The Nation : More State Powers Urged

The federal government, unable to afford new social programs, must give states more flexibility to find their own ways of creating jobs and moving people off welfare, Midwestern legislators and business leaders said. “The concept of Washington as a bottomless money-well has disappeared,” Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.) said at the Midwest Economic Summit in Milwaukee. The two-day conference, which attracted 100 leaders from 10 states, centered on the region’s above-average tax burden, which was called a hindrance to economic growth. Robert Genetski, chief economist at the Harris Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago, warned that the Midwest’s economy will continue to lag unless taxes are cut.