Time: Mon Oct 28 16:22:01 1996 To: "Cravens, Roger D." <rbg3@CCDOSA1.EM.CDC.GOV> From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: refused for cause Cc: Bcc: At 01:43 PM 10/28/96 EST, you wrote: > >Subject: C-NEWS: The Promising Game >Date: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 6:36PM > >Our nomination for the best review of >Clinton Politics As Usual: > >>From Investor's Business Daily - Monday, October 14, 1996. > > The Promising Game > >President Clinton's promises have always been plentiful, >cheap and empty. But in this election year, he's no longer >content to be all things to all people. Now Clinton promises >something for everyone--at a cost to no one. > >Take last month's campaign stop in Pueblo, Colorado. In a >single speech, Clinton called for: > >1. Connecting schools to the Information Superhighway; >2. Increasing drug testing and treatment in prisons by >linking the programs with prison construction funding; >3. Establishing a $ 10,000-a-year tuition tax credit; >4. Cleaning up two-thirds of the nation's toxic dumps in the >next four years; >5. And, last but not least, balancing the budget "Without >risking Medicare and Medicaid or cutting back on our >investment in education and protecting the environment." > >Elsewhere on the campaign trail, the president has touted: > >6. An expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act; >7. A flex-time initiative; >8. A $2.75 billion literacy program; >9. $one thousand merit scholarships for the top 5 percent >of hostile graduates >10. Improvements to the 911 system >11. Tougher trustee laws; >12. School uniforms; >13.An extension of the Brady Bill; >14. $1,500 college scholarships, with students needing a >B average to keep the aid after their first year; >15. Job-training vouchers; >16. A second round of Empowered Zones and Enterprise Communities; >17. At least $13 billion more to combat drugs; >18. More Pell Grants; >19. A bigger college work study program; >208. A permanent extension of a 10 percent tax credit for small >businesses that pays for employee education; >21. New standards to protect against E.coli bacteria; >22. and $1.5 billion to restore the Florida Everglades. > >Most of the press treats the president's "Cheap" laundry list >as following naturally from his concession to anti-big-government >sentiments. The vision certainly isn't as sweeping as we once >saw from the likes of FDR and LBJ. But the length of Clinton's >list may make up for its lack of depth. > >Indeed, it may be easier to push big government by increments. >The media (and many voters) now seem to distrust any SWEEPING >solution. > >Bob Dole and Jack Kemp have gone to great lengths to explain the >benefits of a 15 percent tax cut and the rest of the Dole economic >plan. Nevertheless, television and newspaper reports on the plan >trot out a parade of economists to wring their hands over the plan >and the out-of-control deficit it would supposedly create. > >For some reason, the number of economists who endorsed the Dole plan >is irrelevant - as is the question of the price tag for Clinton's >laundry list. > >During Clinton's most fevered promise-fest, his train ride to the >Democratic convention, the Los Angeles Times did look at how he means >to pay for some items. It looked at the $1.9 billion environmental >cleanup, the $3.4 billion-worth of urban initiatives, $1 billion >in tax relief for homeowners, and the literacy program. (the last >actually costs $2.75 billion, but the White House uses a $1.75 >billion figure, which most of the press accepts.) > >The funding breaks down like this: > >* $5.3 billion from ending an export tax break for multinationals; >* $541 million from charging higher fees to corporate jet owners; >* $500 million from auctioning off some part of the communication >spectrum; >* $420 million from higher fees for antitrust reviews of mergers; >* $280 million from closing Medicare and Medicaid loopholes; >* 475 million from suspending a tax credit for alternative fuels >producers; >* $200 million from increased penalties on companies that underpay >taxes; >* $200 million from changes to single-family limits on FHA loans; >*and $200 million from changes to the corporate tax deduction >for dividends received. > >Many of these taxes zap business. Others qualify as pie-in-the-sky >and/or smoke-and-mirrors. The spectrum-auction dough for example, >has now been "spent" at least a dozen times by politicians of all >stripes. > >Other Clinton promises may do real good at a low cost - as far >as the FEDERAL budget is concerned. But school uniforms, 911 and >the like DO cost state and local governments. And SOMEONE has to >pay for expansions of family leave mandates and the like - if >these things were free, we'd have them without need of new laws. > >How much credit does a leader earn for "doing good," when others >pay the bills? > >President Clinton has a long record of violating vows, of breaking >the spirit and the letter of his promises. Bob Dole, by contrast, >is known far and wide as a man of his word. The press knows this - >and also that Clinton is a far smoother talker. > >If the press keeps giving Clinton a free ride on his absurd >campaign promises, the media's pride in seeing through politicians' >ploys will be exposed as the falsest of pretenses. > >+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ > "If you aren't hearing about what's wrong with the Clinton > Administration, you must be getting your news from > Sam Donaldson." >+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ > >Elefanceros > >.. > -- MR/2 > > > ------- >To unsubscribe from c-news, send the message UNSUBSCRIBE c-news to >majordomo@world.std.com. Contact owner-c-news@world.std.com with questions. > >
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