Property tax bills are rising much faster than family incomes…. They threaten to erode away that foundation of American society: the American-owned h… - Neil H. Jacoby

[ Proposition 13 ] would precipitate a revolutionary reform—one long overdue—in California state and local finance… People’s incomes are not closely related to their ownership or use of housing. Hence, the present tax system unjustly burdens the young family with large housing needs and the older couple who want to live in their family home or their retirement pensions. Stability of home or apartment occupancy is an important social goal. The present tax system weakens our society by threatening to force people out of their homes.

A corporate manager, interested in playing a numbers game with stock price-earnings ratios for quick profits, is able to inflate current reported profits at the expense of future profits. The methods are legion: shift from accelerated to straight-line depreciation; defer or stretch out maintenance expense; deplete inventories held at low cost; sell assets for ‘one-shot’ income. Excessive flexibility in permissible accounting methods creates opportunities for misleading reports of profits.

Experience has taught that a great power must always act with deliberation and restraint in pursuing its national interest, even when they coincide with the long-run global interest. U.S. efforts to reduce corruption in the business-government relationship throughout the world should be undertaken patiently and persistently, with an understanding of the problems confronting the governments of other nations, and without unrealistic expectations of speedy results.