Silver City Daily Press from Silver City, New Mexico • Page 23

4D SILVER CITY DAILY PRESS--Thursday, April IS, 1976 Higher Living Standard Tougher To Find Cliff News EDITOR'S NOTE For the firs! time since World War II, the American Middle class finds Its progress slowed, or a A sociologist says "They won't go up the mobility ladder Into larger houses. The kids may live with them By JOHN BARBOUR AP Newsfeatures Writer The American middle class, in the 42 per cent of the taxpayers who shell out 54 per cent of the taxes, conies into i i a i a grudge against government and a sense of being shortchanged. They've obeyed the rules, struggling up the ladder in the traditional American a only to see i life-styles eroded by inflation, soaring taxes and recession. SPORTS SLEUTH Color Matctl I A I A A I A I 6 I I I I A 'S A 0 A A A 0 I A I I I A Yesterday's unlisted clue: REFUNDS FIND the listed words in the i a a They run in all directions-- forward, backward, up. down and diagonally.

Unlisted clue hint: CALIFORNIA'S ICEMEN Reds Red Sox Black Hawks Detroit California Blues Redskins Boston St. Louis Cincinnati Browns Red Wings Chicago Cleveland Washington Kin I Features Syndicate, Inc.) 4 1 5 PUZZLE PANSI For your own special collection of WO11D SLEUTH puzzles in hindsome magazine format, send 75 cents (cash, check, money order) lo WORD SLEUTH No. 4, Charlton Building, Derby, Connecticut 06418. Allow at least three weeks for delivery. Paying for a government whose regulations and programs pervade the fabric of the nation's life is costly, and the burden falls on the middle class because, as one economist puts it, "That's where the money is." Populist cries to the contrary, the burden will remain there.

There just aren't enough rich to soak. Two-tenths of one per cent of the tax returns filed in 1973 reported incomes of $100,000 or more. Which doesn't ease theplight of the middle class, but rather sets it in concrete. The middle class pays the bill, and the bill gets bigger while the dollar gets smaller. Studies show that a man who made $15,000 in 1966 needed $25,700 just to stay even with taxes and inflation by 1975.

The taxpayer who made $20,000 in 1966 needed $36,000 to keep pace nine years later. Swollen by the economic expansion of two decades, the middle class of the mid-70s is a by the present, uneasy about the future. Its traditional confidence and optimism has yielded to widespread distrust of government and business. Poll after poll plots the middle class malaise a sense of running hard to stay in place, a feeling of being overtaxed and underserved. A Tax a i shows that a man making S30.000 in 1966 would need $56,700 by 1975 to maintain the same purchasing power.

His federal taxes would have tripled, his state and local taxes more than quadrupled. In a new study, statistician a i of the Bureau of Economic Analysis applied the cost of living rise to actual gains in income as indicated by Social Security contributions for 1969 and 1973. He found that the more a person earned in 1969, the smaller the chance that his income could keep up with inflation. And the older he was in 1969, the less likely his income kept up with prices. Of 30-year-olds a i $15,000 or more in 1969, 48 per cent just managed to keep up with inflation or fell behind.

Of SOyear-olds in the same 1969 pay range, more than half had merely kept pace or fallen behind. "A lot of these people have the impression that been double-crossed," says sociologist Louis Masotti of Northwestern University, who a i i class trends and attitudes. "They followed all the precepts of the good A i a i They worked hard, they did all the things they were supposed to do, and none of the rewards they expected seem to be coming down." In absolute terms, the middle class has greatly expanded in the generation following World War II. The median income has risen steadily and is now near $13,000. By 1970,57 per cent of American families made $12,000 or more.

Almost 30 per cent made between $15,000 and $20,000. And from Americans in the broader range of $10,000 to $35,000 conies three-quarters of the a i expenditures. feel bad, the nation feels bad. And today, says sociologist Masotti, "they are feeling they have been deprived of their just rewards for having invested in the system and they may very well take it out on the system." Masotti says that "Because the middle class malaise will be transferred to government, the government will in withdraw benefits from the PEOPLE'S FORUM ON EDUCATION Dear New Mexican, As the father of five children attending public schools in New Mexico from the elementary to the university levels, I share your interest in our state's education system. As Governor asked that a citizen's analysis be conducted to afford parents special opportunities for influencing school policy.

This questionnaire is one aspect of the People's Forum on Education. The goat of this study, in the broadest sense, is lo learn more about what the people of New Mexico think regarding public education. The information gathered from the questionnaires will come directly to those of us responsible for making changes to improve the quality of education. I hope you will express your concerns and check items of interest. I also hope that you will take advantage of the small group meetings in your community beginning April 12th.

