What with
everything else that has happened, Puerto Rico seems to have disappeared from
public attention . . . that is, until people start wondering how to rebuild
without bankrupting the rest of the United States. Oddly enough, a possible program for rebuilding
that will make money instead of costing money is ready to hand, and only needs
to be implemented. Today we look at the
second part of President Ronald Reagan’s speech to the Presidential Task Force
on Project Economic Justice that presented the plan. This is a follow-up to the extract from the
strategy paper, “Project
Economic Justice: A Beachhead for Regional Infrastructural Reform,” which led
up to the work of the Task Force. For
those interested in seeing and hearing rather than (or in addition to) reading,
here is the video of the speech:
President
Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Project Economic Justice, Part II
Transcript of Speech
Presented at the White House
Washington, D.C., August 3, 1987
Washington, D.C., August 3, 1987
Growth, of
course, is not enough. It must be the vehicle of a better standard of living
for all the people. Again, economic and political freedom are inseparably
linked.
The people of
Central America-and, in a broader sense, the entire developing world -need to
know first-hand that freedom and opportunity are not just for the elite, but
the birthright of every citizen. That property is not just something enjoyed by
a few, but can be owned by any individual who works hard and makes correct
decisions. That free enterprise is not just the province of the rich, but a
system of free choice in which everyone has rights, and that business, large or
small, is something in which everyone can own a piece of the action.
I’ve long
believed one of the mainsprings of our own liberty has been the widespread
ownership of property among our people and the expectation that anyone’s child,
even from the humblest of families, could grow up to own a business or
corporation.
Thomas Jefferson
dreamed of a land of small farmers, of shop owners and merchants. Abraham
Lincoln signed into law the “Homestead Act” that ensured that the great western
prairies of America would be the realm of independent, property-owning
citizens-a mightier guarantee of freedom is difficult to imagine.
I know we have
with us today employee-owners from La Perla Plantation in Guatemala. They have
a stake in the place where they work and a stake in the freedom of their
country. When Communist guerrillas came, these proud owners protected what
belonged to them. They drove the Communists off their land and I know you join
me in saluting their courage.
In this century,
the United States has evolved into a great industrial power. Even though they
are now, by and large, employees, our working people still benefit from
property ownership. Most of our citizens own the homes in which they reside. In
the marketplace, they benefit from direct and indirect business ownership.
There are currently close to 10 million self-employed workers in the
U.S.-nearly 9 percent of total civilian employment. And, millions more hope to
own a business some day. Furthermore, over 47 million individuals reap the
rewards of free enterprise through stock ownership in the vast number of
companies listed on U. S. stock exchanges.
I can’t help but
believe that in the future we will see in the United States and throughout the
western world an increasing trend toward the next logical step, employee
ownership. It is a path that befits a free people.
Walter Reuther
was one of the first major labor leaders to advocate that management and labor
shift away from battling over wage and benefit levels to a cooperative effort
aimed at sharing in the ownership of the new wealth being produced. He was
looking far beyond the next contract. There is a story that Reuther was touring
a highly automated Ford Assembly Plant when someone said, Walter, you’re going
to have a hard time collecting union dues from all these machines. Reuther
simply shot back, not as hard a time as you’re going to have selling them cars.
 |
| Senator Russell Long, Dr. Norman Kurland |
Reuther was
killed in a tragic place accident in 1970, so he did not live to see passage of
legislation sponsored by Senator Russell Long of Louisiana that provides
incentives for Employee Stock Ownership Plans, or ESOP’s.
In recent years,
we have witnessed medium-sized and even some large corporations being
purchased, in part or in whole, by their employees. Weirton Steel in West
Virginia, Lowe’s Companies in North Carolina, The Milwaukee Journal, Lincoln
Electric Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and many others are now manned by
employees who are also owners.
The energy and
vitality unleashed by this kind of People’s Capitalism-free and open markets,
robust competition, and broad-based ownership of the means of production- can
serve this nation well. It can also be a boon, if given a chance, to the people
of the developing world. Nowhere is the potential for this greater than in
Central America.
Ambassador
Middendorf, I am looking forward to examining thoroughly the recommendations in
this report, especially those that deal with debt equity swaps as a method of
reducing the debt burden in Central America. Members of my staff described for
me the overwhelmingly positive response your Task Force received when it
floated this idea during a visit to Central America. That debt payments can be
reduced, state-owned businesses privatized and made more efficient, and
employee ownership expanded, all as part of a mutually reinforcing plan, is an
exciting idea. I’d like to think of it as the Middendorf plan for growth and
justice. I hope all of you on the commission will continue to work with me to
see that this proposal and the other innovative ideas put forth in the Task
Force’s report don’t get lost or ignored as so many good ideas do.
Privatization is
part of our current Economic Bill of Rights reform effort. If privatizing
government operations is valuable for the United States, with our powerful
economy, how much more valuable will it be for developing economies to be freed
from such burdens.
I am instructing
the appropriate officials in our administration to take a close look at all of
the Task Force’s recommendations and to move on those that can be put into
practice. This effort builds nicely on the foundation laid by the Kissinger
Commission, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the Agency for International
Development, and the Secretary of the Treasury. I would hope that a dialogue
with our friends in the Region commences quickly as to how this report can be
turned into economy-building action.
On July 3rd, I
announced our Economic Bill of Rights Reform Package from the steps of the
Jefferson Memorial. Well, the Founding Fathers, Jefferson in particular, did
not see economic and political freedom as the right only of the citizens of the
United States, but the right of all people, everywhere and for all time.
Today the free
people of the United States and Central America face a great challenge. I have
every confidence that together we will meet the test, and that freedom will not
only survive but triumph. The work of this Task Force should help bring about
that triumph. Thank you for all you are doing.
God bless you.
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