From: randall@informix.com (Randall Rhea)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.president.clinton
Subject: Family leave (wasL Re: Clinton's flip-flop on Haitians!)
Date: 26 Jan 93 02:36:36 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu (jason 'Think!' steiner) writes:

>> 5) SAID: Keep Republicans in office.  We are the party of economic
>>            prosperity.
>>   MEANT: I will do nothing when a serious recession breaks out a 
>>          year and a half after taking office.  I will hold to a 
>>          19th-century view that the economy will just take care of 
>>          itself.  

>funny. it did. too bad we didn't -hear- about it until after the election...

Not really.  If you look at the statistics, economic growth is still
sluggish.  Some of the high retail sales numbers for late '92
have been revised downward.  Even those numbers were comparisons 
from '91, which was a terrible year.   The unemployment rate
is still high and is not getting better.  Big companies like
Sears, Kodak, and IBM are still announcing large layoffs.
State and local governments are having a horrible time in many
areas, especially California.  There is no evidence that we
are coming out of the sluggish period that began in '90.   We
have seen a couple of upward blips before, only to see them 
decline again.

>first off, it was mostly small businesses who opposed the family leave
>bill. they're the ones who take the brunt of such regulation, yet they're
>also the ones that provide the most growth & new development in this
>country.

The Family Leave bills proposed by Congress exempted businesses with
50 or fewer employees.  The current one, the one that is sure to
pass soon, also has the same exemption.

>secondly, it is -not- the government's responsibility to take care of
>families. i don't like that Bush said anything to that effect either,
>but i'm glad he didn't carry through on it. i don't want the government
>to be my mommy & give me an allowance every week. 'cause when it takes
>that kind of parental role it becomes impossible to get the car keys
>& you have to be in by 12.

Certainly a lot of people agree with you on this.  However, the
government takes care of families all the time.  We can go down
a lengthy list: pure food and drug laws, child labor laws, Social
Security, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, Medicare,
Medicaid, laws to promote safe working conditions, environmental
regulations for clean air and water, child support laws,
and I could go on.   Certainly each of these things leads to
more regulatory bureaucracy.  It's worth it.   If the government
won't protect families, then no one else will.

The problem is that many companies are run by people that cannot
or will not understand that our society has changed dramatically
over the past 25 years.  The working mother is a fact - a reality.
Wishing for a return to the "good ol days" won't change anything.
When your child gets sick, child care organizations and babysitters
won't take him/her.   A parent must take care of the child in these
cases.  To do so, you risk losing your job in many companies.  One
can say, "just go to another company with a more progressive
policy", but in this recession, that's difficult if not impossible
to do.  

>now, i agree with you on a lot of your points, in fact, i didn't even
>vote for Bush. but i don't see how someone who's even more of a liar
>& master distortionist will make things better.

I don't think that Clinton is worse than Bush on this matter.  Clinton
promised more - that's the difference.


-- 

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Randall Rhea                                        Informix Software, Inc. 
Project Manager, MIS Sales/Marketing Systems    uunet!pyramid!infmx!randall
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