By attending these local Forums on Education, you may voice your opinions and personally help develop goals for education. Thank you for your opinion, your lime, and your help. Sincerely Jerry Apodaca, Governor of New Mexico The following are topics related to (he public schools in New Mexico. For each topic, please indicate wilh an whether your are concerned, unconcerned, or neither concerned nor unconcerned. Also, please indicate with an whether you are satisfied, dissatisfied, or neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

I 5 5 teaching of health school libraries teaching of economics help foi physically handicapped pupils quality of teaching teaching of arithmetic help for mentally handicapped pupils drug education summer program for students teachers' interest in their schools school bus seiviccs amount of homework tenure skill training for technical jobs (vocational education) sports and inlrammal programs meals for pupils after school activities: plays, cluhs, etc discipline school's communication with parents student progress reports with parents bilingual education teaching of writing (composition) community use of school facilities paient participation in schools students' interest in then- schools school budget guidance and counseling services length of school day preparation for college preparation for white-collar jobs school medical services teaching of reading teacher concern for pupils school administration students getting jobs after leaving school number of students attending school regularly violence and vandalism school drop out rale academic content in kindergarten getting more money for abuse racial or ethnic conflict Please indicate your choice by marking an in Uie appro- priale space. High school graduating requirements should hi- raised he lowered remain about the same College entrance requirements should be raised be lowered remain about the same If your school had extra money, on which three of the following (mark your choices with an x) would you recommend that the money he spent? special education for physically and mentally handicapped school activities, such as plays, clubs, etc. bilingual education -guidance counselors food services academic courses transportation (school buses) sports and intramural programs --vocational education drug education testing programs teachers' salaries another school(s) in the district equipment (e.g. typewriters, calculators, laboratories, and shop equipment) remodel present school(s) books for school libraries furnishings (e.g., new desks) oilier (explain) 1. Do you have children who are in school? Yes No 2.

Are you now a studenl? Yes No 3. What school district do you live in? 4. What is the town or city in which you live? 5. What is the population of the town or city in which you live? to 25,000 to 50,000 to 100,000 or more. 1000 1001 to 2SOO 2501 to 5000 5001 to 10,000 6.

How old are you? 18 years years years years or over 7. What is your approximate household yearly income? 0 to $2500 $10,001 to $15,000 $2501 (o $5000 $15,001 to $20,000 $5001 to $10,000 over $20,000 Please add additional comments on a separate piece of paper and enclose it with the questionnaire. All of your answers on this questionnaire are completely CONFIDENTIAL. Please do not place your name on the questionnaire. When you finish completing the questionnaire, please place it in an envelope and mail it to: The People's Form on Education Of fice of the Governor Santa Fe, NM 87501 Thank You! lower class, the i of advanced welfare socialism we've been engaged in.

"I think we have an increasingly dependent society down a is going to be or could become violent." The genesis of the middle class discontent is that they are achievers, and in recent a a a i to achieve. One professional who livesin Washington's suburban Fairfax County summed it up for himself: "What's better off? We lived paycheck to paycheck five years ago, we i a a So the paycheck's bigger. Broke at the end of the week is broke at the end of the week. We can't do any more now than we did five years Last October, the University of i i a Research Center found that only five per cent of Americans thought government was doing a good job on economic policy, a figure that is very nearly a statistical zero. In another poll last year the SRC found that 42 per cent of A i a felt they were worse off than a year before and 32 per cent considered themselves worse off than five years before.

Both figures were 10 percentage points higher than during the 1958 recession, the last' nadir of any size affecting the nation. "The middle class feels it is under terrific pressure," says SRC's Jay Schmiedeskamp, dean of economic attitude surveyors. "This is in sharp con- irasl to the explosive spread of affluence in the Sixties. I'm talking about the people who were coming to have a lot of money to spend on second cars, second houses, "Most particularly in the last two years these people are being by i a i by unemployment. But more than that, in the last five years when the growth of real income was just enormously less than it was during the super decade of the Sixties." Of course, the recession has hit everyone.

But for the suburb a a i between $15,000 and $20,000, i his home upkeep, his taxes, his i i bills, his i a debt, his car or cars, are many more fixed expenses, more places for the money to go. This hypothetical middle class homeowner needed salary increases totaling some 54,600 in four years just to hold his own. For young people seeking to follow the middle class path, the obstacles to home ownership seem all but insurmountable high mortgage interest rates, high taxes, high maintenance costs, and especially high prices. The median price of an existing home sold in October 1966 was $18,290. In October 1975, it was $35,380.

