Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News
Winds of change
Saipan invasion beach but is
now the front yard of a lux
ury hotel.
The islanders live with it.
They see the rusty machine
guns and battered concrete
blockhouses and all the rest,
but they have other prob
lems.
“What concerns us,” says
an American woman on
Guam, “is the high cost of
living. The cost of staples
will drive us to the poor
house-—I bought a roll of pa
per towels yesterday and it
cost $1.89.”
Everything here must be
shipped in, either by ship or
the new Air Micronesia serv
ice. It makes day-to-day liv
ing tough. One family sent
for an air conditioner. When
it arrived, it was accidental
ly dropped at the airport, and
it took several months be
fore the repair parts could
be shipped in.
There is never enough of
anything — except sun and
blue skies and palm trees
and fish and breadfruit.
Even such basic things as
electricity and drinking wa
ter are scarce.
There isn’t enough elec
tricity to power elevators, so
even on Guam no building is
over three stories high. On
one island, some enterprising
Micronesians started a dry
cleaning plant, then found
that in that area there
wasn’t enough power or wa
ter to run it, so had to aban
don the whole thing.
Labor is short, too. Labor
is imported from the Philip
pines for public works proj
ects. The islanders, when
they have the incentive, work
hard (Air Micronesia is
training them as ground
crews and hostesses), but
too often they just don’t
come to work, particularly
after pay day. They just go
fishing.
Fresh milk is virtually non
existent. Guam housewives
have learned to add coconut
milk to what whole milk they
have, which gives every
thing—milk itself, bread, ice
cream—a peculiarly sweet
ish flavor.
They make do. When the
U.S. government, which
administers the area under
a U.N. trusteeship, decided
it would build roads on Sai
pan, it used crushed coral, of
which there is plenty. But
this is very slippery when
it’s wet—and there’s a lot of
rain—so Saipan’s accident
rate is abnormally high.
With air conditioning ab
sent, except in the top hotels,
the islanders have taken to
covering their windows with
aluminum foil, to reflect the
heat away and keep their
homes cool.
Still, despite the shortages
and the problems, the islands
keep growing. In Agana,
Guam, they recently opened
one of the world’s largest
McDonald hamburger
stands. Hotels are going up
on almost all the islands. The
teacher shortage on Guam is
so severe they’re paying peo
ple S3OO a month while they
go to college, with the under
standing they must teach a
year for each year they’re
supported while studying.
What is contributing most
to the growth are the ever
increasing numbers of peo
ple in the government —
“We’re over governed,”
growls one American on Sai
pan—and the rapid increase
in tourism.
They come to enjoy the ex
otic vistas — lagoons, coral
8
atolls, palm trees, dusty
roads crowded with hand
some natives and wandering
pigs—and to see the strange
sights. ■
And Micronesia has its
sights to see. On Saipan,
they’ll show you a crumbling
concrete jail and tell you the
local legend that this is
where Amelia Earhart was
imprisoned and then died of
dysentery. On Guam, you
can gawk (together with
dozens of Japanese honey
mooners) at the curiously
shaped latte stones, tall
obelisklike s tones topped
with bowls which were found
in the jungle and nobody
knows who shaped them.
Behind this, however,
there is a daily life for the
islanders and the thousands
of Americans who now make
Micronesia their home. In
some ways, it isn’t much dif
ferent from mainland life.
They have the beginnings
of a drug problem among
teen-agers. They have teen
age gangs, who occasionally
erupt in battles. And there
are household pests — here
they must contend with
shrews, geckos (a kind of
lizard) and cockroaches.
There are man-killing bees
and, in the seas, poisonous
WHAT ABOUT RETIREMENT?
Social Security rules
on benefits explained
By FRANK CORRICK
Copley News Service
Q. In 1964,1 checked with So
cial Security and they told me I
would need nine more quarters
to qualify for monthly benefits
at 62.1 am now 52 and my hus
band isn’t eligible for Social Se
curity. Does this mean I lose
everything I’ve paid in? — Mrs.
E.S.
A. When you reach age 62 in
1982, you will need 31 quarters
of coverage (almost eight
years of work under Social Se
curity) to qualify for a monthly
benefit. The estimate given you
in 1964 indicates you need a
little over two years more to be
eligible at age 62.
Under present regulations,
no benefits will be payable un
less you have the 31 necessary
quarters. You may, however,
earn the additional nine quar
ters by working between now
and age 62 or even after age 62
if you still need to make up
quarters to qualify.
