ANY HOPES among John Major's ministers that a revival of America's economy could help tow British capitalism outfits sium have bitten the dust.
President Bush's failure to offer any sionticant imorovemen: when he gave his keynote State of the Union Message to Congress Instead he outlined a timid set of tinkering changes, mainly directed towards placating the Repubicans disgruntled big business supporters.
The most wide-reaching proposal was tax concessions averaging $3 per week to single people and $6 to couples, to low and middle income $22bn in cash "to help pay for clothing. colege or to get a new car. federal budget defict, a book- keeping fiddle wil appear manipulate i downwards by 38 bilion. Some of this additional 'saving" is then to be spent. on a John Major-style one-off boost to the housing market, offering first-time buyers a $5,000 tax credit on homes bought before the end of 1992.
Super-rich
All the other giveaway measures outlined by Bush are targeted at the Republican super-rich There are tax billion tax concessions for big busi ness, and plans to cut capital gains tax - though 67% of the beneft of this will go to those earning over $200,000 a year.
To make matters worse for Bush, it s by no means certain that all these hal-hearted measures will be endersed by the Democrat. controiled Concress One measure known to be doomed in advance is Bush's hall baked offort to defuse the growing crisis in the US health care system. and offer some cover for 37 million uninsured and 65 million under-insured Americans.
The Bush plan involves diverting money out of the federally. subsidised Medicare (for the elderly and disabled) and federally. funded Medicaid (for the poor and unemployed) schemes. and into tax credits to ailow families or norvouals to buy onvere insurance cover.
Bush proposes also to offer credits to the unemployed and those on pay beiow the tax threshhold.
His theory is that once these people are covered by private insurance they will no longer make claims against the Medicare ($118 bilion) and Medicaid ($68 bn) budgets.
In practice the scheme would stphon off billions from the already under-insourced hospitals which currently provide a fail-back service for the poor. it aiso offers a short-term cash windfall for the avaricious private The discussion is academic, because Bush stands litle or no chance of pushing this plan through Congress.
The paralysis on this issue, while both of the major parties moan at the soaring costs and embarrassing deficiencies of the privatised system. symbolises the problems of US capitalism.
Despite his appearance of strength, Bush has found himself hamstrung in domestic policies by his lack of support in Congress, and can find no oscape from the gathering iocession.
Instead, dominated by two capital. ist poitical parties each shackled by a milion inks to the values andpolicies of the free market, the USA has seen ts vast industrial corporations caught and overtaken in their global dominance by their more modern and productive competitors in Japan and Gernary.
Pyrrhic victory
While Bush can claim a US Victory in the Cold War, the US economy has paid a heavy price for Ronald Reaspree in the 1980s. The federal deficit is projected to be $400 bilion in 1992, 6.7% of the GDP One outcome of this is that having "won"
'communism. he USA cannot bankroll any new Marshail Plan intiative to Eastern Europe or the ex-USSR.
and even profited fir anciatty from the Gut War. Bush knows that is not enough to guarantee markets for US manufacturing indusMultinationals which for decades have traded on their monopoly of the giant US market now find themselves undermined by cheaper and better imports Even the efforts to roll this back with chauvinistic "Buy American campaigns have run into the snag that many 'US-made goods use Japanese or imported parts, or are made by foreign-owned firms based in the USA No idea So now, with a hostle Congress and no real idea of what to do, the most powerful man in the most power. ful and wealthy country is reduced to shutting his eyes and hoping for the best as he sides towards the elec tions.
The thinking is that if he puts proposals to Congress and they are rofected, then at least he wil seam to have tried something, and can portray the Democrats as the obstacie A more sinister possiblity is that he will resort to an election campaian based on rabbie-rousing against wel fare claimants - a tactic that recently won neo-nazi challenger David Duke But for Bush to pillory the victims of rebound against him. Already bumpe stickers in New Hampshire, where mass unemployment has precedec the first presidential primary elections. sport the slogan "Saddam Hussain soil has his ico. Do you? No. 16 Feb. 15, 1992