Wampum

Flashback Friday: The storm clouds gather

This week back in 1991 marks the first time national polls found support for George H.W. Bush sliding from Gulf War highs, calling into question the inevitability of his re-election the following November. What I also found interesting was the plethora of stories on the faltering economic recovery, when in recent editions of Flashback Friday, these were present, but far more rare. I've included many of them not because they correlate to the current situation, which many still tout as a "healthy", albeit jobless, recovery, but because they may be prescient of what some economic Cassandras warn is in the near future, once the "stimulus" from the recent tax credits wears thin.

ECONOMIC WORRIES ERODING SUPPORT FOR REELECTION OF BUSH, POLL FINDS
David S. Broder and Richard Morin, Washington Post
October 23, 1991

A sharp loss of confidence in the nation's economy is eroding support for President Bush's reelection, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll.

In the survey, 47 percent of those polled said they were inclined to vote for Bush, while 37 percent said they would prefer the unknown Democratic nominee. That is the first time Bush's "reelect number" has dropped below 50 percent in the Post-ABC poll, and represents a steep decline from the 68 to 20 percent...

POLLS SHOWING SLIPPAGE FOR BUSH STIR NEW HOPE AMONG DEMOCRATS
Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe
October 24, 1991

WASHINGTON -- The 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, so valueless a trinket three months ago that many of the party's best-known figures declined to seek it, has been reappraised: It may have some worth after all.

Two national polls released this week indicate that the country is deeply worried about the future, upset by the performance of the economy, increasingly convinced that President Bush is to blame and -- for the first time -- signaling a willingness to entertain the...

ETC.: DOW RETREATS
Boston Globe
October 26, 1991

ONE WEEK AFTER spurting to new highs, blue chip stocks were driven back by uncertainties about the economy and weak corporate profits. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 11.40 to at 3004.92 . . . BUT International Inc. of Billerica said it signed two contracts to supply AT&T with its vertical- process reactors, a type of semiconductor fabrication equipment. Terms were not disclosed . . . Ceramics Process Systems Corp. of Milford said it received a $1 million working capital line of...

ANOTHER SIGN OF ECONOMIC TROUBLE
Washington Post Editorial
October 22, 1991

WHEN THE American trade deficit blipped upward last summer, that was another sign of trouble for the economy. The Commerce Department has just published the figures for August, and they provide an important part of the explanation for the very slow and uncertain recovery from the recession. The trade deficit is a drag on the economy. The Bush administration has been counting on a strong export performance, along with rising investment, to pull the economy upward. But neither of those two...

BUSH ITINERARY REVIEWED
Michael Isikoff and John E. Yang, Washington Post
October 24, 1991

White House officials are considering shaving a few days off President Bush's nearly two-week swing through Asia and the South Pacific later this month amid complaints in Japan that he wasn't going to spend enough time there and complaints at home that he spends too much time on foreign affairs, administration officials said yesterday.

The changes are aimed at soothing Japanese protests that Bush would be giving their nation short shrift by visiting for only two days, the officials...

BUSH, BIDEN DISCUSS CONFIRMATION ILLS
PRESIDENT MIGHT OFFER 'SUGGESTIONS' TO SENATE THIS WEEK, AIDES SAY
Ann Devroy, Washington Post
October 22, 1991

President Bush met yesterday with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and planned to meet with bipartisan leaders of Congress today as he considers proposals to reform the confirmation process for presidential appointees.

Administration officials said Bush would like to make "suggestions to the Senate" this week on possible changes in the wake of the bitter battle to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. An official said yesterday that Biden...

BUSH OUTLINES PROPOSAL TO LIMIT LITIGATION IN US
Associated Press
October 24, 1991

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday that the government will adopt new procedures to decrease the time and costs of litigation and help curb an "out of control" legal system.

Bush signed an executive order that covers how the government will handle civil suit matters, ranging from stricter use of expert witnesses to greater efforts at out-of-court settlements.

Bush noted that his vice president, Dan Quayle, has raised controversy with his suggestion that the nation is...

