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The Citizen, 1994-03-09, Page 5£ Arthur Black Thank God America’s crooks aren't good at it What's the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the world Miami? Chances are, quicker than I can say 'kneejerk', the word "crime" pops up on your mindscreen. There was, after all, a hit TV show called Miami Vice. Just about every edition of your daily newspaper bristles with headlines about cocaine cartels, heroin busts and tourist homicides. And an awful lot of those headlines are followed by stories datelined 'Miami'. Shouldn't be too surprising. Miami is a nice warm place, and crooks, like the rest of us, prefer to be nice and warm. We are talking about a country in which 38,000 people get shot to death every year; a country with the highest percentage in the world of its citizens behind bars. A country which boasts 200 million handguns stuffed under pillows, in underwear drawers and in glove compartments. And those are the legally owned handguns. Nobody knows how many illegal ones are out there, waiting to go off. America has more than its fair share of criminals, armed and otherwise. Thank God International Scene By Raymond Canon The Uruguay round completed — finally!! I would imagine that most people would have trouble finding Uruguay on the map; for this reason the mention of the "Uruguay Round" would not mean a great deal to them. However, whenever the member nations of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade get together for another round of talks, the location of the first meeting generally gives the name to that round. So it is that the first place that the GATT members met to discuss a further reduction in trade barriers, it was in the South American country of Uruguay. It doesn't matter that, in the seven years of the discussions, nothing further was discussed there; that is the name that has stuck. At any rate trying, in the space of a short article, to explain the impact of the latest agreement is tantamount to explaining nuclear physics to a kindergarten class. However, I will try and I will start out by saying that, since GATT was established in the aftermath of World War II, it has proven to be one of the greatest contributors to economic growth that this century has seen; Canada would certainly be a far poorer nation without it. Its origin goes back to two of the earliest economists, Adam Smith and David Ricardo, both from England, who formulated their theories in the 18th century but it took the Great Depression of the 1930s to show the world how bad protectionism could be and thus it was almost 200 years later before trade liberalization was given its first real baptism fire. We have never looked back! This is not to say that it has been a bed of roses. Part of the problem is that people tend to take either one or the other of the following points of view. It is either the greatest thing that has ever happened to a \ they're not too good at it. What? You thought American crooks were shrewd and ruthless and competent? Hardly. Not the ones that make the papers anyway. Such as Vernon Lewis, would-be bank holder-upper. Vernon entered a bank in Perth Amboy, New Jersey one afternoon recently and proceeded to conduct himself in classic bank heist fashion. He handed a note to the teller which read "I want $100s and $50s. You have 60 seconds. I have a gun." A fine specimen, as stickup notes go. Clear, succinct, no spelling mistakes. It got Vernon $850 in hundreds and fifties. But not for long. Good as the note was, Vernon's choice of writing paper left something to be desired. He wrote the note on the back of an old warrant for his arrest. No points for brains, Vernon, but full marks for recycling. Then there was the case of Michael Foster and his under age pal who almost pulled off the perfect theft of an electronic dart game from a tavern. A rather...heavy electronic dart game. The light-fingered lads managed to hoist it on to the back of their pick-up truck in the tavern parking lot, but when they pulled away, the truck sank up to the axles in the soft parking lot mud. Which is when Michael had his bright idea. He called Jim Paape and asked for a tow. country or else it is bad, bad, bad. Those of us who can see something of both in any deal such as a GATT round find ourselves caught in the crossfire and we run the constant risk of being dragged into one or the other of the camps. If we say something favourable, we are automatically pro-GATT; if, on the other hand, we criticize it, we are lumped in with the 99 99/100 per cent free traders. Let's look at the Uruguay Round from the point of view of its critics. To my mind the most vociferous are, without a doubt, the members of the marketing boards in Canada, who see their whole way of life threatened. From the point of view of the protection which such boards have brought these people, I can honestly say that I would feel the same way if I were a member. It has brought them a considerable amount of stability and nobody likes to give that up. However, given the wrenching changes that are taking place in every major economy, it is difficult at best to maintain stability. Ask the Japanese rice farmers; they are even more entrenched than the marketing boards and they have seen GATT pull the rug out from under their cosy arrangement with the Japanese government. As we go into the next century, no sector of the economy, it seems, will be spared. How much will the world benefit from the Uruguay Round? Well, I do not have any magic figure that have been provided by an "impeccable source" but I would estimate that the benefit would be upwards of $200 billion when everything falls into place. To calm the fears of some, I should hasten to add that this is not a sero-sum game; this means that $200 billion will not come out of somebody's pocket, it will be additional income. One of the winners has to be the consumer although I should caution that this will not come overnight and, when it does, it will be gradual. Far too often the consumer has been sacrificed on the altar of expediency of some interest group; to cite THE CITIZEN, Ah, that would be Sheriff Jim Paape. In a triumph