New home prices a gone up almost 50 per cent in the last 10 years, and builders are now talking about "no frills" homes to cut costs. New home sales are dramatically down and, beginning in 1974, the sales of existing homes also because of tight credit, climbing interest rates and shrinking mortgage money. a i a a ensconced in the suburbs, the rise in home values is a gain. As real money, however, it is illusory. A 32-year-old city employe in the Los A bought a new home for his family for $40,000 two years ago.

It is worth $70,000 today. "Isn't that ridiculous?" he asks. "I suppose the difference would be money gained if we could sell it, take the money and move to some place like Snake Navel, Wyo. But if 1 were to move to a larger home in this area, I'd have to buy at an inflated price, and that's hardly money gained." "I have about $200 a month in installment debt, besides the mortgage," says a 36-year-old salesman who lives with his i and two children in Chicago's suburban Hoffman Estates. "That's a problem.

It rules out the chance of buying anything we can do without." Doubled or tripled fuel bills are widely resented. A 33'. yearold teacher who lives with I his wife and two children in a Denver (the family income is $21,000, including the $3,000 she makes as a sales clerk) says, "We paid about $20 a month for electricity and gas four.years ago. Now even with the air conditioning off as often as we can in summer and the thermostat at 68 degrees during winter, and wearing sweaters, it's now as much as $60 some months and probably averages $50 year round." The car too. It.helped create the suburbs, where many middle class families now own two autos.

Indispensable to suburban life where there's little public transportation, the car. has turned albatross. In 1967, federal figures show, it cost 11 cents a mile to drive a standard sedan. By 1974, it was up to 16 cents and climbing with rising gasoline and insurance costs. Eighty-nine percent of suburbanites own at least one car.

More even a i a home and a a i characterizes the middle class standards. "Education has been and is the hallmark of the American middle class. Going way back into our history, the notion of the 'educated man' has been almost synonymous with the middle class," wrote Ben J. Wattenburg, demographer and census expert. For years, the middle class willingly bore the costs.

Today, there are signs of growing middle class discontent over rising taxes arid what some sense as a declining quality of education. Schools claim about 45 cents of every property tax dollar, and about the same bite of every a in a and federal aid to local communities. In good years, school bond issues had a 60 per cent chance of approval nationwide. But by 1974, the taxpaying public had turned around. Of S3.6 billion offered for approval that year, the voters passed only $1.6 billion, or 45 per cent.

In 1975, of $2.2 i i approved only $912 million, or little more than 40 per cent. What does the middle class do? a i another a period of economic expansion, "one choice is to adapt," says sociologist Masotti. "That's a A i a response. You make do with less and muddle through They'll adjust their expectations downward. They won't go up the mobility ladder into larger houses.

The kids may live with them "On the other hand, the variety of opportunities to express discontent. Through elections. Particularly referendum elections. That isn't as evident in the East or Midwest as it is on the West Coast, where most anything is decided by submitting it to the public for a vote. And those people things down left and right.

"Government is going to have to think small, because they're not going to give it the money to think big." Roy Acuff Remains In Hospital NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Country music singer Roy Acuff, hospitalized after suffering a mild a attack, should take a two-month rest from performing, his doctor says. Acuff, 72, the "King of Country Music," is in the cardiac care i at Miller Hospital Clinic. He was stricken over the weekend. Acuff will be hospitalized for two or three weeks.

By GENELL COOK Mr. and Mrs. Lou Wakefield from Hurley visited Mr. and Mrs. Bob Thorn and Linnie Rice Thursday.

Mr. and Mrs. i Ferrell left Friday for a week's stay in west Memphis, Ferrell's Mrs. Smith is in the hospital there. Mrs.

Nan Burns was badly burned when a skillet blew up at her home Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. John Lee have summer. They have spent the winter in Arizona.

Bill Key was up from Safford, Ariz, for a load of hay from Pacific Western. A brand new 10-week Pool Tournament was started this week at the Cliff Patio Gardens. Donald Hooker was the winner of the first week. Mr. and Mrs.

Rod McNat went to Albuquerque Sunday for Mrs. McNats treatment the 12th, at the Lovelace Clinic. Mrs. Dorothy Jackson of Gila flew up to Colorado Springs, to visit her son and family, Mr. and Mrs.

Thomas Jackson. George Jackson drove up for the weekend to bring Mrs. Jackson home. Mr. and Mrs.