BUSH SAW GAINS IN DEAL, OFFICIALS SAY PRESIDENT SOUGHT TO SCORE DOMESTIC VICTORY, AVOID VETO SHOWDOWN
Ann Devroy, Washington Post
October 26, 1991

While President Bush denied yesterday that he had caved in to the Democrats on the civil rights bill, administration and Republican sources said the White House calculated that there were more political benefits from a compromise than another round of portraying Democrats as the party of racial quotas.

"Given the president clearly didn't want another brutal fight over civil rights and did very much want a bill, I think all the political indicators were in synch to make compromise

ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTIES DRIVE DOW DOWN 11
Reuters News Service
October 26, 1991

One week after spurting to new highs, blue-chip stocks were driven back toward the 3000 psychological barrier today by uncertainties about the economy and weak corporate profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 11.40 points to close at 3004.92. For the week, the index lost 72.23 points. Last Friday, the Dow 30-stock index closed at a record high of 3077.15.

Losers led gainers by a ratio of about 3 to 2 on moderate volume of 167 million shares.

A softening in bond prices after...

LOW-INTEREST LOAN RATES SPUR REFINANCINGS
RATE DECLINE SPURS BORROWING
Ann Mariano, Washington Post
October 26, 1991

Home mortgage rates at their lowest levels in 14 years have set off a wave of new borrowing, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America said this week.

A survey released by the association at its annual convention here showed a 118 percent increase in loan applications received during the second week in October compared with the same period last year.

In all, borrowers who are refinancing existing loans and those seeking to buy homes applied for $1.4 billion in home mortgages from...

REGION'S AILING BANKS, THRIFTS AWAIT RECOVERY
A RISING BAD-LOAN COUNT SHOWS LITTLE SIGN OF EASING
Joel Glenn Brenner, Washington Post
October 21, 1991

How much is $6.2 billion?

It's enough to run the IRS for a year; it's the annual sales of Florida's agricultural industry; it's the combined revenue of three of the area's largest companies, Giant Food Inc., Potomac Electric Power Co. and Hechinger Co.

It's also the total amount of bad loans outstanding in Maryland, Virginia and the District, according to recently released government statistics that show Washington area banks and savings and loans are in...

TWO REPORTS INDICATE RECOVERY IS FALTERING
John M. Berry, Washington Post
October 25, 1991

Two more government reports indicated yesterday that the U.S.

economic recovery may be faltering, but analysts said problems with seasonal adjustments and a huge drop in defense orders made the numbers look worse than they really were.

The Commerce Department said orders received by manufacturers last month for long-lasting durable goods, such as cars, aircraft, steel and machinery, fell 3.2 percent to $121.5 billion. Although it was the second monthly drop in a row, the level of new...

FILING OF CRIMINAL CHARGES LIKELY IN PROBE OF COAL FIRMS
Frank Swoboda, Washington Post
October 21, 1991

Criminal charges are expected to be filed against more than two dozen coal companies for allegedly tampering with dust samples used by federal safety officials to protect underground miners from black lung disease, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

A government contractor also is expected to be charged with working with coal companies to alter the dust samples being sent for testing by the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration, administration sources...

A MOST UNUSUAL EXECUTIVE BONUS PLAN
AT GENERAL DYNAMICS, TOP MANAGERS RECEIVE A WINDFALL AFTER TALKING UP THE STOCK
Robert J. McCartney, Washington Post
October 21, 1991

Call it the $1.6 million speech.

On Sept. 25 William A. Anders, a former Apollo 8 astronaut who is chairman of General Dynamics Corp., provided an upbeat forecast about his company to an audience of professional stock market analysts here. He said profits were up more than expected and, more importantly, the company was planning to return its "excess cash" directly to shareholders.

The result: General Dynamics' stock jumped nearly $4 a share that day to close at $49.50, the...

