Platform : What Clinton Can Do: ‘Boost Our Economy’

DON KNOTTS

Actor and comedian

I hope (Bill) Clinton will fulfill his promise of fiscal stimulation to spur the economy in California and our whole country, while at the same time limiting what he spends to some extent so he doesn’t increase our huge federal debt. As far as Southern California and our entertainment industry, when the economy is better, the television and movie industries do better, too. Right now, sponsors aren’t as ready to pay big money for TV commercials and investors are hesitant to put money into making movies. I like Clinton’s ideas of tax credits for investors and of allowing the government to borrow enough money to fix our infrastructure. These things alone will boost our economy.

JIM JENAL

Director of clean air program for Citizens for a Better Environment, L.A.

The best thing Clinton and Gore can do is to promote the understanding that to have a healthy economy you need a healthful environment. The most onerous thing environmentalists have to put up with is the argument that protecting the environment is a luxury and is bad for the economy. But there’s a direct connection, particularly in Los Angeles, between the quality of air we breathe and our health, and thus the high cost of health care. Also, it costs less to prevent a mess than to clean it up later. Southern California has the resources to develop environmentally benign technology, thus bringing immediate benefits to the environment and economy.

SANDRA GLADSTONE

Vice president, Southern California Americans for Democratic Action

Every person in this country deserves food, health care, shelter and education. These are the four necessities, and people have the right to look to our federal government for help when they need it, without having to beg. The federal government should be the employer of last resort in a recession like the one we’re in.

It’s so shameful that millions of children in America are going hungry. That there are so many homeless people sleeping in our streets. That people are going without health care. Money spent to correct these things is not being thrown away, it’s being invested.

REV. ROBERTO COLON

Associate vice president for ministry, Union Rescue Mission, Los Angeles

Instead of handing out checks to people, the federal government should invest, mingling its funds with private money in local banks to create revolving loan funds designed to help the poor create their own jobs and opportunities. For example, a gardener needing a new lawn mower for his work, or a mother hoping to add to family income with a sewing machine, could borrow small amounts with little or no interest. And the federal government could guarantee these loans.

Most welfare-type funds could be in the form of vouchers for housing, child care, food, prenatal care, parenting courses and so on. This way people trying to pull their families together wouldn’t face the temptation to spend on liquor and such. These kinds of programs let people make their own plans and give them chances they wouldn’t otherwise have.

SHEENA LESTER

Executive editor, RAP Pages magazine

Clinton needs to find a way to connect with young people, to provide them with inspiration and hope, especially now when there’s so much racism and everyone is so depressed and discouraged. We need a President who really, really gives a damn about people. After his big faux pas with Sister Souljah (whom Clinton criticized), he needs to make an extra effort to talk with people who express the pain of the inner cities, to hold a summit on the problems of the cities, and he should include the rap community.

Many people felt almost empowered by the L.A. rebellion. Not by the violence, but by a reawakening of our sense of responsibility to ourselves and to our community. People in power should make it easier for us to reach out to and uplift one another.