1997_04 The Daily Collegian April 1997

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THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Tuesday, April 1,1997
Opinion
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Supreme Court
ruling adds double
edge to EPA sword
By Paul Jackson
The Daily Collegian
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled
Wednesday that private individuals
may sue the government for prop¬
erty loss resulting from enforce¬
ment of the Endangered Species
Act.
The decision overturns a ruling
by an Oregon appellate court,
which refused to recognize property
owners' standing to sue the Envi¬
ronmental Protection Agency after
that agency interfered with their
water rights in order to protect a rare
species of salmon.
The recent decision comes as a
major victory for property rights
advocates. It also comes as wonder-
ful news to Fresnans. whose
economy depends heavily on access
to water.
Now the EPA wields a double-
edged sword. The Endangered Spe¬
cies Act is no longer one-sided, but
can be used to protect property
rights against actions taken by the
EPA to protect endangered species.
Abuse of governmental power
has occ.urred. not just in the EPA.
but in all governmental agencies at
one time or another.
But the EPA has received par¬
ticular attention because it is only
a few decades old and has garnered
considerable power in that time.
The EPA also draws unfavorable
attention because of its unique pro¬
tocol — to protect the environment
against the effects of what is often
l simply considered to be "efficient"
\ business practices.
Since such "efficiency" doesn't
take the earth's well-being into con¬
sideration, a parent-like EPA inter¬
venes in the private sector.
Conservatives, even though they
favor reducing government over¬
sight of business, have made excep¬
tions when it comes to protecting
the environment.
Theodore Roosevelt, a Repub¬
lican, was the first U.S. president
to introduce conservation measures.
Conservatism and conservation
measures go hand in hand.
Charles Murray, a social scien¬
tist with the conservative American
Enterprise Institute, last month pub¬
lished a book in which he envisions
the federal government at a small
fraction of its current size, yet with
a strong EPA.-
While boycotting and other con¬
sumer activism would, in a laissez-
faire economy, be the means of pro¬
moting a healthier environment,
public concern regarding environ¬
mental issues, though continuous
ever since the 1960s, is too weak to
exert enough pressure to control
businesses that are not environmen¬
tally responsible.
If public awareness of environ¬
mental issues was adequate, why
are people more aware of the water
needs of salmon in the Sacramento
Valley or Oregon, than they are of
their own water needs?
In California, the public water
supply is being polluted — not in
violation, but in fulfillment, of a
law.
Fluoridation of the public water
supply in most California cities,
including Fresno and Clovis. was
mandated beginning Jan. 1 of this
year.
The assumption behind this law,
as well as the "safety" of the state
Health and Safety Department's
maximum permissible level of con¬
centration (about 1 part fluoride per
one million parts water), is in seri¬
ous controversy.
Chemistry students know that
fluorine, the main ingredient in
fluoride, is a very poisonous sub¬
stance. Fluoride itself is more poi¬
sonous than lead and just slightly
more poisonous than arsenic, ac¬
cording to a 1984 study.
In a public statement that same
Please see FLOURIDE page 5.
Trickle down economics,
Reagan era revisited
By Joel Eanes
The Daily Collegian
Everyone knows the basic eco¬
nomic history of the 1980s. Presi¬
dent Ronald Reagan greedily
slashed taxes while wasting billions
on military defense projects, thus
creating a huge budget deficit. This
continued until Bill "have the cour¬
age to change" Clinton caine to
save the country. This story has
been repeated again and again. The
trouble is this account is wrong.
President Reagan came to power
in 1981, in the face of the worst
economic crisis since the Great
Depression and an aggressive So¬
viet Empire that was winning the
Cold War.
He believed that expansionist
government had removed so much
wealth from the economy that it
could no longer function. He re¬
solved to put this wealth — this
"stimulus," in Clinton's terms —
back in the economy, not by more
spending, but by cutting taxes.
To avoid deficits, spending
would have to be reduced. Because
of the Soviet threat, national de¬
fense would have to be exempt, at
least for the first few years.
Why then, did themassive defi¬
cits of the 1980s follow?
The better question is why were
ihe deficits of the 1970s were rela¬
tively small? The reason is infla¬
tion.
Usually, the government has two
ways to raise money: taxing and
borrowing. But there is a third way,
which is simply to print it. The
problem here is that, as with every¬
thing else, there is no such thing as
a free lunch.
It's the economic extension of
the Newtonian principal — for ev¬
ery action, there's an equal and op¬
posite reaction. The reaction to the
printing press is inflation.
So what is inflation? The dollar
is a way of quantifying value, the
way that, say, the foot quantifies
length. A ruler can be said to be a
length of one foot, or of 12 inches.
One number is larger than the other,
but the amount of length is the
same.
The principle of inflation works
the same way. If the governmeni
prints more money, but the amouni
of wealth in the economy is the
same, then the same-sized economy
is represented by a larger number
of dollars. Each dollar is worth less.
and a larger number of dollars is
needed to buy the same thing. This
is inflation.
So what happened in the 1970s?
The government spent more than it
took in, and covered most of the
difference by printing.
Inflation followed.
In fiscal year 1981. the last fis¬
cal year before Reagan took office,
annual inflation was at 10.4 percent.
But then the Federal Reserve,
which prints the money, began
cracking down on inflation.
It plunged during the coming
years, declining to only 1.9 percent
Please see REAGAN page 5.
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