DEAR EDITOR:
Great letter Mr. Darden. I know how much time and effort are
involved in digging up information and doing analysis for a letter
like yours published on Jan. 17.
DEAR EDITOR:
Great letter Mr. Darden. I know how much time and effort are involved in digging up information and doing analysis for a letter like yours published on Jan. 17.
I have a couple of suggestions for your methodology. First, when trying to evaluate the impact of a particular administration, it is prudent to count the years of their influence, not election to election. For example, Bill Clinton was elected in November 1992 and took office January 1993. His first budget recommendation to Congress was in 1993 for fiscal year 1994. The normal lag time between an economic policy change in the United States and the time when one could reasonably expect to be able to see a measurable result is nine to 18 months depending on the type of change.
One should therefore evaluate the economic impact of the Clinton Administration by measuring the years 1995 to 2002. Similarly, the first effect of the policies of the Bush II Administration should start appearing this coming year and will be available as reliable data sometime in 2004.
Second, when evaluating the rate of government growth, one should recognize that the actual budget and activity of the government is directed by Congress with the advice of the president. It is much more realistic to associate the rate of government growth to the party that controls Congress, not to the party of the president. The lag time for government growth policies is one year. One should attribute the responsibility for government growth in 2002, for example, to the party that controlled Congress in 2001 when the budget was passed.
Rene Guerra, Mr. Taylor is my enemy but when he’s right he’s right. VTA and Caltrain are socialist. Socialism is state ownership of the means of production. The source of funding does not matter since all of everything is funded from the same source, the sweat of the working class. The socialist elements of our economy are those owned by the government.
Here in Gilroy, those are public transportation, the road network, the school district, water distribution, the library, public housing, the golf course, parks, and the police and fire departments. Similarly, fascism is private ownership of the means of production under government control. Fascist elements of our local economy are those which are privately owned but directed by the government: garbage collection, cable TV, power generation and distribution, and land use (because of zoning).The word fascism has become more of an insult than a term meaning a type of economic organization; I use it above in the sense of its original definition.
Stuart Allen, Gilroy
Submitted Sunday, January 19 to ed****@ga****.com
