YUGOSLAVIA-
Potential Balkan Powder Keg
Upon the death of Yugoslav–
ian leader Marshal Tito, the
So–
viet Uoion launches a sudden,
massive invasion into Eastem
Austria, using Czechosk>vak.ian
troops as a vanguard. After the
occupation is consolidated
comes the primary objective:
the invasion of Yugoslavi.a and
its reintegration into the Soviet
bloc, from which it was expelled
in 1948.
Thus runs the basic scenarió
for "Project Polarka," a detailed
military blueprint developed by ·
the Soviet high c:ommand in the
late 1960s and exposed by
Major General Jan Sejna, who
defected from the Czech–
oslovakian military at the lime
of the Russian invasion in 1968.
Al the time the "Polarka"
project was revealed, the Soviet
'Union suenuously protested the
publicity which the plan was
given in the Western press.
However, the Kremlin did not
~irectly
challenge the authentic–
ity ofSejna's revelalions.
Since that time the Helsinki
Cooference on European Secu–
rity has been
~eld,
with its
stated pledges of the "in–
violabilit.y of fronticrs." But
maoy observers feel that this
principie
is
subjcct
lO
widely
varied interpretations.
The recent Soviet-East Ger–
man "friendship" treaty, for ex–
(Continued on page
4,
col.
4)
3