REINVENTION OF AMERICA - Part 2

Revolution: An Inside Job

 

On March 3, 1993, the same day that the National Performance Review was announced, the White House Office of Domestic Policy issued a press release that began:

           

A REVOLUTION IN GOVERNMENT

"The people demand and deserve an active government on their side.  But they don't want a government that wastes money, a government that costs more and does less.  They voted for change.  They wanted a literal revolution in the way government operates, and now, you and I must deliver.  

President Bill Clinton
Remarks to the Cabinet
February 10, 1993

Today, the President has asked Vice-President Gore to lead a revolution in Washington that will change the way government does business.  The American people deserve a government that treats them like customers..... 

          


In the same press release, Clinton's first address to a Joint Session of Congress was mentioned along with a report that was given to the members.  If the report didn't have a date on it, you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't issued yesterday as opposed to nearly 20 years ago.

A Detailed Economic Plan of Investment and Serious Deficit Reduction

  • President Clinton's 145-page, detailed Vision of Change for America offers a new way of governing. The President's plan includes serious and credible deficit reduction and a long-term plan to get our economy back on track without the "smoke and mirrors" of the past 12 years.
     
  • The package calls for 150 specific domestic savings, as well as a long-term plan to invest in America and an immediate stimulus package to jumpstart the economy and create jobs to get America working again.

But the most important report in terms of direction of the country and the economy was released on February 22, 1993.  The report, Technology for America's Economic Growth, A New Direction to Build Economic Strength outlining a comprehensive strategy for technology was the basis of an economic policy that served only the high end of economy at the expense of the rest. 
 
           

Technology for America’s Economic Growth recognizes that new investments in technology will help the private sector create high-wage, high-skill jobs. It offers ground-breaking proposals to:

- Develop a national network of manufacturing extension centers to help small and medium-sized businesses gain access to technology;

- Invest in applied R & D in fields such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, and advanced materials;

- Increase partnerships between industry and the national laboratories;

- Develop a partnership with the American auto industry to enable the development of a “clean car,” creating jobs and protecting the environment; and

- Expand the Commerce Department’s Advanced Technology Program to provide matching grants for industry-led R & D consortia.


A major priority of the package will be developing a National Information Infrastructure and the “information superhighways” created by legislation introduced and steered to passage by Vice President Gore when he served in the Senate. Technology for America’s Economic Growth includes:

- Support for the High-performance Computing and Communications Initiative that is
developing new technologies for our most powerful computers, supercomputers that are able to rapidly process enormous quantities of information and for a national, high-speed network (“information superhighways”) to make this high-performance computing more accessible.

- Developing new applications for high-performance computing and networking in health care, lifelong learning, and manufacturing

- Creating pilot projects to demonstrate these technologies in schools and other nonprofit entities.

- A task force of the National Economic Council which will work with the Congress and the private sector to develop policies needed to accelerate the deployment of a National Information Infrastructure

America's technology policy also will be used to help meet other important national goals:

- The federal government will use technology to cut its costs, improve energy efficiency, and improve the quality and timeliness of service.

- The government will work with industry to develop technologies (software, computer and communications equipment) that increase the productivity of learning in our schools, our homes, and our workplaces.

The plan will improve the environment for private sector investment and innovation in a variety of
ways:

- Making the Research and Experimentation tax credit-permanent.
- Reducing capital gains for tong-term investments in small businesses.
- Reforming our antitrust laws to permit joint production ventures.

Technology for America’s Economic Growth recognizes as well that our policy goals require a
continued commitment to U.S. leadership in basic research. The initiative includes substantial
increases in funding for the National Science Foundation.

And, Technology for America’s Economic Growth improves the management of U.S.
technology policy with:

- High-level leadership and coordination by the Via President, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Economic Council.

- Developing a true partnership between the federal government and industry, labor, academia, and the states.

- Regular evaluation of program to determine whether they should remain part of the national investment ill technology.

 

           


This report articulated the policies that would build the Trojan Triangle system that is converting the economy to a fascist/communist system of police state control, robbing the taxpayers, cheating America's children out of an education, turning them into indentured servants behind the mask of education, and more.   In implementation, this policy transfers the overhead costs of the technology industry to taxpayers and at the same time gives the government the power to select the winners and losers in the economy.  The winners win big, the losers which are the vast majority of people, will lose virtually everything - including their freedom. 

