Editorials
Contents Volume CVI, Number 20 Correspondence 612 Editorials 613 Kind word for Carter: Thomas Powers 615 People who are fire: John Garvey 617 The poet as theologian of secularity: Lawrence S....
...It would seem wise to us if the people who sponsor and edit Family Planning Perspectives would not only publish articles like Callahan's and write press releases about them--but take them to heart as well...
...at least on this point "the normal democratic political process" has supported their position...
...A study conducted for the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a Chrysler collapse would reduce employment nationwide by 500,000 to 600,000 persons...
...A story appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times carried the headline: "End Abortion Bias, Catholic Urges...
...Chrysler is the tenth largest industrial corporation in the United States, and its present plight provides an opportunity for some meaning.ful social innovation in this country...
...Chappaquiddick was an awful mess, and it 9 November 1979:615...
...and Canada, $20...
...As far as that goes, why cannot an aid plan be devised that would involve some conversion of ownership into the hands of Chrysler workers...
...Ruth E. Taylor Publisher...
...Unsolicited manuscripts ar welcome but cannot be considered of returned unless accompanied by a self-nddi'essed stamped envelope...
...Why mention Daniel Callahan'sformer link to a Catholic magazine in the fast sentence when his current position u director of the Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences--much more pertinent to his views on government policy toward abortion, in any case-- is relegated to the second paragraph...
...Nowhere in this article does Callahan speak as a Catholic--[hdeed in recent years he has carefully refrained from identifying himself as a Catholic at Commonweal: 614all...
...THE LABEL GAME Wehave grown accustomed to the more hysterical misrepresentations that issue from various factions on either side of the abortion debate...
...it is whether representatives of one's group are always singled out for a religious identification...
...Federal financial support for abortions for poor women should be restored," it began, "according to Daniel Callalum, prominent ethicist and a former editor of the Catholic magazine Commonweal...
...Ted Kennedy...
...Chrysler blames its plight on three factors: the difficulties arising from government regulations mandating better mileage figures, the shift away from profitable larger cars because of the oil shortage, and the general economic recession...
...To this, outside observers would add management incompetence...
...It is the pro-choice lobby that wants tax monies to go for a specific purpose despite the majority decision of Congress...
...625 The uses of adversity: Saul Maloff 628 I l l l l l l . I. - . ' . - - - - I I . 9 v~ Av / II II II II III I 1 ' - ' - " ,_ . . . . -,,a-nn ". m m m 'av,a,v~ v, 9 """ II IP " Books Aborting America: Robert G. Hoyt 631 The Nuclear Question: Thomas Powers 633 The Gnostic Gospels: Pheme Perkins 634 The Obstacle Race: Maureen MuUarkey 636 With Clumsy Grace: David O'Brien 638 Staff Editor...
...SHOULD WE BAIL CHRYSLER OUT...
...Details vary from study to study, but the figures in all of them are gloomy...
...Told that this was out of the question ($250 million in aid to the Lockheed Corporation was narrowly approved by Congress in 1971),.Chrysler then submitted a financial bail-out plan calling for $1.2 billion in immediate and standby federal loan guarantees, a sum Treasury Secretary G. William Miller promptly called "way out of line...
...The answer came soon...
...we share many of the reservations expressed about bailing out the most inefficient of the Big Three...
...The most obvious test of bigotry is not that of outright persecution...
...And what is there to make us think that Chrysler management would make wiser decisions in the future than it had in the past...
...No one can claim that the West German economy has suffered as a result, and the phenomenon is spreading...
...212) MU 3-2042...
...The misrepresentation in the newspaper and radio reporting is directly traceable to the calculated emphasis on "Catholic magazine Commonweal" in the original press release...
...Abortion rights proponents run grave risks in "trying to define the abortion issue as essentially religious . . . . I have seen nothing to convince me that abortion is inherently a more religious issue than justice, peace or the general social welfare...
...A shutdown of its activities, it estimates, would result in the loss of 200,000 to 300,000 jobs and a total cost to taxpayers of $1 billion...
...If the rescue operation is approved, Chrysler estimates that its loss would be cut to $482 miUion in 1980, and for 1981 it projects a $393 million profit...
...Nowhere does he speak of "abortion on demand...
...Worker participation on the board of directors that is numerically significant, widespread worker ownership of stock, public members on the board of directors-- these should all be part of the Chrysler deal...
...In the long run, he concludes, "the abortion rights movement will be judged by the extent to which it recognizes the moral ambiguity of abortion, and makes this sense of ambiguity clear by working as hard to reduce abortions as to increase their availability...
...Special two-year rate: $35...
...To tell the truth, I wonder too...
...As of this moment, Chrysler projects losses of $1.073 billion for 1979--which would be the largest loss ever reported by an American corporation...
...Edward S. Skillin Commonweal, A Review of Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts, is published biweekly, except monthly Christmas-New Year's and July and Augug, by Commonweal Publishing Co., 232 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y...
