ustxtxb_obs_1982_01_29_50_00023-00000_000.pdf

EAT DOWNTOWN! BREAKFAST AND LUNCH OPEN 7:30 AM ’til 4 PM Across from the Alamo National Bank 135 East Commerce, San Antonio 225-0231 . ‘0-1 and Associates E 502 W. 15th Street Austin, Texas 78701 ET 3 477-3651 REALTOR Representing all types of properties in Austin and Central Texas Interesting & unusual property a specialty . “The Miracle of the KILLER BEES” by Robert Heard. Honey Hill Publishing Co., 1022 Bonham Terrace, Austin, Texas 78704, $7.95 plus $1.03 tax and shipping. DIALOGUE You Said It As your esteemed Editor/Publisher Ronnie Dugger knows, I have read the Observer a long time mainly to keep up with what The Left’ in Texas is up to. I am seldom in agreement with his or your political philosophy. But this is to commend your October 9, ’81 comments on “The Observer and the Road From Here.” If I’d said some of that, ol’ Ronnie would have got mad. refer specifically to your acknowledgement that the state we live in is not the one Dugger, et al, covered so ably twenty-five years ago, or a decade later. You said it, I didn’t! \(Well actually, I have said it, but it’s the first time I’ve That’s one of the reasons you folks were so amazed and disheartened by the last election’s repudiation of rampant liberalism. I hope Ronnie, et al, read your comments. Thomas E. Turner, 2401 N. 51st, Waco, Tx. 76710 Polished or Progressive? I was astonished to read in Paul Sweeny’s article “What to Expect” \(TO Whitmire lacked “the initial backing of the city’s traditional power centers.” Whitmire’s campaign was kicked off by a $150,000 fundraiser at the Shamrock Hilton hosted by executives from Tennaco, Bank of the Southwest. and Southwest Bancshares, among others. With this kind of megabucks behind her, she ran a camapaign \(characterized by her pledge to run Houston “like a busiHoover proud. And since her election, she has made it a point to recruit plenty of high-priced legal talent from places like Vinson and Elkins \(John Connally’s In light of these facts, Sweeny’s uncritical use of the quote from Richard Murray \(“She’s the first elected mayor with ridiculous. Neither Sweeny nor Wade Robert bothered to pay much attention to the candidacy of Justice of the Peace Al Green in their articles. Yet it was one of the most significant aspects of the race. Green ran a basically one-issue campaign against HPD brutality. He had no money, little media coverage and few endorsements from Black politicos, who by and large preferred to cut their own deals with McConn. In spite of these obstacles, Green finished by receiving over 50,000 votes and swept the Black precincts. Now there was a story for the Observer. I sincerely hope that these articles do not signal a shift in the Observer’s support from progressive grassroots candidates like Al Green and towards highly polished, well-financed politicians like Kathy Whitmire. Paul Jennings, 931 W. Gardner, Houston 77009. Wright on SS I would like to respond to a few of the statements made by House Majority Leader Jim Wright \(“Social Security Can Be Cured,” TO I agree with Rep. Wright’s opposition to the cutting of Social Security benefits. But I disagree with his idea of raising Federal taxes on liquor and cigarettes the proceeds being used to fund Social Security for three reasons. First, the income from this new source might fluctuate over time. Second, the Congress, under public pressure, might repeal the increases. Third, the new revenue source that I suggest in contrast to that involved in his proposal would keep the whole system self-contained. This source is appropriate increases in the Social Security tax rates for employees, for employers and for the self-employed, as well as in the earnings bases upon Good books in every field JENKINS PUBLISHING CO. The Pemberton Press John H. Jenkins, Publisher Box 2085 33 Austin 78768 which these tax rates would be applied. The 1981 payroll tax rate for employees and employers is 6.65 percent each. It will rise in steps to 7.65 percent in 1990 and level off there. The 1981 tax rate for the self-employed is 9.30 percent and this rate is scheduled to rise in steps to 10.75 percent in 1990 and to level off there. The increases which I propose will be made more palatable by the cuts in income tax levels which have just been legislated by the Congress. An increase in Social Security taxes, in order to preserve the financial soundness of the System, is supported by 51 percent of adult Americans, according to a recent Lou Harris poll. As for Rep. Wright’s suggestion of inter-fund transfers, this seems plausible as a short-term solution to the Social Security funding problem, and it is apparently being implemented but with a disastrous side-effect. According to a week-old Detroit News column, the Social Security Administration has, transferred so much money from the Disability Fund to the Retirement Fund that the former has become badly depleted, and the Administration has been consequently putting pressure upon its employees to terminate in an apparently reckless and wholesale manner the disa THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23