REAL CRUNCH INVOLVES EARNINGS, NOT CREDIT
Rudolph A. Pyatt Jr., Washington Post
October 21, 1991

President Bush and his advisers just don't get it. Perhaps they just don't realize that the term credit crunch is an oversimplification of a complex problem.

The White House's sudden interest in a credit crunch may have something to do with a certain political ring to the phrase. The economy is in the pits and it's getting close to the time when the president has to go before the electorate and defend his record on domestic issues. Pointing the finger at banks and their...

'GOD SQUAD' TO PONDER SPOTTED OWL
MORE THAN A SPECIES HANGS IN THE BALANCE
Tom Kenworthy, Washington Post
October 21, 1991

When Washington decides to play God, it appoints -- what else? -- a committee.

Sometime next month, in an event that hasn't been seen here in 13 years, a peculiar legislative creation -- popularly called the "God Squad" -- will convene to ponder the future of the northern spotted owl, the reclusive and threatened bird that has thrown the Pacific Northwest into an economic and political uproar.

Known formally as the Endangered Species Committee, the seven-member panel,...

ANTI-SLUMP TAX CUT PROPOSED
SEN. BENTSEN UNVEILS $72.5 BILLION PLAN AIDING MIDDLE CLASS
Eric Pianin, Washington Post
October 21, 1991

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) unveiled a $72.5 billion tax cut proposal yesterday aimed at benefiting mainly the middle class as Democratic and Republican congressional leaders display growing interest in trying to pass an anti-recession tax package this year.

"I think we really ought to jump-start this economy," Bentsen said in a telephone interview. "I'm real concerned about a double-dip in this recession. . . . Even the administration has...

BIPARTISAN FILIBUSTER AWAITS SENATE ENERGY MEASURE
Thomas W. Lippman, Washington Post
October 22, 1991

The Senate, still reeling from the Clarence Thomas confirmation drama, is facing another bruising fight, this one of its own making. The fight will cross party lines, and the first round will be a bipartisan filibuster.

The issue is energy policy, and in particular a wide-ranging energy bill sponsored by Sens. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) and Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) and backed by the Bush administration. At least eight Democrats and two Republicans have pledged to try to block consideration of...

FROM GOP, A NEW LOOK AT POVERTY
GROUP TRIES TO HURDLE GULF BETWEEN PARTIES
Paul Taylor, Washington Post
October 23, 1991

Remember the Republican War on Poverty? It dates to the early months of the Bush administration, when words like "vouchers," "empowerment and "enterprise zones" briefly came into vogue in political and policy circles. But the attention of the White House settled elsewhere, and the talk never translated into action.

Remember the Democratic War on Poverty? It dates to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, and many of its income support and...

STUDY SAYS IRAQI CHILDREN DYING AT ACCELERATED RATE
MALNOURISHMENT MEASURABLE, TEAM REPORTS
David Brown, Washington Post
October 23, 1991

The death rate of Iraq's children has nearly quadrupled since the gulf war, and one-quarter of the children under age 5 are now measurably malnourished, according to the results of a survey of Iraqi public health released yesterday.

Children and adults are dying for want of cheap antibiotics and insulin, 30 percent of the water in southern Iraq's hospitals is contaminated with feces, and more than half the country's population is regularly exposed to water-borne diseases such...

CALLING THE POCKET IS HARDEST PART OF TAX CUT BILL-IARDS
John E. Yang and Eric Pianin, Washington Post
October 25, 1991

House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) were preaching that the gospel of Republican economic prosperity required President Bush to press hard for a bold, new economic growth package that would include a cut in the capital gains tax.

But others sitting in the office of Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) along the West Front of the Capitol Wednesday evening counseled restraint, according to participants. Dole, Senate Minority Whip Alan K. Simpson...

GROUP RAKES THE EPA ON MINORITY CONCERNS
FOES OF ARCTIC DRILLING PROMISE BUSH A BATTLE
EFFICIENT, SAFE CARS POSSIBLE, REPORT SAYS
Ross Gelbspan, Boston Globe
October 22, 1991

A minority advocacy groupyesterday charged that the US Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, William Reilly, are ignoring concerns that minorities are disproportionately harmed by environmental hazards.