Q. We are interested in the
income sources of the U.S. life
insurance companies? Also,
what life insurance company is
the oldest in the world? — J.G.,
Student
A. Life insurance companies
receive money from two main
sources: premiums paid by
policyholders and earnings on
investments. There is a dose
relationship between these in
come elements. Part of each
premium payment is available
for investment in the nation’s
economy; in calculating pre
miums, the anticipated invest
ment earnings are taken into
I i W* \
ill ; 111
■ ~ j| 7 dEL Irr -
rock fish, unpleasant sea
slugs and an occasional
shark.
Saipan has another prob
lem. World War H’s bomb
ing left the island virtually
devoid of vegetation and
hence prey to erosion. So
Americans scattered the
seeds of a fast-growing tree,
called the tangantangan tree,
and now this ugly shrub has
taken over. “It’s the scourge
of our island,” the Saipanese
said.
account, thereby reducing the
cost of life insurance to the pol
icyholders.
In 1970, the total income of all
U.S. life insurance companies
was $49.1 billion; 75 per cent
was from premium receipts
and 21 per cent from invest
ment earnings. The remainder
came from various other
sources.
In 1759, the first life insur
ance company in the United
States, The Corporation for Re
lief of Poor and Distressed
Presbyterian Ministers and of
the Poor and Distressed
Widows and Children of Pres
byterian Ministers, was estab
lished in Philadelphia by the
Synod of the Presbyterian
church. This company, now
Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund,
is the oldest life insurance com
pany in continued existence in
the world.
Q. I retired in 1966 but won’t
be 65 until November. A friend
says I should take my Social
Security retroactive to age 62.
My employer will deduct SBO
per month from my pension
when I reach age 65. What
should I do? - R.E.M.
A. Social Security applica
tions are generally retroactive
for 12 months so it would not be
possible at this time to claim
benefits back to age 62.
It would be a good idea to dis
cuss with your former em
ployer what effect the retroac
tive Social Security benefits
would have on your pension.
Then talk it over with the
people at the local Social Secu
rity office.
They feel all these prob
lems are secondary to the
good things about island life.
Mostly, especially on Guam,
they have tremendous loyalty
to the United States—Guam
is proud of the fact that it
ranks higher than any state
in the number of fatalities,
per capita, in the Vietnam
war.
It’s a different way of life
out here. But, as more and
more tourists discover it,
and more and more Ameri-
Q. I have Medicare and I am
confined to my home. I’ve
heard about home health bene
fits and I wonder if I’m eligible
for this kind of care. — A. J.M.
A. Your medical insurance
part of Medicare (Part B) will
help pay for up to 100 home
health visits each calendar
year but only if you meet these
five conditions:
1. You need part-time skilled
nursing care, or physical or
speech therapy services.
2. You are confined to your
home.
3. A doctor determines you
need home health care.
4. A doctor sets up and peri
odically reviews the plan for
home health care.
5. The home health agency is
participating in Medicare.
Q. While I am planning my
retirement I would like for you
to explain the meaning of “life
expectancy.” — J.W. Jr.
A. Your working as an indi
vidual represents, in a basic
important way, the long pro
logue to your life expectancy.
The biblical three score and
ten years is still a careful mea
sure of our life expectancy.
The measure of life expec
tancy results from the calcula
tion of the average number of
years of life that remain to a
group of people now at the
same age, based on a particu
lar mortality table. The mea
surement refers to the entire
group and cannot be taken to
indicate how long a particular
individual may expect to live.
Changes in life expectancy
Truk Lagoon . . .
scenic beauty hides the
relics of a past
war and obscures the
problems of
Micronesia's present.
cans flee the mainland rat
race to settle here, it be
comes more and more the
same.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
can be seen clearly in compari
sons for the group of the same
age, sex or race. The over-all
average in the United States
has increased since 1900, with
most of the gains taking place
during the first half of the cen
tury. Relatively little change
has occurred since the mid
-19505.
Today, a woman’s life expec
tancy at age 70 is 16.6 years and
exceeds a man’s life expec
tancy at age 70 that is 13 years.
Q. Will you please tell me the
difference between “deprecia
tion” and “depletion?” — D.S.
A. Depreciation: A machine,
for example, if used over a
number of years, wears out or
becomes obsolete. Hie com
pany must have capital to re
place it. Each year, a sum of
money is earmarked for this
purpose.
Depletion is like natural re
sources that are used up, rath
er than machines which wear
out. For example, if a company
mines nickel and sells it, it is in
reality selling part of its capi
tal, a new material that will in
time be exhausted.
Q. My husband and I own
some various properties and
would like to know what are the
capital assets of each. — Mrs.
L.
A. Generally, all properties
that you own are capital assets
if you are not in a trade, busi
ness, or other income-produc
ing activity.
If you are in a trade, busi
ness, or other income-produc
ing activity, your property may
be capital assets. Your Internal
Revenue Service will advise
you.
Questions on retirement may
be mailed to What About
Retirement?, Copley News
Service, in care of this
newspaper.