that the Pentagon and many corpora-
tions were then planning for.) But the
good l‘ar outweighed any paper ac
counts that say there was a deficit,
and even outweighed the etiect oi the
resulting iiiilation, (ii I dare say such
a thing when that word has become
such an obsessionl

The key point when discussing social
pi-ogr ms is that whatever our
malaise, it is certainly not a “scarCIly
of resources and wealth," but an
overabundance oi sorts During some
years therc is so inucll extra grain
that even outright giveaway programs
cannot get rid or all oi it, Though
some worry about running out oi such
natural resources as iron. that is at
lc st 20 years in the iuture even con-
sidering the wasttul way they are now
used. Even energy, ii one considers
the potential sources which are not
now economically icasiblc and today's
rate oi waste, is not in short supply,
The problem is that we citizens are
having trouble keeping up with the
consumption quotas that business ieels
proper,

To illustlate this, take olle key cums
poiient oi the American ccoliomyithe
automobile industry Chryslel COI-
poiation has been losing millions not
because it produces too iew cars, but
because it cannot cut. back production
eiiiciently enough to lollow the drop in
demand Industry has achieved such a
grand capacity to turn out gadgets
that it has outrun the ability of the
public to use them up when the good
old GNP stops climbing at the ace
customed rate and when investment
levels fall, Wall Street cries recession!
Everyone concludes that something
must be wrong.

Every decade has witnessed impol»
tant technological breakthroughs
which provided consumer products
and business opportunities and overall

A matter of priorities

To the cilitor: I, too, am not the kind
oi person who usually causes a com-
motion. but I ieel I must respond to
Alison Goodman's Open Space article
My objection to the article has nothing
to do with beer drinking in South
Lounge. My concern, rather, is that
Ms Goodman seems to really believe
that issues like Kent State and nuclear
proliieration should be or less impor~
zance to us than our right to consume
alcoholic beverages wherever we want
to

The “people who put a fucking bus
together" to go to Kent State did so
because they objected to the gross
moral and historical insensitivity of
the administration in wanting to build
a gymnasmrn that would obliterate the
site where four students were killed
protesting the American invasion oi
Cambodia. tThis was the issue behind
"the '605 riot there") I hope Ms,
Goodman can understand that the
ability or any or our educational In-
stitutions to witness the murder of

November 30, l979

economic growth. The automobile, the
washing machine, the television and
many, many other aiiluences have all
brought it. More importantly, there
has always bcen a steadily growing
population ior the steadily growing
advertising industry to sell them to
Growth has become synonomous with
the American way.

But this cannot go on ioi-cver at the
accustomed rate. We are the tail end
oi the post-war baby boom generation,
We simply cannot be expected to
marry and breed and buy cars and
washing machines and raise demand»
ing materialistic tots at the same
rate our parents did.

The problem is that giants such as
the steel alid automotive industries
employ a lot oi people. Although we
could probably do well enough without

T0 lllc cdimr: I thank David Blatt for
the pleasure or reading one oi the
most perceptive and perhaps idealistic
articles ever to appear in the 5&3. (it
is certainly not one of the most
original 1 However, I am concerned
about what motivates contemporary
pragmatic radicals, such as Blatt, to
call [or “lower expectations and more
modest horizons ior government ac»
tion."

Are these cries [or more realistic
government action inspired by the
fear oi a future of scarce resources
and fear of alienating individual
CltlZenS from the mass society, or are
the cries inspired by the love for our
natural resources and our fellow
Citizens? Government action should
not be motivated by the fear of the
future, It should be motivated by the
lovc tor the present and the hopes for
a bountiful future.

indeed, our society will lumber
along its present path until “jolted

demonstrators against an illegal and
immoral war, and then behave as if it
had never happened, raised an issue
that affects every one of us, especially
as students As tor the coming nuclear
age, are Grinnell students sheltered
even irom possible nuclear annihilas
tion',7

If I thought Ms. Goodman's
priorities were hers alone, i would not
be as upset as I am. But she seems to
have touched a chord in a number of
other students, who have come up
with the idea of a “drinkdn” to prolest
the college's unfair rules. This exer-
cise in "relevant" student activism
has generated a lot oi excitement
among some people, I sincerely hope
that students have not reasoned that
more oi their nergies and money
should go to this effort than to Oxfam,
because Cambodians who are starving
to death ”don't even affect us direct-
ly,"

The inability of Gl'lnnell students to

our cars, workers would be in quite a
bind without their Jobs. Seéing '
Chrysler go down the tubes would not
be so bad, but the resulting unemploy-
ment would be unacceptable. This- is
not simply hypothetical. The next
decade may very well see other
heretolore strong corporations i 'hot
water Government may be called ,
once again to take drastic and i
novative measures 1! it evcl see
necessary to somehow reapply t_hl
labor to some more worthy purpose,
say massive urban icnewal there
seems to be no reason it should not be
done even considering the cost in .
taxes to the upper middle cl ass.
implied shiit oi capital irom inv
ment' in the private sector and t_h
fact that this would be called
“liberalism. " Kell Yordoli ‘

aside by forces more powerful than;
liberal government programs,” Let us
hope, though, that these “forces” will
come a society which loves its moun-
tains, rivers, oceans, and fellow men

, for it is dreadful to think that these

“forces" will be created by the tear of
losing mountains rivers, and human
emotions -

If expectations arl‘ loweled and
limit: nioilest hoi' Imus sought after:
our society may be able to deal more
effectively with the future problems
which face it. But, we should not lower
our expectations because we irar what
will hapen if we do not lower them,
Let us lower our expectations because
we WANT to solve contemporary . ,
social problems which can be solved,
not because we cannot solve the pro)
blems which we WANTED to solve. .
Let us lower our expectations but - .
raise our ideals. Yours truly, Pi-aliliu
Sokknppu

realize that being responsible adults
means being concerned about issues
that involve every member of our
society reflects an appalling degree oi
pal ochiallsm and self- -centeiedncss If
our values are so twisted as to place
our right to drink beci above the right
to iree political expression or the right
not to die of hunger, then we all have
“screwed up priorities ,, Liz
Stromherg

B&G does a fine job.
in Burling

To the editor: If lt is Widely thought
that B k G workers are inefflcleli

is only iair to point out that the c

rent custodial staff in the Library is
first rate Considering how intensively
Burling is used day other day, It is
remarkable that the building is so well
kept Yours sincerely Stcrell P. Pilll‘
dolfu, Associate iiihi.

 