...The Wall Street Journal took a similar dim view, and so too did many in Congress...
...10016...
...Sitting around the White House on a rainy November Sunday, with the papers of a dozen cities strewn about, sick of reading, sick of talking, sick of the sullen petulance of un-pleaseable Washington, presidents must wonder if it was really a good idea to go after the job...
...he was outraged at the idea of a subsidy for an inefficient competitor...
...Recently a more subtle, and hence mote interesting, example came our way...
...Why did the supposedly hard-pressed corporation continue to pay dividends fight into 1979...
...Now this was passably strange...
...James O'Gara Executive Editor: Peter Steinfels Assistant Editors: Daniel M. Murtaugh, David Toolan Editorial Assistant: Anne Robertson Columnists: John ~Garvey, Frank Getlein, Abigail McCarthy, Thomas Powers Movies: Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr...
...By guaranteeing loans to Chrysler, the government would assure lenders of repayment, and the arrangement would also assure a low interest rate for the corporation...
...Single copy, $1...
...Thus in criticizing the argument that government should withdraw from such a morally sensitive area, Callahan points out "there is no principle in our policy, which allows individual taxpayers to pick and choose those things they would like to see their tax money spent for . . . . What is open to citizens is to work politically to change those policies to which they object...
...Standing at the bulletproof window, watching the drops of rain slide down the glass, he must wonder what he could have done to deserve...
...At one point, he insists that "whatever else it may have decided,Roe v. Wade did not establish the right of a woman to obtain an abortion at public expense...
...Contents Volume CVI, Number 20 Correspondence 612 Editorials 613 Kind word for Carter: Thomas Powers 615 People who are fire: John Garvey 617 The poet as theologian of secularity: Lawrence S. Cunningham 619 The father of Studs: James Finn 622 What Iris Murdoch doesn't know: Sally Cunneen 623 9 Screen: Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr...
...Clearly the auto union is intent on trying to keep Chrysler afloat and save 110,000 members' jobs...
...experiment with a giant corporation along these lines...
...How many newspapers ran the same or similar stories...
...Nonetheless, it should be noted that the Treasury Department remains unconvinced...
...They have their bad moments too...
...In any case, without federal assistance Chrysler claims that its condition would confront the nation with an "extremely serious" situation...
...But later, after numerous references to "the right of free choice," Callahan concludes that "the right to an abortidn would be de facto discriminatory if government policy precluded those unable to pay because of poverty from exercising their right...
...This point aside, Callahan's article is filled with sound observations...
...And what about Catholicism...
...A former editor of the Catholic magazine Commonweal, Callahan said poor women--just as those who can pay--have a legal right to abortion...
...Lastly, and not unimpor: tantly, provision should be made for significant public interest representation on the Chrysler board of directors...
...At least one radio newscast in the New York area spoke of the "prominent Roman Catholic" who urged government funding for abortions...
...He seems to want to submit the problem to legislatures rather than courts, but without sufficient notice of the fact that at least the federal legislature has overwhelmingly acted on this issue, and the whole drift of the pro-choice movement has been to find a way to override this majority...
...And the Times asked some hard questions: why, for instance, could not Chrysler be sold to a foreign manufacturer...
...TheNew York Times said that if President Carter can enact his guaranteed loan program for Chrysler, it should be called the Large Corporation Management Protection Act of 1979, and said that there was something unseemly about the haste with which the White House went to work on the deal...
...He indicates how unrealistic it would be to consider Medicaid funding of abortion in keeping with "a policy of strict neutrality...
...Why cannot Chrysler be made a U.S...
...Callahan's argument is not free of muddle--whose is, in this treacherous area?--on the question of federal funding for abortion services...
...That's what Thomas Murphy of General Motors said...
...foreign, $22...
...Yearly subscriptions, U.S...
...Worker ownership might well give a shot in the arm to the present dismal rate of productivity growth in th~ auto industry, and in general it could only be a boon in an age of increasing absentee ownership...
...It was a press release from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an affdiate of Planned Parenthood, that caught our attention...
...If we are right and this is indeed the case, then aid should be given, not on a more-of-the-same basis but within an imaginative and creative legislative framework...
...After brief bargaining the settlement reached reflected this position, saving Chrysler $203 million in the next two years compared with provisions of other contracts in the industry and putting UAW's Fraser on the Chrysler board of directors, where he will undoubtedly renew his call for federal help for the ailing auto giant...
...But of course the opponents of Medicaid funding for abortions are ndt "individual taxpayers" protesting a democratically established policy...
...Telephone...
...It's not their failure to satisfy all the people all the time which gets them down, one imagines, but the ocean of grey prim, a great carping wave of it washing in every week, which suggests it's impossible to satisfy any of the people any of the time...
