Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102040263
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GERALD L. BALILES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There are important parallels in these stories: As the U.S. government copes with Saddam Hussein and the state government struggles with a recession-wracked budget, the tendency is to focus on immediate problems and short-term solutions.
But both the Persian Gulf conflict and the recession will have significant long-term impacts. Government action to resolve both must be developed with an eye to the future consequences of current actions taken in a highly-charged atmosphere.
As the Middle East conflict has taken shape, the broad support for our forces is impressive. But it is still early. Our national appetite for instant gratification, appeased by early success, might not withstand a lengthy war.
That appetite - national impatience with the pace of resolution of both domestic and foreign problems - too often determines the course of public policy. It must not be allowed to do so in the case of the current hostilities. We must look beyond the end of the conflict, and future considerations must affect our actions.
Who will govern what remains of Iraq? If its destruction is complete, the balance of power in the region is altered, and either Syria or Iran or both may pose a new set of problems in the Middle East. What institutional structures can be created to ensure peace in the region? What role should the United States play in the future?
My point is this: The war will end. When it does, what will be the shape of the peace and the contours of the future? That kind of inquiry must begin now so that we are prepared and do not stay mired in endless conflict.
The same kind of inquiry is essential to our construction of the proper pathway out of the current recession. This recession is not typical of some we have experienced in the past. It has grown in scope from a regional recession - rolling first through the Midwest, the oil states, New England, the Mid-Atlantic region, California -to engulf the whole economy. Its nature is also different. It is finance-led and permeates all financially affected sectors of the economy, with yet-unforeseen implications that may last longer than some experts say.
At least 30 states are beset by huge revenue-collection problems. Governors face having to slash budgets and lay off workers. Like the problems of the Middle East, these are immediate, crucial concerns. But precipitous, indiscriminate action can, as in the Persian Gulf, win the war of the budget but lose the peace that follows when recession gives way to renewed prosperity.
Adjustments must be made to account for reduced revenue collections. But Virginia is still growing even during the economic slowdown. Thus, budget requirements increase with the growth - meaning Virginia's budget will still be larger in terms of absolute dollars than its last budget.
Year by year, the basic quality of life of Virginia attracts more people - 16 percent more in the 1980s alone - and more business. This creates a demand for more services, roads, schools and social programs. It is more necessary than ever during a contracting economy to set state government priorities that will preserve that quality of life.
We must regard some budgetary categories not as expenditures to be slashed, but as investments in the future economic health of the state - investments that maintain Virginia's ability to compete in domestic markets and in the arena of world trade.
A competitive Virginia constantly looks for new markets, and designs and develops products for these markets. A competitive Virginia brings an international perspective to daily living and communicates effectively with its trading partners and its competitors. A competitive Virginia invests in technology, and quickly moves new ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace. A competitive Virginia develops a competitive capacity - a trained work force and flexible capital - so that it can succeed on its home turf.
A competitive Virginia invests in its roads, bridges, ports and airports so it can move products and people quickly and efficiently around the world. A competitive Virginia invests in its children so they grow into healthy,well-educated adults who have the skills needed by the modern work force.
Of those priorities, the three that have the most immediacy in terms of the current budget are education, social services and infrastructure. As the budget develops, we must ask ourselves: What will cuts in education do to jeopardize Virginia's ability to produce an educated work force? What will cuts in social services, particularly in the pivotal area of childhood development, do to undermine the productivity of the next generation and perpetuate costly dependence on government assistance? What will diversions of funds from the state's transportation trust fund do to the plan to reduce congestion in Northern Virginia and efforts to open up economic development opportunities in rural areas of Virginia?
In the area of education, higher education is particularly vital, and particularly vulnerable at present. Not only is it a key to Virginia's ability to participate in the service and information-oriented industries of the future. Our institutions of higher learning also are a significant factor in the necessary emphasis we must give to research and development in order to move into areas of higher-value new products to replace markets that Virginia and the United States have lost.
Cutting budgets is easy if you don't care what that budget will produce down the road. I know that Gov. Doug Wilder and the majority of our legislators do care which road Virginia travels. I also know that they possess the leadership capacity to look beyond easy choices and to discard conventional wisdom in their search for creative approaches.
I would simply remind them that if funds are to be diverted and if dollars are to be reduced and if programs are to be eliminated, then the decisions should be openly explained and fully debated. And those debates should be conducted with an eye to the future impact of decisions, and with a sincere effort to convey the reasons for decisions to the people of Virginia.
It was my very gratifying experience as governor to find that Virginians, when in possession of all the facts, will support tough decisions. I know that still holds true, even in these worrisome times.
Decisions made in the Persian Gulf today will determine the fates of thousands of young Americans in months and years to come. Decisions in Richmond could well determine the quality of life and the economic prosperity of the commonwealth in months and years to come. The focus in both instances must be on the future.
by CNB