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IgciTirfefrttWbWLiSaVuyMirttildlSM the HERALD Outlook OUTLOOK Is published each Saturday by the HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 8778822 8772201 PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Brian MacLeod AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Second Class Mall Registered Number STAFF WRITERS Ben Alan SPORTS EDITOR Colin Gibson ACCOUNTING Jennie Hapichuk Inga Shier CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan ADVERTISING SALES JeannineValols Craig Teeter Roberts PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie Olsen Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION Marie Americas economy is still biggest in the world SNAFU by Bruce Beattie Diane Maley Your Business America is still No 1 So says The Economist a Britishbased magazine that often pokes fun at the selfabsorbed Americans Yes you are the superpower the magazine acknowledges good- naturedly The rise of Germany and Japan as economic powers has caused in the heart of Americans In response the American people are growing increasingly resentful toward their competitors This is dangerous In a recent poll per cent of Americans thought Japans economy is bigger than Americas The Economist notes It is barely half the size Americans average income is seven per cent higher than their nearest rivals who are not the Japanese but those dull Canadians Japanese productivity is legen dary but it is modest compared to Americas Output in Japan is growing faster than i is in the United States But the average Japanese worker still takes one hour to produce what his American counterpart can make in just 31 minutes Surprised There is The US share of the economy is just five percentage points lower than it was years ago The United States is a giant with a cold not a pigmy with cancer the magazine concludes This is encouraging for Canadians too Some say that En joining in a freetrade agreement with our southern neighbor we have hitched our wagon to a falling star This does not appear to be the case But the magazines editors raise questions about what the un disputed superpower will do with its power Naturally it will serve its own interests Its interests in clude global stability the magazine says Only America can ensure that Japan is not tempted because of western neglect and hauteur to build an economic and perhaps military zone of its own in Asia As well the United States may not be able to banish fear between Arab and Jew but only it can make the two sides see the sense indeed the inevitability of a com promise The most awkward challenge will be In Europe Americas power will decline there as its troops are withdrawn The United States rauit encourage German selfesteem while reassuring the French and the British that a strong and united Germany is not a monster stalking the continent The Economist says Compared to Canada the economy is relatively self- contained Even so the United States is the worlds largest ex porter It depends on open markets the British magazine argues The implication is that the United States is as dependent as Japan on free and open trade Is The Economist right Well lets look at what Americans buy Their stereos televisions VCKs and computers come from Japan They buy cars from Japaneseowned car com panies Poets Corner ALONE IN THE DARK Dont know what we want Dont know what to do Were two of a kind My friend me and you My lifes not my own And neither ii But our dreams come together Behind our closed doors Weve no place to go With these feelings we share Our lives are too full Weve got no right to care Still the fire just wont die We cant kill the spark So well both keep on dreaming Alone in the dark ByJB Acton LOVE POEM Were I as beautiful and as wise as you see me Would my days be full of domestic things and inconsequential creative flings Would I quietly occupy daylights last hours tenderly cultivating my garden of flowers engrossed In a passionate twilight chat with a cat Not that true The one who Is wise and beautiful Is you Winter morning Red cardinal sunning on white Solitude A book hearth banket near the Greed hatred hardening hearts Rush hour A lost child crying Zephyred summer sky enveloping white balloon gently rising Pop Trees In autumn change to red and gold and yellow than are naked There once was a lady from Woo Who had not a darn thing to do She sat in her room In darkness and gloom And dreamed of her death Wouldnt you A darling young chef named Ragout Delighted In making thick stew Of cold mice and carrots and brown fuzzy ferrets Encased In swamp gravy for you By Carolyn Recently divorced Where do all those tax dollars go Gil Hardy Cheer up you unemployed New foundland fishermen your membership in the International Jute Organization will soon be all paid up Take heart all you Saskat chewan farmers You may be in debt but the government is chipp ing in on your behalf to sup port the Forum And dont worry you soontobe laid off Elliot Lake uranium miners Ottawa is keeping the Pan American Institute for Geography and History in business with a grant These items gleaned from the 199091 spending estimates are among hundreds of