if Clinton could have get [sic] his pants zipped, Gore would have waltzed in.
(sounds a lot like a Bushism doesn't it...)
But seriously folks ([n a stentorian Rush voice], I have in my hands, a Business Week [sounds of paper snapping], containing an interview wherein President Clinton describes his economic program. Carefully read his lips...
businessweek.com
"I think that the role of the Fed was very important. [Federal Reserve Board Chairman] Alan Greenspan saw something fundamentally different was happening. When evidence [showed] that we didn't have a lot of inflation, he didn't kill the recovery.
But he did something else very important. Because he had such personal credibility, he explained to the country, to the business community, to the Congress, what was going on in a way that continually elevated confidence."
On the role Clinton policies played:
"The policies that we've had for open markets contributed. Anybody that's been responsible for that, Republicans or Democrats, deserves some credit. The importance of the [Administration's] '93 [deficit-reduction] bill is that all the business writers were writing in late '92 about an anemic recovery. We decided we had to do something dramatic to change the psychology."
On the national mood today, vs. 1991:
"People were frustrated. They didn't see a better future. Today, people feel confident and hopeful about the future. They [don't] really believe we've repealed the laws of supply and demand. But they know we've changed something [by] getting rid of the deficit. We doubled our investment in education and training. We continued to invest more in research. That will also give some balance and life to this economic cycle."
On continuing income inequality:
"The government should have policies which help close the gap. What we ought to do is raise the minimum wage and increase the earned income tax credit, increase the child-care tax credit and make it refundable -- do things that put money into the pockets of people in the lower 20% income group."
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No doubt some of this seems "squishy" but, as you Reganites must admit, the nation can respond to a strong perception of good leadership.
--cfl |
