THE OVERRATED '80S
A LOOK AT THE REAGAN TAX CUT 10 YEARS LATER
Michael Kinsley, Washington Post OP/ED
September 22, 1991
The Rushmorization of Ronald Reagan will feature, over the next few years, celebrations of the 10th anniversary of his various achievements.
We just survived the first one, marking the legendary 1981 tax cut. Most of the argument over Reagan's tax legacy has focused on distributional questions: Did the rich get richer while the middle class stagnated and the poor suffered? But Reagan never claimed to be Robin Hood. What he did claim is that he would cut taxes and lower the deficit...
A REPUBLICAN-CIVIL RIGHTS CONSPIRACY
WORKING TOGETHER ON LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING.
Abigail M. Thernstrom, Washington Post OP/ED
September 23, 1991Forget the rhetoric. Republicans believe in quotas -- at least when it comes to legislative seats. They may preach race-neutrality and hope for a colorblind America. But in practice, they do their best to ensure that color-consciousness permeates our politics -- that voters carry racial and ethnic identity tags on the basis of how district lines are drawn and other electoral arrangements are structured.
It is now openly acknowledged that the Republican National Committee and the civil rights...
FED SAYS ECONOMY IS STILL WEAK
Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press
September 19, 1991WASHINGTON -- The national economy, rather than bouncing strongly out of the recession, is beset with a host of problems from sluggish consumer spending to a virtual standstill in commercial construction, the Federal Reserve reported yesterday.
The Fed's latest survey of national business conditions said that the recovery "continues to be uneven across the country" with a rebound in manufacturing one of the few bright spots.
Some private economists were more blunt, saying...
SLOWDOWN IN HOUSING STARTS SIGNALS A SLUGGISH RECOVERY ONLY MANUFACTURING IS ROBUST, FED SAYS WP News Services
September 19, 1991Builders slowed new housing construction to a modest 0.6 percent gain in August, the smallest in three months, the government said yesterday in one of two reports that portrayed a sluggish economic recovery that is missing some parts of the nation.
The small rise in housing activity reported by the Commerce Department was echoed by the Federal Reserve's "beige book" sampler of the U.S. economy, which noted that the economy's uneven recovery also is evident in consumer...
BAKER TRIES TO BREAK IMPASSE TALKS WITH SHAMIR SEEN CLOSING GAP ON LOAN GUARANTEES
David Hoffman and Jackson Diehl, Washington Post
September 17, 1991Secretary of State James A. Baker III today negotiated with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in an effort to reach a compromise on Israel's request for U.S.-backed guarantees for $10 billion in housing loans, and officals expressed optimism that a growing confrontation over the issue is close to being defused.
After a 3 1/2-hour meeting with Shamir, officials also reported they had made progress toward working out the details of participation by Israel and Palestinians in a Middle East...
RULE-MAKING PROCESS COULD SOFTEN CLEAN AIR ACT
Michael Weisskopf, Washington Post
September 21, 1991As the Senate neared passage of the new Clean Air Act last year, the Bush administration was pushing hard for inclusion of a special provision easing expensive pollution control requirements for electric utilities. Industry estimated the provision could save billions of dollars annually. Opponents felt it would erode one of the basic pillars of the law.
Administration efforts for the provision were rebuffed three times -- including on the Senate floor and during the House-Senate conference...
U.S. TRADE DEFICIT GREW NEARLY $2 BILLION IN JULY
Stuart Auerbach, Washington Post
September 20, 1991The U.S. merchandise trade deficit jumped by almost $2 billion in July, to $5.9 billion, on increases in imports of foreign cars, clothing, television sets and other consumer products, the government reported yesterday.
Imports surged by 6 percent, to $41.2 billion, the highest level since January, while sales of U.S. products overseas, which sagged in the two previous months, rose by eight-tenths of a percent to $35.3 billion. Even though the monthly increase of exports was small, the...
LONG SLOW ROAD SEEN FOR STATE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY
ANALYSTS SAY A WEAK NATIONAL REBOUND AND INDUSTRIAL DOWNSIZING WILL DELAY COMEBACK
Charles Stein, Boston Globe
September 22, 1991
Think of the Massachusetts economy as the rope in a game of tug-of-war.
On the one side are forces trying to pull the state out of recession: lower interest rates, a national economic recovery and a group of emerging growth companies on the cutting edge of technology.
On the other are forces threatening to drag Massachusetts back down: continuing cutbacks in computers, defense and banking, plus a surplus of office space that has buried the local construction business...
AGENCY DECRIES PENSION-BANKRUPTCY RULING
Frank Swoboda, Washington Post
September 17, 1991Warning of the risk of another major taxpayer bailout, the federal agency that insures private pension plans said yesterday it would appeal a court ruling that allows corporations to stop making payments into their retirement funds if they seek bankruptcy protection.
"This ruling rips large holes in the pension safety net for 40 million Americans," said James B. Lockhart, executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC)....
HOUSE VOTE RENEWS FIGHT WITH BUSH OVER UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
Eric Pianin, Washington Post
September 18, 1991The House yesterday renewed its dispute with the White House over the nation's unemployment problem, voting 283 to 125 to provide up to 20 weeks of additional benefits to millions of jobless workers.
Congress approved, and President Bush signed, a similar bill last August. But Bush effectively killed the benefits by refusing to declare a budget emergency, which was required to fund the extended benefits.
The White House insists the worst of the recession is over and that spending...
THESE DAYS THOSE CHECKS AREN'T IN THE MAIL
Dave Skidmore, Associated Press
September 19, 1991
WASHINGTON -- Recession-pinched consumers are falling behind on loan payments at the second-highest rate in more than a decade, with deadbeat New Englanders leading the way, a trade group said yesterday.The percentage of consumer loans at least 30 days past due rose to a seasonally adjusted 2.73 percent in the April-June quarter, the American Bankers Association said.
Regionally, consumer loan delinquencies were highest in three New England states: New Hampshire, 5.57 percent...
HOW A DEMOCRAT COULD WIN
George F. Will
September 22, 1991Refuting the arithmetic of fatalism is the challenge to any Democrat who would be president. It is a daunting task, but it can be done.
The arithmetic turns on two numbers, 270 and $500 billion. The former is the number of electoral votes needed to win. The latter is the size the annual deficit, honestly calculated, is approaching. The deficit seems to make winning a barren exercise.
By January 1993, two Republican presidents in a dozen years will have presided over the quadrupling of the deficit...
COUNTY BUDGET STILL IN RECESSION'S GRIP WITH TAX REVENUE FALLING, DEPARTMENT CHIEFS PREPARE FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF CUTSPosted by MB Williams at September 19, 2003 10:29 AM | TrackBack
Charles Babington, Washington Post
September 19, 1991Fiscal 1992 is only 12 weeks old, but Montgomery County officials already say the $185 million budget repair they made last winter wasn't enough to plug the continuing fiscal leaks.
With the recession still cutting deeply into tax revenue, the county government faces a shortfall of $15 million to $60 million in the fiscal year that began July 1, County Executive Neal Potter said last week.