Foreign Policy News Clips: Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Editor's Note | I. Bush Administration | II. Political Parties | III. The Search for the 'Vision Thing' | IV. The Price of Leadership | V. Military Budgets and Peace Dividends | VI. Force Structures
"So there are no inexorable economic or external forces -- no new burdens -- that demand that we withdraw from leadership; if it happens, it will be of our own choosing. "
Paul Volker, International Herald Tribune,12/19/89, p. 4
"When President Bush visited Poland last summer, he proposed a $119 million U.S. contribution to an aid program, explaining that this was all America could afford. To me, that's the wrong premise. Surely there are limits as to what the Poles can use effectively, and we don't want to waste money. Over time, private trade and investment will do more to generate growth than public funds. But, surely, at a critical time for Polish stability and democracy, $100 million or so can't be a reasonable measure of what America can 'afford.'
"I happened to be traveling in Aspen, Colorado, to make a speech the day after the president made his comment. On the way, I read some ads for Aspen real estate in the airplane. As I remarked to my audience, apparently the limit of what Americans can afford in defense of Polish democracy was the equivalent of about 30 luxury houses in Aspen.
"It's a question of attitude, not of economics. You can afford what you think you really need -- within limits. And I don't think the United States has reached those limits. Happily, that seems now to be recognized."
Paul Volcher, International Herald Tribune, 12/20/89, p. 4
"The principal reason for U.S. budget woes is the failure to relate the defense budget to national security. The revolution which is shaking the communist world clearly changes these needs in fundamental and radical ways, but one would never know it from listening to the debates in Congress about which weapons systems to buy. The defense budget is driven at least as much by pork-barrel politics -- how many jobs defense spending generates in various congressional districts -- as by strategic planning. "
Pat M. Holt Christian Science Monitor,10/4/89 p. 18
"During a debate in 1972 between two congressional candidates, a reporter asked both men what kind of long-range planning America should be doing. The candidates, both bright and caring, were taken aback and bumbled around for answers.
"Another reporter later asked the questioner why he had asked that in the first place. 'This wasn't an issue in the campaign,' the second reporter noted accurately.
"'That's why I asked it,' the first one responded. 'It should be.'"
Alan Lupo, Boston Globe,12/13/89, p. 22
"When President Bush warned the American public that the coming cuts in the military budget would not produce a 'peace dividend,' he was probably right, at least for now, according to many economists."
Fred Kaplan, Boston Globe,12/11/89, p. 1
"The richest nation in the world has spend too much money on the wrong things and now it is in danger of losing out in Eastern Europe. But the United States is by no means a poor country and we should not sit on the sidelines as perestroika sweeps through the world. Money still talks, in Eastern Europe, in educating our young and rebuilding our infrastructure. Here's an economic agenda to fit the new times and ensure that we remain a world leader. "
Jeffrey Madrick , New York Times,11/26/89, p. B2
" In short, simply collecting the taxes that the richest 1 percent paid back in 1977 would wipe out half the budget deficit. Raising taxes enough to restore the relative income shares that the top 1 percent enjoyed in 1977 -- still a staggeringly disproportionate 9.2 percent of the total income pie -- would raise about $130 billion."
Bob Kuttner Boston Globe,11/10/89, p. 15
"This rapid accelerating trend must not be allowed to continue. The future of this nation cannot be determined in the boardrooms of Tokyo and Europe; their occupants have no stake in American and do not share its heritage or its aspirations. To them we must appear a succulent plate from which the choicest morsels can be plucked. The American economy -- the goose that lays the golden egg -- is being quietly dismembered and shipped across the ocean to enrich other lands. "
Richard N. Goodwin, Los Angeles Times,9/29/89 p. II, 7
Editor's Note | I. Bush Administration | II. Political Parties | III. The Search for the 'Vision Thing' | IV. The Price of Leadership | V. Military Budgets and Peace Dividends | VI. Force Structures
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