Dale Drummond of Silver City were Sunday guests of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Drummond of Buckhorn. Mrs. Ray Johnson has returned from A where she has been visitingher daughter and a i Mrs.

Mary Rydeski. Mr. and Mrs. David Morgan and son Davie went to Glenwood on business Sunday. Mr.

and Mrs. H. A. Larmon of Hurley were Monday guests of Mr. and Mrs.

T. P. Cook. Pete Buresh was in Las Cruces on business this week. Cecilo Ogas went to Snow Lake Wednesday.

Mrs. Margie Dinwiddie left Sunday for Tucson. She will spend a few days with her daughter, Mrs. Terri Hale and family. Donald Hooker attended the Calcutta at Silver City Saturday.

Glen McCauley recently had surgery and is reported doing fine. The women's Home Extension Club will i monthly meeting Thursday, April 15 at the Club House. Mrs. LaVerne McCauley held the ceramics class at her home A i 7. a covered dish for lunch and many things were made a to fire.

Those a i were Taylor a a Pattie Stephens, Jean Dickerson, Karon Alexander, Lilian Brn, Viola Eakins, Betty Hooker and Jeff and LaVerne McCauley. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Miller spent Saturday i with Bob's grandmother, Mrs. Nettie Reed of Gila.

Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Reed of Tyrone were also Saturday guests of Mrs. Nettie Reed. Mr.

and Mrs. Bennie Smith from Globe, had lunch Sunday with Smith's sister, Mrs. John Scott of Riversidde, also Lola Warden from Bayard and her sister from Ohio were Tuesday lunch guests of Mr. and Mrs. John Scott.

Roy and Lurline Sharbono from Pineville, are here visiting Mr. and Mrs. Lyn Thompson. TheSharbonos are cousins of Mrs. Thompson.

The Forest Service had a going away party at the Cow Palace at Cliff for Bill and Ten Wright Saturday night. They had a dinner and dance following. Hugh Bishop's Worley Feed Store at Gila is now completed and ready for business. Mr: and Mrs. David Mallard and children, Troy and Kin- drey were Saturday guests of Mr.

and Mrs. T. P. Cook. Mr.

and Mrs. David Morgan, Genell Cook and Robert Upton, wenl to Quemado Lake fishing Friday and Saturday. They reported poor fishing. Mr. and Mrs.

Daniel Morgan attended the going away party for i a a night. Dave Snowburger went to Albuquerque Friday to bring his wife Helen home. She recently had surgery there. Jimbo Stailey is home from the hospital. Robert Clark was transferred to El Paso, Tex.

Providence hospital Monday for more tests. He came home Saturday. Mrs. Evelyn Clark and Mrs. Ida Jarrell spent the week in El Paso, Tex.

Mr, and Mrs. Jack Hookerof Redrock were Sunday guests of Mrs. Viola Eakins. Phyllis Hooker was a Sunday guest of the T. P.

Cooks. Birthdays this week will be celebrated by Debbie Barnwell and Mike Walker. Mrs. a i Dinwiddie spent two days in Reserve with her son Chuck this past week. May Will and Bessie Carter, both sisters of Mrs.

John Scott of Riverside, left for their home at Globe, last Sunday. Angelo Doitchinoff took his Agg teams to Las Cruces to compete with 78 teams. Our boys came out 16th in dairy. Those attending were: Mike Will Thompson, Stuart Rooks and Larry Dominguez. Livestock 16th, those oing were: Bobby Lewis, illy Lambeth, Jerry Dickerson and Mike Stephens.

Poultry 14th; those going were: Kevin Graves, Joe Riggins, Marvin Kartchner, and Mark Wolf; Crops 24th, boys going: Paul Norris, Pete Buresh, Joel, Hutchison arid Eddie Wood-i row; Meats 16thj boys going: TimKlumpker.KeithSt.Clair, Randy Reed, Skip Miller, and Dennis Dominguez. The Snyder-Coffey American Legion Post 55 will hold their meeting April 13 at the Cliff Hall in Cliff. All members please attend. Guests in the John Lee home Saturday were Jack Lee, Mr. and Mrs.

Kent Lee, Mrs. Susan Turner and children, all from Silver City. Mrs. Mildred Drummond of Buckhorn, Mr. and Mrs; Louis' Brown of Cliff, and Con Brown of or had dinner with Mr.

and Mrs. ErnieBrown of Silver City Wednesday. Becky HollimanandMildred Drummond went to El Paso, Tuesday to have dental work done. A Flea Mart is to be held at the Old Gila Store, Thursday, April IS from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m.

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