European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 19, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 19, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes a Page 15 president proposes a great leap backward that Squishy sound you heard throughout president Clinton s economic address the weakness at the Core of his proposals is a refusal to Deal wit the explosion of Federal spending a decade ago House speaker tip o Neill snookered president Ronald Reagan in a deficit reduction Deal for one Dollar in tax increase promised the Democrat Congress would Cut three dollars in spending. Never happened democrats claim there never was a  years ago president George Bush made the deficit reduction Deal with democrats that helped torpedo his presidency for every Dollar in new taxes two dollars were to be Cut in spending. But taxes were front loaded and spending cuts Back loaded the deficit soared. Now we have similar Snake Oil from Clinton. Only weeks ago we heard from his budget chief that forever Dollar in new taxes two dollars would be Cut out of the spending Stream. No even that ephemeral goal has been abandoned it s to be i rough balance a Dollar Cut for a Dollar  if that were True contrary to All recent experience such balance would mean that the debt would continue to grow because each year s deficit compounds  the storm of projections keep in mind a few Bedrock principles economic stimulus jargon for government spending adds to the deficit the in Terest on which is killing us. Accept no Clint onite protestations that this is just for now and next year boy of boy will they become deficit cutters. Never  taxes do not help and could abort a re covery. We re on the Way Back up to brisk growth wit productivity increasing now is not the time to snatch Money from the pockets of people Able to spend  True fair sharing of the pain would be to reduce our debt by slowing the growth of government services not to take More tax Money for More services. No won Der we have seen so Little of Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsyn in the pro speech hype Clinton s plan rather than growing the Economy grows the  the deficit is not an excuse for raising taxes when you Are not really cutting the  we arc at the heart of the matter. Clinton sold As a different kind of Democrat is the same kind of Democrat on economics he is answering the Reagan revolution with a plan for a Clinton  promised new direction is a reversion to 1979. How to sell this great leap backward in 1971 William Safire Richard m. Nixon told his aides we be got to have  we tried to make inflation the villain which led to the misbegotten wage Price freeze but not until anti War demonstrations engulfed the democrats did a villain emerge that guaranteed Nixon s re election. In his postelection Campaign Clinton has selected no fewer than four villains to be the Anvil on which he hammers counterrevolution. The first is the Rich the definition of which has widened to All those not poor. He takes this sanctimonious Appeal to class warfare from president Franklind. Roosevelt s blast at economic  second is the special interests president Harry Truman s villain now defined As those lobbyists and lawyers outside the Clinton Cabinet who oppose proposals to raise taxes slash defense or treat social Security a welfare. Villain no. 3 is the pharmaceutical Industry for Thesin of conspicuous Success Price controls on children s vaccines have populist Appeal but if advertising is penalized and Price controls on new drugs result in Short Ages Black markets and cutbacks in medical research this villain will be quickly do Demon izod. The fourth villain is the one most despised that of Devil deficit. Its Puissance was exploited by Ross Perot who could rightly claim that the debt begun by democrats was tripled under Republican presidents. Revenue to lower the deficit is cited by Clintona the reason for his flip Flop on a Middle class tax Cut. His excuse is that deficit projections leaped after his election but that stretches a wild guess about 1997 from the democratic congressional budget office Clinton favorite projector. The High projection justifies tax hike plans he concealed from the electorate in 1992 an makes it easier to come under in the 1996 Campaign. In monday s i felicitous Call to arms and i wednesday night s new directions ramble Bill Clin ton raised taxes raised spending raised deficits an raised doubts. C the now Ycek Elmo Clinton May not be Able to deliver on promises president Clinton s plan to tax americans into Prosperity advances the largest Ever assault on the mushrooming budget deficit. But it s a risky strategy for encouraging economic revival and creating new jobs. Can such austerity really go hand Inland with boosting economic growth the answer is a resounding  proposing More spending for Public works project Sand for other pet democratic pro Grams while also seeking one of the largest tax in creases in history Clinton May have promised More than he can Deli  he threw himself open to Republican criticism that Tom Raum his program was biased in favor of taxing and spending. This economic plan can t please everybody. If the package is picked apart there la be something that will anger each of us Clinton said wednesday night As he announced his program to a joint House Senate session Siut if it is taken As a whole it will help All of  but it was being picked apart by re publicans and Many economists even As the Ink was barely dry. Huge tax increases will Only derail the ongoing economic recovery said Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas. Economists Are sceptical that Linton can produce the desired result Long term economic growth even if begets exactly what he wants from con Gress. And that s a big  is something in this program for everybody to hate said economist Lawrence Chimerine. But the longer term View is that if Clin ton s plan can actually begin making the deficit shrink significantly that will be Abig plus for future economic growth. The frightened response of the Stockand currency markets beginning tuesday and continuing wednesday was not Good Omen. That s because the Success of Clinton Splan depends so much on Market and consumer , give Clinton credit for at least grappling squarely with the deficit prob Lem. The political risks Are High especially since his program won t come near to balancing the budget. Even if the full administration plan is adopted the deficit will remain at Over $200 billion in1997 and hang there for years to come. But that s mainly a measure of How big the deficit is the White House Esti mates $346 billion in. 1997 without any action. Higher taxes Are never easy to sell either to Congress or to taxpayers. And tax increases Don t usually go along with eco nomic stimulus and Job creation. Tax hikes will do what every economic textbook says they will do depress the Economy said conservative economist Paul Craig Roberts. The administration claims its $499 Bil lion package contains $253 billion in spending cuts and $246 billion in new taxes. But actually the taxes in the planar even larger proportionately. Despite the administration s bragging about accuracy in accounting some tax increases notably a $24,1 billion in crease in taxes on social Security benefits for Well off retirees Are not listed stax increases but counted As spending cuts. I want Clinton to succeed. But he snot going to succeed if it s More tax and spend. And that s what this program really is said former democratic rep. Thomas l. Ashley of Ohio a banking Industry official who was the chairman of the House committee that steered Jimm Carter s Energy plan through the House. The administration is claiming its pro Gram will create 500,000 new jobs in the Short term from a $30 billion first install ment stimulus package then create 2 Mil lion additional jobs or More a year. But jobs created by the stimulus program May be offset by jobs lost a few years from now because of the higher taxes on Energy use and on incomes of wealthy corporations and individuals. Overall in terms of creating new Job the program is largely a Wash did economist David Wyss. Still Wyss added because of the plan s deficit reduction feature the Economy in 1996 would look a lot better than if Noth ing were  that of course is the whole Point say administration officials who claim healthy Economy is the Best Job creating engine of All. We anticipate that Over the entire period. We should gel in the order of so million to 9 million jobs said Laur Tyson chairman of the White House Council of i Conopio anti cry we were looking for a plan thai would be credible credible to inc population credible a  credit