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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (15010)	5/6/1998 12:46:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 20981

The Japanese show they know Slick: Or, as a joke now making the rounds in Japan goes, why doesn't the president tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Answer: He thinks they are three different stories. Clinton to Japan: Do as I Say, Not as I Do By LAWRENCE B. LINDSEY ....While defending this gaiatsu (external pressure) as necessary to move the Japanese along, the Clintonites have failed to recognize the flaw in their behavior, a flaw that frustrates the Japanese and in the long run works to the detriment of both countries. The administration's lectures on how the Japanese should behave in their fiscal affairs contrasts markedly with the same administration's rhetoric and behavior in its own fiscal conduct. Problematic Lecturing Americans may find such hypocrisy tolerable, even charming, when it involves the president's personal behavior. But when it comes to the delicate field of international economic diplomacy, hypocritical lecturing is tactically and strategically problematic.... ....I have no quarrel with the administration's advice to Japan. The Japanese are caught in a bind as America was in 1980. Then, excessive taxation and bureaucratic control and bungled monetary and fiscal policies had created a deep sense of gloom. To get out of these economic problems, Washington appropriately used deficit finance. The tax-reduction stimulus of the early 1980s helped cushion the impact of painful economic restructuring. The pain was far from eliminated, but it was reduced. As a result, in the 1990s, America has a vibrant entrepreneurial economy that is the envy of the world. Whereas in 1980 it looked like the Japanese were going to take over the world economically, today it looks like the Americans are. In short, Reaganomics worked for America and it is exactly what Japan needs now. The problem is, Mr. Clinton just can't bring himself to say that. Instead, he insists that America's success is the result of his policies. That's fine at election time, but it doesn't wash when the president has to give some advice to the world's second-largest economy. If Japan actually followed the course Mr. Clinton practiced and brags about, here at home everyone, including the administration, agrees it would lead to disaster. Instead, we must get Japan to follow the administration's advice, which is contrary to its practice of raising taxes. President Clinton did partially reverse some of Mr. Reagan's actions. Perhaps they were necessary midcourse corrections. But fundamentally the facts are that it was Mr. Reagan's change in the nation's direction, not Mr. Clinton's corrections, which put America where it is today. By contrast, Tony Blair, who largely modeled his revival of Britain's Labor party after Mr. Clinton's Democrats, has been quite generous in his recognition of Margaret Thatcher's achievements. Until Mr. Clinton can state American economic history at least as neutrally as Mr. Blair does for his nation, he will have a severe credibility problem in telling the Japanese what to do. Or, as a joke now making the rounds in Japan goes, why doesn't the president tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Answer: He thinks they are three different stories. - Mr. Lindsey, a former governor of the Federal Reserve, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. interactive.wsj.com