From: mulac@daystrom.lerc.nasa.gov (Richard Mulac)
Subject: Re: The media will choose the next president
Followup-To: alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.elections
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center [Cleveland, Ohio]
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 05:00:20 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.011904.2388@csl.sri.com> pcorless@cisco.com (Peter Corless) writes:
>In response to post:
>From: mulac@daystrom.lerc.nasa.gov (Richard Mulac)
>Subject: The media will choose the next president
>
>>      Bush has a LOT of faults, but Clinton's economic plan puts a big
>> emphasis on giving jobs to people to rebuild our infrastructure (i.e.
>> shoveling tar on roads).  This will not produce workers with needed skills
>> and will only increase the deficit.
>
>Roads are only one of the items in the Clinton infrastructure plan. Data
>networks are also DEFINITELY part of the plan. For example, Al Gore is
>sponsoring a bill to upgrade the internet to support connections from K-12
>educational sites nationwide (just as it supports higher education today).

   The government has been funding the HPCC (High Performance Computing and
Communications) program for a number of years now (which is what you are
refering to).  I give Gore credit for working hard in supporting the
program, but Bush has also been 100% behind it.  In fact, the Bush
budget for '93 has increased funding for HPCC by 23% at a time when a lot
of government programs are being cut.  Unfortunately it's Clinton, not
Gore, who is running for President.  All I've heard from Clinton is
pandering to the labor unions by promising a lot of low skill - high pay
union construction jobs which will be involved in rebuilding our
infrastructure.

>Let's look at it this way: when you build $500 million worth of new bombers,
>you have a large investment in equipment that produces absolutely no income
>and requires a serious long-term commitment on upkeep and personnel. The jobs
>created are the direct staff (usually government employees or contractors) for
>the bombers and base, as well as some indirect jobs created to those
>businesses that service the base and its personnel.

   I agree.  I would like to here more from Bush on how he can convert our
high-tech defense industries into consumer oriented ones.

>When you spend $500 million on a fleet of new energy-efficient and high-speed
>trains for a commuter corridor, you also have serious long-term commitments,
>but you offest that with the fares collected for the system. As well, you get
>indirect increases in revenue on higher taxes collected from individuals and
>companies that improve their finances by benefitting from the newly-created
>service. The jobs created are both the staff of the new system, as well as
>indirect jobs for service of the new industry. In addition, more jobs are
>created for those who benefit financially from the new service, plus entire
>new industries that figure out ways to use the service that were never
>predicted. For example, the high-speed rail might spur new counter-to-counter
>messenger services that could not feasibly exist without the high-speed rail
>net in place.

   You are assuming a lot here, though.  Most commuter transportation
systems in this country can't pay for themselves now and are constantly
raising fares and going back to the voters for bigger tax subsidies.  If
gas prices were to increase to a level to give commuters more incentive to
ride public transportation, this scenario MAY take effect.

-- 
Richard Mulac                                     mulac@daystrom.lerc.nasa.gov
NASA Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, MS 5-9, Cleveland, OH  44135
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"The question is - who do you trust to make change work | These pontifications
for you?" - President George Bush                       |      are my own!    
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