Document:LP News Number 21 (July-August 1974): Difference between revisions

FACTS OF INTEREST ...  Bet you thought the prime rate was around 12%. Well, it is

- for those of us in the U.S.A. If you're the Portuguese government, though, you've just managed to get a 7% loan from our government to support an airline. The amount? $25.8 million ... And if you're the Yugoslavian government, you've just gotten a $176 million loan at the same rate ... And if you 're the Israeli government, you've just been forgiven $500 million worth of debt outright.

BULL-WHAT? ...  A man was fined $10,000 and given a 90-day jail term for

smuggling bull semen into the United States. Smuggling bull semen is a federal crime, you see.

WITHERING AWAY ...  The Department of Consumer Affairs was formed to handle

consumer complaints. A spokesman for the Department, however, says that such complaints are "down to a trickle." What's a bureaucracy to do? "We are actively soliciting complaints," continues the spokesman.

VOTING WRONGS ...  Ralph Nader recently proposed that voting in the United

States be made mandatory, this after the 1974 primary turnout was the lowest in recent memory (can't imagine why). Voting is mandatory in many other countries, of course, notable Australia where you're fined $10 if you don't vote ... In Guatemala, you have to vote if you're literate, but if you're illiterate, the option is yours ... In the Netherlands, it only costs $280 to put up a slate of candidates in an electoral district, resulting in 28 political parties listed on the ballot last year ... In Kenya, there are three primary qualifications for voting. If you meet only one of them, you only get one vote; if you meet two out of three, you get two votes; and you get three votes if you meet all three ... Bankrupts may not vote in Trinidad and Tobago ... Police and soldiers may not vote in Kuwait ... Up until 1961, people receiving public assistance in Denmark were barred from voting.

POST WASTE ... The Postal Service is considering raising first-class rates again, to 13c, while elsewhere in the same department, they're advertising stamps that will never be used.

NOW HEAR THIS ... The House Communications Committee has approved a bill

requiring that most radios be equipped to receive FM as well as AM. What's the reason? Who needs a reason? Next question ...

FOR OTHERS, THEY SING ... The government of Quebec spent $100,000 to build a home for 1000 pigeons, who decided they didn't like it, and never moved in. The real pigeons, of course, were the taxpayers ...

NOW I UNDERSTAND ... The Semanticist of the Month Award goes to Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, whom U.S. News and World Report quotes as follows: "Even the proclamation of martial law and the setting up of a corresponding crisis Government is a part of democracy and in accordance with our Constitution ... Some call it dictatorship; I call it authoritarianism… Oh. Thanks for explaining the difference.

CAPSULE WATERGATE ANALYSIS ...  ''The American People have witnessed a series of events which every day erodes their trust in Government." - Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, D-Minn.

UNPRINCIPLED OPPORTUNISM ... Back in July, Gerald Ford told a conference of the Urban League that "the progress you hope to make in the future will rest on the ability of blacks and other nonwhite leaders to become successful, pragmatic politicians." Of course, what did you expect from Nixon's vice president?

AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS ... Business Week of August 3 featured an article on the Austrian School of Economics, giving prominence to Israel Kirzner of NYU, Walter Grinder of Rutgers, and, of course, Murray Rothbard of New York Polytechnic Institute.

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