Who Gets Credit for the Economy?

* Re “The Prosperity Debate: Is it Luck, or Policy?” news analysis, Aug. 21: In answer to the headline of your interesting analysis, I believe the answer is both. The last decade has been free of any major misfortune and our country has avoided a major war or any other calamity. Beyond that, President Clinton has played his cards exceptionally well. Clinton deserves credit for being the most competent peacetime president since Thomas Jefferson.

But your analysis overlooks one major factor. Clinton inherited a world in which the Cold War had ended (in 1989) in our favor, a fact which is due largely to Ronald Reagan’s self-confident manner and ruthless but costly arms buildup. Reagan not only stood up to the Russians, but he also wiped out America’s malaise (correctly diagnosed by President Carter). The net effect of “winning the Cold War” was to restore the confidence of the Western powers to pre-World War I levels. The result has been an unparalleled era of confidence and economic growth.

The Republican Congress deserves credit for keeping federal spending down in the ‘90s, and there is no doubt that paying down the Cold War debt has caused a major renaissance in American business by freeing up capital.

I doubt that either George W. Bush or Al Gore can seriously derail the amazing future that awaits the U.S. economy. Gore’s heart is not really into trying to build another Great Society with a Republican Congress, and there is not enough of an external military threat to justify a major rearmament under Bush.

ALEXANDER WELLS

Los Angeles

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Re “The Prosperity Debate: Is it Luck, or Policy?” I don’t know the answer. Neither does anyone else. But with a Democrat in the White House and the GOP running Congress, we’ve done better than with any other formula. Why? Who knows? Maybe they checkmate each other so the rest of us can get something done. If it works, keep it going until it fails. I’m voting for Al Gore and the GOP House candidate in my district.

THOMAS E. BRAUN

Palmdale