ustxtxb_obs_1974_11_15_50_00014-00000_000.pdf

Whipping inflation with Shivers 1 Austin Allan Shivers, the former reactionary governor of Texas, owns pieces of so many banks, it isn’t worth the space to list them. On behalf of one of them, he is now telling us, in newspaper ads and on television, that all of us can help fight inflation. What we should do, he tells us, is spend less and save more. Don’t be such spendthrifts, and put more of your money in my bank. This must be going down real well with people who want to do exactly that, but cannot. People who want to spend less for groceries, but somehow just can’t. People who want to spend less for sending their kids to college, but somehow just can’t. People who want to spend less for gasoline, but somehow just can’t. Thanks a lot, Allan. ‘ 14 The Texas Observer I. F. Stone’s Weekly Information and bookings: The I. F. Stone Project, P.O. Box 315, Franklin Lakes, N.J. 07417 Tel: 201 891-8240 Observations We are also getting advice on how we can help from Gerald Ford, our first President we never voted for. He tells us that we should eat up. our leftovers. This is going to cut down the soaring profits of the major corporations. He, too, tells us to spend less. We are grateful for this advice coming from a man who makes $200,000 a year. He also instructs us to keep healthy so that we can work every day and keep absenteeism down. This, you see, will lower prices. The truth is, the country is being run by big-business politicians who blame the people for inflation and steadfastly refuse to control major corporations that are making criminal profits. I dropped in on my mother and father in Rockport the other day. My mother, thinking of her supermarket, asked a question. “Where,” she asked, “is all the money going? It’s got to be going somewhere.” That is the last question our friendly advisers like Mr. Shivers and Mr. Ford want either asked or answered. One of the last messages Richard Nixon gave us as President was his speech calling on the people to fight inflation. This is like asking people you are dropping a hydrogen bomb on to fight nuclear war. David Edwards, a government professor at The University of Texas, takes note of the “WIN” buttons that the White House is distributing. President Ford says they stand for “Whip Inflation Now.” David Edwards says they stand for “We Imitate Nixon.” The first thing that has to be done is strict price and wage controls. The Republicans love to control wages, but when you watch them controlling prices, first you notice how complicated things get, and then you notice prices going on up. The second thing that has to be done is public control of public enterprise. We are a long way, under Ford, from either. A good idea Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, in a moderate, carefully thought-through statement, has declared himself in favor of a citizens’ constitutional convention to write a new Texas constitution. Hobby thus provides us with clear and important leadership on this subject. Knowing that the legislators who goofed up this year have a selfish stake in saving something from the mess, and that they must not be so badly blamed that they take the way out as a rebuke, to them, Hobby says, “The work of the 1974 convention must not be a total loss. The revision process has laid the groundwork well.” He expects the document finally voted on in the last minutes of the legislators’ convention to be proposed again, without the special questions. The Constitutional revision commission’s document will also be introducted, he believes, but “frankly, I see only a small possibility that either of these versions will fare better with the 64th Legislature than they did with the convention itself.” Hobby also expects some of the revised articles to be proposed for a public vote separately, but except for the judiciary section, this would be “most difficult” because in the present constitution, provisions affecting one function of government are scattered through the whole document. “I expect proposals to call for a new constitutional convention, composed of elected citizen delegates, to be introduced,” Hobby said. “Many are studying the possibility that the legislature itself has the authority to call a Ronnie Dugger’s recent book . . . OUR INVADED UNIVERSITIES: LriTet t ejr:Z; “Dugger’s narrative is loaded with, fascinating scenes . . . The book is alive with people . . . Dugger reaffirms a faith in the willingness of political institutions to support an educational ideal which, if it worked, would probably revise those institutions radically.” “This is a brilliant book. Everyone concerned with recent happenings in universities should read it, certainly anyone interested in the University of .Texas at Austin .. . The play must be read, if only for the insights into the compositions of Homer.” “The academic equivalent of Ida Tarbell’s History of Standard Oil . . . grand in conception and passionate in commitment.” Change, The Magazine of Higher “Not only is it a book of serious national importance, it is even fun to read . Sometimes funny, sometimes sad enough to make the angels weep, always interesting . . . a big league book.” Published by W. W. Norton Co. at $14.95. Observer subscribers may order Our Invaded Universities at the customary 20% discount on titles stocked by the Texas Observer Bookstore: 11.90 plus, for Texas residents, 609 sales tax. No charge for postage if remittance accompanies your order. THE TEXAS OBSERVER BOOKSTORE 600 W 7 AUSTIN 78701