Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Thu, May 7 1992 Date: Thu, 7 May 92 05:31:39 EDT Message-ID: 05-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update May 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Thursday morning in USA TODAY: Seawolf; Postmaster; Vote. TODAY'S DEBATE - SEAWOLF SUBMARINE: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Congress is winding up to squander another $2 billion Thursday - possibly more - for a Seawolf nuclear submarine that has no use. The Pentagon doesn't want more Seawolfs. Nor does President Bush. The Soviet Union - the enemy Seawolf was designed to strike - no longer exists. But the only debate in Congress is whether to fund one more Seawolf or two, beyond the one now being built. ... Congress members cite several reasons for (keeping the Seawolf), such as the need to retain sub-building skills. Their main concern, though, is to save jobs - 19,000 at the Seawolf shipyard alone, thousands more at the suppliers. Lawmakers from affected areas fear such jobs will shrivel and blow away for good if they close the funding spigot. Others will go along in exchange for votes on other pork-barrel projects. ... Retooling an economy driven for decades by Cold War defense spending will not, cannot, be painless. But it's essential if the USA is to compete with nations putting their resources into areas such as education and research. OTHER VIEW: REP. SAM GEJDENSON, D-Conn.: The Seawolf submarine is the best way to maintain our nation's defense safety net and to sustain the ability to produce the most technologically advanced submarines in the world. For the USA to remain a leader in undersea technology, it must preserve the skilled submarine workforce which has mastered the specialized knowledge and experience that made the USA pre-eminent in submarine technology. Taxpayers have already invested almost $2 billion in ships President Bush wants to scrap. Unemployment and other social-service costs, as well as those associated with closing down the Seawolf production line, will nearly match the amount of money needed to build two additional ships - thereby wiping out assumed savings. ... Navy officials are now developing the next generation of submarines, the Centurion class, which will be less expensive than the Seawolf and build upon Seawolf technology. The best, and most cost-effective, transition into Centurion is building all three Seawolf ships. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON ADVICE FOR THE NEW POSTMASTER GENERAL: KANSAS CITY, Kan., Ruby Jennings, 32, UPS supervisor: Go in with an open mind; watch, take advice and then make decisions. Go out with carriers and observe; do hands-on work. Then he'd be in a better position to make some decisions. I would like to see some consistency in delivering the mail at specific times. TULSA, Okla., Keith Decker, 31, publisher: Take a look at the private sector. Competition among companies gives impetus to better service, better pricing and better methods of doing business. The Postal Service is very inefficient. Joe Citizen has no way of communicating his dislikes of the service. PHOENIX, Ariz., Madeline Ong-Sakata, 53, homemaker: I just hope the new postmaster general won't let prices go up again. It makes you use the telephone too much. My children hardly ever write. I fear that when I grow old, I won't have their letters to reflect on. Other than that, I am pretty satisfied the ways things are. SUMTER, S.C., Michael Ardis, 29, college instructor: I don't have any problems with the services the post office provides. I think it is very efficient. The only advice I would give is for it to try to keep costs down and its rates at a minimum. We've seen dramatic increases that have outpaced inflation. ASHLAND COUNTY, Ohio, Marilyn Byers, 60, county commissioner: We need to keep the rates the same and not consider increases. If we get increases, then the public would expect increased service. Postal employees apparently are quite well paid and have good benefits. Rates are becoming a great burden on our budgets. TOPIC - JERRY BROWN: Selecting the next president means hard choices for voters. USA TODAY's editorial board is asking candidates to address key issues to help voters this election year. This interview with Democrat Jerry Brown is another in an occasional series of interviews. WHY CONTINUE WHEN THERE'S NO CHANCE OF OVERTAKING BILL CLINTON? My campaign has been based on the fundamental premise that there's gridlock in Washington. The basic needs of the country are being neglected, particularly those affecting groups without real power. The distortion of the political system has occurred because of the concentration of power and wealth in the top 1% of Americans. I decided to attack this at the highest level by running for president. IS THAT IMBALANCE REFLECTED IN THE LOS ANGELES RIOTS? It just underscores what has been obvious in all the cities I've gone to: in Michigan, in New York, in Boston, in Philadelphia, particularly, and in other areas. You literally have millions of Americans living in substandard conditions in the richest country in the world. It's totally unacceptable. It's leading this country to the kind of authoritarian response that will continuously erode civil liberties and divide the society. WHAT'S THE ANSWER? I divide this issue very simply: We're either going to intervene in the economy to create a full-employment economy with a living family wage for all Americans, or we're going to intervene after the fact with more police and more military to try to control the angry consequences of the despair, the alienation and the hatred that follow in the wake of such inequality and injustice. What we're looking at is a systematic, pervasive injustice to American citizens, particularly concentrated in the cities, but also found in rural areas. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM