From: foy@aero.org (Richard Foy)
Subject: Re: Better Off Than Four Years Ago NOT
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 00:05:34 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.205954.6555@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> cessna@kn5f.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Taylor Evert) writes:
...>
>Labor Secratary Lynn Martin asked that question, not Barbara Bush.
>
...
>
>But I guarentee the airfair will be cheaper than 12 years ago if you 
>adjust for inflation due to deregulation under Reagan..

Lynn Martin was smart enough not to try to give Bush credit for what 
happened under Reagan.

>
>> I eat out a lot. It costs me a substantially larger percentage of my 
>income
>> than it did 4 years ago.
>
>Better restaurants?  Seriously.

When I eat out at better resturarants, which I do from time to time, the
cost is moer than substantially more. 

>
>> I drive around LA a lot. It takes a substantially larger percentage of my
>> time than it did 4 years ago. I read the news. In spite of the Willie
>> Hornton ad there is a substantially greater amount of crime in it than
>> there was 4 years ago.
>
>I drive around Houston a lot.  It takes less time than 4 years ago.  We 
>elected a tough new mayor this year who gave new life and support to our 
>police department.  Crime in Houston is down 37%.  The point is that you 
>will have much better luck combatting it on the local level than depending 
>on the feds.   BTW, George Bush's crime bill, which takes a tough stance 
>against crime and has some real teeth to it has been languishing in 
>Congress for most of the 4 years.

Perhaps that is due to the fact that Texas is an oil state or that Bush
came from Houston. In any case you are luckier than Californians in those 
respects.

>
>> I like to be able to relax in nature. There is substantially less clean
>> nice nature than there was 4 years ago. I don't like to worry. I spend a
>> substantially greater percentage of my time worrying about ozone holes 
>etc.
>> than I did 4 years ago.
>
>Don't blame Bush for your worry.  Blame the enviromental extremists like 
>Al Gore who don't know what they are talking about, and then quit 
>worrying.   Also remember that you don't have to worry about the Soviets 
>pushing the button in the middle of the night and obliterating the world.
>

Most of my worrying comes from reading articles by technical folks in
Journals like science which is not overwhelmned by extremists.

>> I like the women that I know to have the same opportunities, freedoms and
>> choices that I have. Their choices are substantially less than they were 
>4
>> years ago. Not incidentally, the Reagan Bush Supreme Court have reduced 
>my
>> freedoms as well and will go on doing so for many more years.
>
>There are substantially more women in highly paid professional positions 
>than there were 12 years ago or 4 years ago.  My wife is one of them. Where is your proof that there are FEWER choices.  
>Name one freedom that the Reagan Bush Supreme Court has taken away from 
>you personally....

I don't have my Supreme Court file here. However, Lynn Martin did not give
much proof that we are better off.

>
>> Though I lead a life style that Clayton Cramer and the Religious Right
>> would probably approve of at least as far as sex and drugs are concerned,
>> I am substantially more at risk of aids than I was 4 years ago.
>
>Can you blame this on the President?  Do you think that 4 years of Clinton 
>will change that?  or even 12 years?

No I can't say that I can blame that on the President. However, I do believe
that if he and more importantly if Reagan had not ignored the importance of
AIDs for so long, we would be much closer to a solution now. I also believe
that if the government had supported such things as free condoms in schools,
needle exchange programs, we would all be at less risk no matter what our
life style. Unless of course, the cause of AIDS turns out to be something
other than the HIV virus.

>
>> No! I am not better off than I was 4 years ago.
>
>With that attitude, you probably won't be better off after 4 years of 
>Clinton either.

That is certainly a possibility. However, I am almost certain that
with Bush I will be worse off 4 years from now in the areas that I 
mentioned above.

>
>Mark T. Evert
>Friendswood, TX
>
>My opinions are my own.

Richard Foy           Standard Disclaimer

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