Dukakis Says GOP Caused Market Drop : Promises Major Economic Changes to Avoid Another

Democrat Michael S. Dukakis said today that Republican policies caused last year’s stock market plunge, and he promised big economic changes to avoid another. GOP rival George Bush declared the Iron Curtain to be “a rusting curtain” but said U.S. vigilance is still necessary.

Both men said the presidential race is not over, despite a new poll showing a big Bush lead with just three weeks until Election Day.

Bush, in remarks prepared for delivery in Fulton, Mo., where Winston Churchill 46 years ago used the term “Iron Curtain” in a speech, said:

“The Iron Curtain still stretches from Stettin to Trieste. But it’s a rusting curtain.

“The Soviets are restrained by their own troubles, But they are also restrained by our strength, our ability to deter aggression, the unity of the democracies.”

Too Soon to Celebrate

Bush declined to celebrate his lead in public opinion surveys, saying: “There are undecided voters out there. The race is close in many states. No votes can be taken for granted and I’m not taking any votes for granted. I will continue to campaign as an underdog.”

Dukakis, speaking in Kalamazoo, Mich., to a Western Michigan University audience, said, “We’ve got to end the Republican ‘Rainbow Coalition’ of red ink for our children, pink slips for our workers, ‘greenmail’ for sharp operators on Wall Street and golden parachutes for top corporate executives.”

Turning to the stock market drop, which occurred a year ago Wednesday, Dukakis said: “And remember why it happened? The trade deficit had soared; Republican policies of borrow and spend and borrow and spend had done the damage.

“Interest rates were going up to attract the foreign bankers we needed to buy our massive federal debt and the speculative bubble burst--as it always does.”

Turnaround Proposed

He pledged that during the first four years of a Dukakis administration, “we’ll turn that trade deficit back into a trade surplus.”

Also today, Jesse Jackson, in an interview on “CBS This Morning,” disputed any suggestion that he has not worked hard enough for Dukakis, the man who beat him for the Democratic nomination at the party’s Atlanta convention in July.

“The fact is, since Atlanta I’ve traveled more miles, spoken to more people and registered more voters for this ticket than any Democrat has,” Jackson said.

Jackson said Dukakis has the support of black voters and can beat Bush if other Democrats work as hard for the ticket as he has.