of understatement Sheriff Paape observed, "The boys didn't put a real lot of thought into this." One could level the same charge at the thieves who knocked over two music stores in Kansas City a few weeks back, getting clean away with a truckload of CD boxes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they'd had any CDs inside. They didn't. The boxes were for display only. How about one story in which the crooks don't trip over their own feet? I give you the sad tale of Mina Mullins, a young millionairess driving home alone one evening when she was suddenly rear-ended. Mina pulled over, got out of her car and found herself face to face with two men in balaclavas. Ah, yes. The classic bump and rob gambit, in which thieves 'accidentally' bump into a car, then rob the passengers when they pull over to check the damage. They took her purse and the $100,000 worth of jewellery she happened to be wearing. They also took her Mercedes. Later, a rueful Mina Mullins confessed "I forgot all the safety rules when I got out of the car." Ironic, that Mina Mullins of all people should forget the rules. After all the robbery happened in Surrey, England. Which is where Mina Mullins moved to get away from the rising crime rate back in her home town... Mi ami. one example, when we put quotas on the number of Japanese cars that could be imported into Canada, it cost the consumer $ 150,000 for every job saved. From where I sit Canada has the potential to become a winner in two segments. At the same time as we are dismantling more of our trade barriers, we have also finally started to come to grips with the barriers, and there are many, which exist between provinces. We are discovering that, if we are to play on a level playing field in the world of international competition, we have to increase this competition at home. Many of these barriers would be totally ludicrous if so many people didn't take them seriously. For a country that has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of free trade, we are actually quite good when it comes to competing on foreign markets. My files contain any number of examples of firms, of which you have probably never heard, but let me add another to the list. New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg has just completed an agreement to supply New Orleans with 300 buses. You probably didn't know that they made buses in Winnipeg but obviously they do and successfully, it seems. Even with GATT, life will not be a bed of roses but we are well positioned to benefit from it as much as any other country. Marketing board farmers have a while to get ready for the new reality and I hope that some day they, too, will see that their industries can be more competitive than they thought. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9,1994. PAGE 5. A place to get acquainted This past week some area students were enthusiastically preparing to present their speeches to an audience of their peers, parents and the public. The ability to stand up in front of a large number and talk, is, among other things, a talent. It's not enough to be a good writer, the most glorious epistle can be pretty humdrum if not delivered with colour and » enthusiasm. Without poise, confidence and a certain flare for drama you will most certainly lose your audience. For most of us the vulnerability we feel being up front, overpowers any capability of carrying on this conversation, which is in essence what public speaking is — the speaker converses through story-telling and the sharing of views and opinions, while the audience practises the fine art of listening. We should, however, all be comfortable with regular conversation, even though it sometimes seems we don't remember how to listen and talk to each other anymore. Busy lives may mean less time to sit and hone these fine skills. One of the places where there is still opportunity for conversation however, is the dinner table. As the considerably younger child in a small family, dinners weren't always a lively place of chit chat at our house, but one of my most sweetest childhood memories was when my two older siblings, as well as three young adult boarders were all living at our home. Mealtime was boisterous communication with everyone having their turn on centre stage to share anecdotes. I don't think the problems of the world were ever solved, but even if the years have romanticised things, I do recall a lot of laughter and chatter. Then it was Mom, Dad and me. With the exception of lunch and supper Dad pretty much worked from morning to bedtime. His relaxation came during those meals with time to read the newspaper. After full days at work and school Mom and I, like many others then, found easy company in the television. With TV tables and plates of food the three of us moved away from the dinner table and I see now from conversation. Mealtime became one more need to fulfill in a day, rather than a time to keep acquainted. It began to remind me a bit of pulling into a gas station, where you take only enough time to refuel then move on to the next task. I must qualify all of this by adding that among the people I knew this habit was the norm, not the exception. The voices on the television in many of my friends' homes too, was the conversation at dinner. While I sometimes have problems getting my family to realize that it's okay to linger over a meal (it still occasionally resembles a pit stop) we are working towards the type of mealtime I enjoyed as a child. Though dinner in the Gropp household could never be described as a refined, dignified occasion, the TV is off and we do attempt con­ versation and debate, the latter usually being over my choice of dinner music. With our busy lifestyles, I think many families are rediscovering the enjoyment of gathering together round the dinner table. Learning to listen and having the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with others is a very necessary and healthy part of society. Communicating in the intimate environment offered at meal time is a perfect lime to hear what's happening in your child's life. It's an ideal forum in which to practise the art of speaking and listening.