Word: though
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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Just what did the budget summiteers do for 11 weeks? Not much. Though the panel met 18 times, its members never talked about the two essential elements in any budget deal: raising revenues and cutting entitlements. Instead, the two sides engaged in an Alphonse-and-Gaston routine, dithering over procedure, accounting rules and leaks...
...their continued refusal to accept domestic-spending reductions. When Budget Director Richard Darman suggested 47 cuts in health care, agriculture subsidies, federal loan guarantees and other giveaways good for $16 billion in savings next year, Panetta countered with a "core package" of reductions worth only $5.6 billion. Paltry though his offer was, Panetta lacked much support from fellow Democrats for even those meager measures. "None of our guys were ready to do that much," said a Democratic participant. Meanwhile, loyalty on the Republican side has broken down, especially on taxes. In recent weeks the Administration has floated several revenue proposals...
...President's unease had Democrats gloating, as though the goal of the budget summit had been to score political points rather than to cope with a national crisis. "By our silence we have been successful in these talks," boasted Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "The Republicans have just shot themselves in the foot, in the neck, in the ear. They're masochists...
Such gamesmanship has made this budget summit a dismal failure. The two sides should have been discussing real cuts and constructive taxes, such as higher gasoline taxes or a broader levy on energy in all forms, or both. But though an energy tax would raise billions quickly, encourage conservation and decrease the nation's dependence on foreign oil, a huge -- perhaps insurmountable -- obstacle stands in its way: it would take guts to impose...
...takeover will vault Fujitsu past the U.S.'s Digital Equipment to become the world's second ranking computer maker. For the first time, a Japanese technology company will control a major position on the Continent, just in time for the integration of the European market in 1992. Though no E.C. official has spoken against the takeover, strong opposition may soon be heard. Says Tim Marrable, who follows the computer industry for Kleinwort Benson in Tokyo: "You can more or less expect France to come out and accuse Britain of bringing another Japanese Trojan horse into Europe." Analysts anticipate a heated...