payments that will be made to obscure and esoteric organizations by the government of Canada The cash is siphoned from taxpayers pockets But why do we care about the In ternational Jute Organization Jute the fibre of an East Indian plant is used for bags and rope among other things The plant doesnt grow in Canada For that matter neither does coffee but were pouring out this year to the Interna tional Coffee Organization Last fiscal year Canada gave not a drop of cash Ditto the International Rubber Study Group No money in 198990 but from interested Cana dians this year The External Affairs Depart ment is responsible for these payments but shouldnt be singled out as the only source of largesse We Canadians are supporters of everything from soup to nuts The Forestry Department has put us down for to run a Festival of Forestry Transport needs four times as much for its Committee And the Communications Department will pay 11000 to the International Federation of Library Associations which is a lot of overdue books The Geomatics Industry Association of Canada is getting from Industry Science and Technology down from 30000 last year Geomatics is not only a high- tech computerbased way of surveying and mapping says a department official but also very exportable The same department is forking over as much as million in each of the next five years to the Royal Society of Canada for science co ordination and advocacy The money will allow the Society to organize itself into Canadas na tional arts and sciences academy which covers the whole spectrum of scholarly endeavor another Industry Department official says The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs gets another 2S000 this year from the Labor Depart ment The same ministry is setting aside for the Canadian Joint Fire Prevention Publicity Committee which makes one wonder what the fire chiefs are do ing for their money The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has gone one bet ter rounding up cash from two departments The Solicitor General will contribute while the Justice Department is kicking in for the chiefs law amendments committee JUDGES And the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges gets from Justice Canadas geographers will walk away with from the Environ ment Department The Aero Club of Canada con fly off with from Transport Defence is dropp ing on various rifle associations The Conference of Com monwealth Statisticians can add up the it is getting from Statistics Canada Just to be sure all our number crunching bases are covered the same department is doling out for membership in the InterAmerican Statistical Jessie will be back in 1992 The charismatic Jesse Jackson a twotime presidential hopeful loves to keep them guessing To supporters who were actively encouraging him to run for mayor of Washington later this year be has finally said no after an eternity of speculation But the guessing game has merely shifted turn the mayors race back to Jacksons presidential ambitions Hes too savvy a politician to an nounce now that he will try for a third time to grab the Democratic partys nomination this time for the 1992 presidential campaign Nevertheless the smart money is saying his political ambitions are unchanged He wants to be the first black president of the United States The problem is the 48yearold preacher and civil rights activist has never been elected to any seat It appeared he was about to erase that mark against him when he moved to Washington from Chicago last year for an apparent run for the mayors job but Jackson must have realized there was more to lose than win by try ing to replace Washingtons con troversial mayor Marion Barry Polls show that many black voters oppose Jacksons candidacy for mayor while Barry remains a popular figure despite facing charges of drug possession and perjury Jackson must have asked himself a simple question what if he lost in a city where the majority of voters are blacks His political reputation would be irreparably Jackson boasts that he could have the mayors job if he wants it That may be so But if he wants to be president he would also find it difficult to break away in midterm for another presidential campaign The problems he would face as Washingtons mayor would be a potential political quagmire Just two days before he announc ed he would not run for mayor four people were gunned down in a Washington nightclub in yet another shootout over drug turf It was just another symptom of the citys plague of problems involving drugs poverty racial bitterness poor housing inadequate services and a faltering education system Progress could come slowly but why would Jackson want to risk carrying the baggage of Washingtons woes into a presiden tial campaign Massachusetts Gov Michael Dukakis found out in the last campaign how costly it was to have the filth of Boston Har bor on his hands Even though cut backs in federal water pollution programs were a main reason for the harbors stench George Bush was able to capitalize on it and paint himself as the green can didate The guessing over Jackson has now turned to two shadow Senate seats that residents in the District of Columbia may vote to tut ah