Bernard Axelrad Scholarship Fund

The Yiddish language has many words and idiomatic expressions that defy translation and, if attempted. the essence gets lost in the process. One such word is 'chutzpah' which in Yiddish is so vividly expressive of outrageous nerve, unmitigated gall, and advantage-taking, but yet has no equivalent in the English language.

I recently was struck by some egregious examples of chutzpah which I would like to share with you.

1. General Motors Corporation proposed a more generous executive bonus plan a mere few days after wringing concessions from its rank and file workers in acrimonious labor negotiations. The rationale of General Motors was that such a more liberal bonus plan was necessary "to continue to attract and retain the executive talent necessary to run the business." You must realize that we are talking about 'executive talent' which has led General Motors to losses of millions of dollars in the face of the superior Japanese imports. You have to wonder at the public relations 'genius' who authorized the timing of that particular announcement.

2. International Harvester forgives a previously made $1 million loan to its chief executive while concurrently losing billions, eliminating its dividend to shareholders, laying off thousands of employees, staving off creditors and preparing for bankruptcy. You have to wonder about the rationale for this un­usual largesse and why banks and other creditors stand for it.

3. President Reagan sanc­timoniously calls for the enact­ment of a Constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget while his ad­ministration is presenting budgets which project some $500 billion in deficits over the next 3 years. Of course, he is the same Ronald Reagan who in his 1980 campaign promised us a balanc­ed budget. To put this into some perspective you must unders­tand that the record previous deficit in history was under $65 billion dollars.

4. Do you remember how the argument went for reducing property taxes under Proposition 13 and how it was supposed to trigger lower rents for apartment dwellers? You can count on the fingers of one hand how many renters received any portion of those savings.

5. Congress votes itself yearly tax benefits of close to $20,000 while decrying the sad state of the economy and the huge deficits piling up. Nothing like feathering one's nest while the gale blows!

Maybe it's examples such as these of chutzpah, greed and broken promises in the midst of one of the highest unemployment rates in the country's history, and cutbacks in entitlement programs for the truly needs, that signal the cracks in our democratic social fabric. I suppose it is our equivalent to Marie Antoinette's famous (infamous) remark, "Let them eat cake." If we continue on this senseless and insensitive path, we may be sowing the seeds that burst forth following her historic comment.

Thank God for the Yiddish word 'chutzpah', which so aptly describes such shenanigans.