The National People of Color Leadership, which is organizing a conference Thursday on the topic for 450 participants from 50 states, said Reilly's refusal to attend appears to reflect political pressure.

Conference organizers charged that no action was taken by EPA...

RECESSION ERASES GAINS ON POVERTY
CHART: POVERTY RATES: THROUGH BOOM AND BUST
GRAPH: WELFARE AND HARD TIMES: RISING CASELOADS IN NEW ENGLAND
Irene Sege, Boston Globe
October 24, 1991

The current recession has erased virtually all the gains New England made in reducing poverty among families during the economic boom of the 1980s, according to a new analysis of survey data from the Census Bureau.

The region was the only area of the country that experienced a significant reduction in family poverty during the 1980s, but the progress made by such at-risk groups as families headed by females and families headed by high school dropouts has now vanished...

GOP RAP ON DUKE: HE'S A 'PROTECTIONIST'
John W. Mashek, Boston Globe
October 25, 1991

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Republican Party tried yesterday to disown David Duke, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Louisiana, but could point to only one issue -- trade -- on which the former Ku Klux Klansman is at odds with current Republican policies.

The party's national chairman, Clayton K. Yeutter, told reporters that Duke's background of bigotry and anti-Semitism disqualifed him as a Republican. He described Duke as "a skillful demagogue."...

TRYING TO START THE ECONOMY
Washington Post Editorial
October 25, 1991

AS THE ECONOMY weakens, the attempts to restart the engine are getting correspondingly frantic. Half of Congress is now pushing schemes to cut taxes for middle-income families. There's a growing campaign to reopen last year's budget agreement. The Bush administration points hopefully to its attempts to end the credit crunch and urges tax gimmicks that would allegedly encourage more savings. Several of the tax proposals on both sides could have important distributional effects, but in...

SENATE UNIT UNVEILS STUDENT LOAN SHIFTS
Anthony Flint, Boston Globe
October 25, 1991

A Senate subcommittee yesterday unveiled its version of a sweeping overhaul of the federal student aid program. The bill would guarantee bigger grants for college students and would make loans more accessible for middle-income families.

The bill does not, however, include a radical change in the administration of the student loan program that was proposed in the House version, which was approved earlier this month. If the subcommittee bill is approved as is by the Senate Committee on Labor...

BUSH LAUNCHES STRIKE AT CONGRESS
PRESIDENT CALLS LAWMAKERS 'PRIVILEGED CLASS OF RULERS'
Ann Devroy, Washington Post
October 25, 1991

President Bush yesterday cited the "circus and travesty" of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings as evidence that Congress is a "privileged class of rulers" that answers to no one and is so ensnarled in bureaucracy and beholden to special interests that it has lost the nation's confidence.

The White House said beforehand that the speech would focus on proposals to reform the Senate confirmation process, and Bush did call on the Senate to confirm presidential...

COMPAQ LOSES $70.3 MILLION, PLANS JOB CUTS
Reuters
October 24, 1991

Hurt by a weak economy and tough competition, Compaq Computer Corp.

posted a large third-quarter loss today and said it would cut 1,440 jobs as part of a major restructuring.

The Houston-based personal computer maker said the one-time costs of the reorganization -- $135 million -- resulted in a loss of $70.3 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That compares with a profit of $123.6 million a year ago.

Sales fell nearly 18 percent to $709.4 million from $863 million...

ECONOMY WEAKER, FED SURVEY FINDS
DETERIORATION SEEN IN MOST U.S. REGIONS
Anne Swardson, Washington Post
October 24, 1991

The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that the American economy is weak or barely growing in nearly every region of the country, a deterioration from the signs of life exhibited over the summer.

The gloomy report, compiled by the Fed's 12 regional banks, was the latest in a series raising doubts about the course of the nation's economy. It echoed recent statistics showing weakness even in industries that had moved upward earlier, such as housing and manufacturing...