 

 
           

Page 13-14

GOAL: LONG-TERM ECONOMIC GROWTH THAT CREATES JOBS AND
PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT

Technology is the engine of economic growth. In the United States, technological
advance has been responsible for as much as two-thirds of productivity growth since the
Depression. Breakthroughs such as the transistor, computers, recombinant DNA and
synthetic materials have created entire new industries and millions of high-paying jobs.
International competitiveness depends less and less on traditional factors such as
access to natural resources and cheap labor. Instead, the new growth industries are
knowledge based.

They depend on the continuous generation of new technological innovations and the
rapid transformation of these innovations into commercial products the world wants to buy.
That requires a talented and adaptive work force capable of using the latest technologies and
reaching ever-higher levels of productivity.

Modern production systems also make much more efficient use of energy and
materials. Advances in technology can lead to enormous reductions in the environmental
emissions associated with automobiles, buildings, and factories. And because pollution
always signals inefficiencies and, because wasteful energy costs raise the price of doing
business, these technology advances can also lead to increased profits.

We can promote technology as a catalyst for economic growth by:

· directly supporting the development, commercialization, and deployment of
new technology;

· fiscal and regulatory policies that indirectly promote these activities;

· investment in education and training; and,

· support for critical transportation and communication infrastructures.


Technology Development Commercialization and Use

Since World War-II, the federal government’s de facto technology policy has consisted of support for basic science and mission-oriented R&D - largely defense technology. Compared to Japan and our other competitors, support for commercial technology has been minimal in the U.S. Instead, the U.S. government has relied on its investments in defense and space to trickle down to civilian industry.

Although that approach to commercial technology may have made sense in an earlier era, when U.S. firms dominated world markets, it is no longer adequate. The nation urgently needs improved strategies for government/industry cooperation in the support of industrial technology. These new approaches need not jeopardize agency missions: In many technology areas, missions of the agencies coincide with commercial interests or can be accomplished better through close cooperation with industry.

This Administration will modify the ways federal agencies do business to encourage
cooperative work with industry in areas of mutual interest. President Eisenhower undertook a
similar policy change in 1954, when he issued an executive order directing federal agencies
to support basic research, This new policy will result in significantly more federal R&D
resources going to (pre-competitive) projects of commercial relevance. It will also result in
federal programs that go beyond R&D, where appropriate, to promote the broad application
of new technology and know-how. 

R&D. At the level of technology development, the fundamental mechanism for carrying out
this new approach is the cost-shared R&D partnership between government and industry, All federal R&D agencies (including the nation’s 726 federal laboratories) will be encouraged to
act as partners with industry wherever possible. In this way, federal investments can be
managed to benefit both government’s needs and the needs of U.S. businesses.

This reorientation is particularly urgent for the Department of Defense, which accounts for 56 percent of all federal R&D. A significant portion of DoD’s research and development budget is already focused on dual-use projects - particularly projects supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Since a growing number of defense needs can be met most efficiently by commercial products and technology in the years ahead, this fraction will increase. DoD is developing a strategy to improve the integration of defense and commercial technology development.

All federal support for technology development is being reviewed to ensure that research priorities are in line with contemporary needs of industry and to ensure that strategies for working with industry are consistent.

To strengthen industry-government cooperation and to provide more federal support for commercial R&D:

The ratio of civilian and dual-use R&D to purely military R&D is significantly higher In President Clinton’s economic plan. This is a first step toward balancing funding levels for these two categories. In 1993, the civilian share of the total federal R&D budget was approximately 41%. Under President Clinton’s plan, the civilian share will be more than 50% by 1998. Total spending for civilian R&D will rise from $27.9 billion to 36.6 billion during this period.

· The Commerce Department's Advanced Technology Program is expanded significantly. Established in 1990, the ATP shares the costs of industry-defined and industry-led projects selected through merit-based competitions.

· The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will be renamed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) - as the agency was known before 1972. The ARPA program in dual use will be expanded in ways that increase the likelihood that defense research can lead to civilian product opportunities.

Continue reading HERE

 

           
 

Vicky Davis
November 1, 2010