...Andin fact he argues that the case for federal funding of abortion for the poor shouldnot be argued on the basis of "legal right" but of "general public purpose and general public welfare" policies toward the poor...
...The plan had to be reworked, he said, in order to bring the total guarantee requested below the $1 billion mark...
...Another study, this one conducted by the Department of Transportation, makes similar predictions: at least 97,1300 domestic auto workers out of their jobs, as well as 15,000 in Canada and 7500 in Mexico, plus an additional 180,000 employees of companies that supply parts to Chryslel and 100,000 employees of dealers...
...One needs no strong reminder of previous social unrest in the Detroit area," said the Transportation Department study cryptically...
...any company wishing to incorporate under the European Community as a European corporation rather than a national one will soon be required by law to have workers on its board...
...In Detroit, for example, the Study concluded, unemployment would increase from 8.7 percent to as high as 19 percent, which would be a disaster...
...It was against this background that the United Auto Workers and Chrysler started contract talks...
...However, even the most optimistic estimates agree that the impact of a Chrysler failure would be severe, in terms of jobs, unemployment benefits paid out and revenue in taxes lost...
...All such extreme estimates are based, says Treasury, on a "worst case" situation: the complete shutdown of all Chrysler facilities, which Treasury officials do not believe a likely outcome...
...B EING PRESIDENT isn't all roses...
...Behind this flurry of publicity was an article by Daniel Callahan in the September/Octol~er issue of Fam/ly Planning Perspectives, a journal published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood...
...Good public policy, in effect, might lead a legislature to fund abortion services, but that is not a position to be derived from constitutional rulings...
...The study also concluded that a Chrysler shutdown would cost $1.5 billion a year in unemployment benefits and erode federal income taxes by $500 million...
...Callahan was not writing as a Catholic dissenting from the institutional church's position on Medicaid funding...
...The immediate impulse in a more-or-less free enterprise system is to say no...
...He warns that there is also "something unsavory and morally evasive in arguing for abortion services as a means of coping with spiraling welfare costs" though he believes that the plight of the poor calls for abortion funding...
...If it is in the public interest to bail Chrysler out, a start should at least be made toward transforming thecompany into a true public interest corporation...
...His article was, in the main, addressed to abortion rights advocates and warned them, among other things, against clumsy efforts at religious manipulation...
...There m. ay be subtleties here which escape us, but it does seem that, at'one moment, Callahan wants to rescue this topic from the sphere of "rights" and place it in the sphere of "prudence" but, at the next moment, he can't quite do it...
...What better chance will we have to begin the necessary enlargement of the social vision of these great corporations...
...In West Germany labor holds half the board seats in 700 corporations involving almost six million workers...
...Based on a UPI dispatch, in ram based on the press release, the story began: "A prominent Roman Catholic ethidan, Daniel Callahan, urged the govemmont Sunday to end 'arbitrary discrimination' by restoring federal payments for abortion on demand...
...The company employs 140,000 workers in the United States and Canada...
...Should the United States bail Chrysler out...
...II I I Of several minds: Thomas Powers KIND WORD FOR CARTER DO PEOPLE REALLY MISS LBJ & NIXON...
...But once a policy has been put in place by the normal democratic political process, then individual taxpayers cannot be allowed to act in disregard of that policy...
...Roman Catholic legislators opposed to abortion are usually labeled as 'Roman Catholic legislators' -- others are simply 'legislators.' " One might add that ethicists who have a Roman Catholic connection in their background are liable to have that prominently displayed in press releases rather than more relevant labels...
...Ill I F IRST "DIE Chrysler Co/poration wanted a $1 billion advance against the tax credits it is earning by operating in the red...
...foreign, $39...
...Poetry: John Fan,el Correspondents: i~rian Wicker (Great Britain), Desmond Fisher (Dublin), Alain Woodrow (Paris) Staff: Karen F. Silva, Harriette Balsky, Jacqueline Reeves Advertising Manager...
...But with unemployment where it is, with a recession that may be a real depression looming, and with a presidential election next year, it will be hard for Congress to say no to President Caaer's plan to prevent Chrysler from going down the fiscal drain...
...They say a more realistic outcome would be shrunken 9 November 1979:613production, the sale of assets to foreign or domestic competitors, and continued operation by many Chrysler units...
...But in view of the resulting publicity, it is Callahan's reflections on the religious dimension that is most ironic...
...Even so relentlessly healthy a spirit as Jimmy Carter's must surrender to doubt and gloom from time to time...
...Good questions, all of them, although they do not touch on the extent to which big corporations (including GM) already get public subsidies...
...The UAW rejected the idea of a two-year freeze on wages and benefits, which would have amounted to a 25 percent reduction in the standard of living for union members, but UAW President Douglas A. Fraser suggested a contract that would only keep workers abreast of rising costs, without the raise won from Ford and GM...
Vol. 106 • November 1979 • No. 20
