From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.bush
Subject: Re: ==> Rhetoric Vs. Reality--The First Debate
Date: 16 Oct 92 06:00:06 GMT
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group

In article <1992Oct12.195837.4272@technology.com> judy@technology.com (Judy McMillin) writes:
>In article <1992Oct12.111941.13258@anomaly.sbs.risc.net> kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.risc.net (Michael P. Deignan) writes:
>><U56503@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>>> Under the
>>> Republicans, U.S. productivity has grown at roughly 1 percent,
>>> compared to 2.8 percent for Japan.
>>
>>Of course, this does not mean that U.S. productivity would have grown
>>any faster under Democrats.
>>
>	You know what productivity growth is?  It's letting people go --
>	laying off -- firing.  Then it takes less money to produce. Of
>	course, people are working harder, but, no matter -- they're
>	just happy to be employed!  This, of course, is a short term
>	gain for producers, because as the people get tired out, production
>	goes down.  But it's a great boost to their stock prices in the
>	short term.

US productivity is 12% higher than Germany, where they have 9.6% 
unemployment. US productivity is 23% higher than Japan, where they
*have* unemployment for the first time in a nation dedicated to
cradle to grave employment. There are 126 million full time employed
Americans, the second highest number of all time, highest was 1989.
The US has 7.2% unemployment and inflation under 3%. The lowest
unemployment figure ever reached was 4.8%, which according to
economists represents full employment because 5% is considered
structural. The highest unemployment rate was reached under FDR
in 1939 at 52%. Now folks, 7.2% is a hell of a long way from the
52% reached after two terms of the New Deal.

Productivity is a measure of worker output. Laying off workers while
keeping the same output increases productivity by getting rid of the
dead wood allowed to accumulate by a fat and lazy company, but it's 
not the main way productivity increases. The main way is putting capital 
investment into plants and equipment so that one worker can produce *more* 
output. Increasing productivity doesn't necessarily increase employment, 
but it is the *only* way that increases in worker wages can be justified. 
The median worker income in the US has reached $30,150, an all time high.

>>> Since 1980, the United States has been transformed from the world's
>>> largest creditor to the world's largest debtor.
>>
>>This implies a change of status, which is false. The U.S. is still the
>>world's largest creditor nation.
>>
>>
>		Neither is a good position.

Neither a lender nor a borrower be is a proverb, however, financial
services is a major US industry employing several million Americans. 
The US still lends more money to the world than any other nation. We 
also borrow more, but that just shows the faith the rest of the world 
has in our economy. They'd rather put their money here than anywhere 
else, and at historically low interest rates at that.

>>> RHETORIC: Under George Bush, the misery index has increased from 9.4
>>> to 10.4 percent in September.
>>
>>What was the peak misery index under Carter? 

20.6

>	Where do these "misery index" figures come from? 

The misery index is the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation
rate.

>>> RHETORIC: The day after Bush addressed the Republican National
>>> Convention, the Dow Jones Industrial average sank 50.79 points, to a
>>> four-month low of 3,254.10. It was the second biggest drop for the
>>> average in 1992. 
>>
>	Naah, probably it was because nobody shut down any factories
>	that day.
>>	
>What was the index when Bush took office? What is it today?

The Dow Index has increased from less than 200 under JFK to 2000
under Ronald Reagan and over 3000 today. A remarkable period of
growth unpresidented in US history.

>>What is the per capita spending on AIDS compared to other diseases like
>>Cancer and heart disease?
>>
>	When considering AIDS spending vs. cancer, etc., we MUST keep
>	in mind that it's congagious, i.e., a PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT.
>	While the others are deserving of attention, they aren't con-
>	tagious.

One in four Americans will get cancer, one in five hundred get AIDs,
and that disproportionately among people who make risky lifestyle
choices. Federal AIDs funding is 62% of Federal cancer funding.
AIDs, like the common cold, is a viral disease with a high mutation
rate. Like the common cold, there is really very little hope that
a vaccine will be found. The best hope of containing the disease
is the traditional method of dealing with contagion, quarrantine.
But government health officials have allowed AIDs to become a
political issue instead of a public health issue, so the disease
continues to spread.

>>Funny, I seem to see concrete proposals on what to mandate to insurance
>>companies. How did Slick forget to mention what he wants to do to lawyers?
>>Did he forget? Did he get tired? Did he get an endorsement from the
>>American Trial Lawyer's Association?
>>
>>MD
>>
>	What does BC want to to to lawyers?  

Clinton has opposed legal reforms that would reduce frivolous lawsuits
and so called deep pockets lawsuits. Unlike Dan Quayle, who spoke out
at the ABA convention against abusive use of lawsuits and demanded
reforms in civil litigation, Bill and Hillary want to continue to line
the pockets of lawyers with contingency fees. The legal system costs
the US economy $360 *billion* dollars in civil suits each year. There
are more lawyers per 100,000 population in the US than in any other
country on Earth. There are over 1000 times as many lawyers in the
US than in Japan. Malpractice and civil liability insurance rates
in the US are the highest in the world, and not because our doctors
are the worst or our products the shoddiest. A obstetrician's malpractice
insurance *premium* in Georgia is $260,000 a year. Over half the counties
in Georgia now have *no* practicing obstetricians. They can't afford
to practice. Recreational civil aviation manufacture in the US has
essentially disappeared due to product liability insurance costs.
Yet general aviation is one of the *safest* hobby activities in the
US. 

Gary
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,talk.politics.misc,alt.rush-limbaugh