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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (6179)	9/12/2002 12:40:17 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Is Greenspeak diplomatically urging W to drop his plans for a big, expensive war in Iraq and come to his senses..?? Greenspan has eye on spending WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday the U.S. economy has weathered the impact from falling stock markets, lower investment and the Sept. 11 attacks well so far, but warned a swift return to government spending discipline was vital for economic health. "To date, the economy appears to have withstood this set of blows well, although the depressing effects still linger and continue to influence, in particular, the federal budget outlook," Greenspan said in testimony prepared for delivery before the House Budget Committee. He warned that a return to large and extended deficit spending by the government could risk driving interest rates higher and imperil economic fundamentals. In his prepared remarks, the Fed chief appeared to be trying to persuade lawmakers to refocus efforts on keeping spending under strict control. He made only a passing reference to the current economic situation and offered no clues to policymakers' thinking ahead of the Sept. 24 scheduled meeting of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. Portions of Greenspan's testimony echoed his remarks to Congress in July when he similarly said that it will take time for the economy to work through the shocks it has suffered. Financial market participants, who had been intently awaiting Greenspan's comments for hints of his assessment of economic prospects, expressed disappointment at its narrow focus. "It's a bit of a wet firecracker," said economist Richard Yamarone of Argus Research in New York. "We were expecting some insight on the economy and we didn't get that." The economy has been in a halting and uneven recovery from the 2001 recession, prompting some concerns that it could again tip into a slump. Greenspan's appearance, scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET, was delayed by votes on the House floor. Greenspan cautioned that if the United States returned to a period of continuous large spending deficits, there would be serious consequences for the country's economic prospects. "History suggests that an abandonment of fiscal discipline will eventually push up interest rates, crowd out capital spending, lower productivity growth and force harder choices upon us in the future," the Fed chairman said in his first appearance before Congress since mid-July. The U.S. government is expected to post its first full-year budget deficit since 1997 for the fiscal year ending this month. The erosion of government surpluses has been in part blamed on President Bush's tax cut package passed last year — the idea of which Greenspan supported in congressional testimony at the beginning of 2001. The Fed chief on Thursday noted that some budget restraint rules were set to expire on Sept. 30. "Failing to preserve them would be a grave mistake," he said, "for without clear direction and constructive goals, the in-built political bias in favor of budget deficits likely will again become entrenched." Greenspan's testimony falls one day after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It had been scheduled to start at nearly the same time as President Bush was to address the United Nations on Iraq, pressing the U.S. case that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is a threat to global stability. Uneasiness over the Bush team's drive to win other nations' support for the ousting of Saddam and fears that vital Middle East oil supplies could be disrupted by such an action have heightened financial market volatility in recent weeks. Should a supply interruption force oil prices up from their current range around $30 a barrel, it could be a significant added drag on the world's largest economy at a time when it is only crawling ahead. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (6179)	9/12/2002 12:53:40 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Nuke Plants Called Unprepared: Report 5:50 am PST, 12 September 2002 Nuclear power plants across the United States are unprepared and "unready" for terrorist attacks, even though they have undergone massive security upgrades since the Sept. 11 attacks a year ago. The Christian Science Monitor reported Thursday that security guards at several private facilities complain they are undertrained; specifically, that they only receive weapons training once a year, that anti-terrorist drills are weak, and that they are unsure if they can use deadly force because those rules are set on the state level. Unlike federal nuclear facilities, not a single private plant has undergone mock attacks designed to test security in more than a year, the paper said. Also, guards say they are underpaid and required to work exhausting amounts of overtime because plant operators are unwilling to hire extra personnel. The study was conducted by the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, a nonpartisan government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. The authors of the study concluded that based on evidence, most private plants are still unprepared for terrorist attacks, a year after 9-11. "If you equate the Department of Energy to the NFL" on nuclear security preparations, many of the plants in the study "are junior high school," says Peter Stockton, an author of the report and a former special assistant for nuclear security during the Clinton administration under former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. The results suggest that a significant number of plants "have done the least amount required to protect the American public from a suicidal terrorist attack" on a plant, says Danielle Brian, the group's executive director. Officials at the Nuclear Energy Institute told the paper that the industry has not been idle, however. Some 1,000 guards have been added to 103 nuclear plants – bringing the total nationally to around 6,000 – while millions of dollars have been spent beefing up security technology. They also say the scope of POGO's report is limited – 22 guards from 24 commercial reactors at 13 sites around the country. 7am.com