PROBLEMS DEEP-SEATED, BUSINESS LEADERS SAY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 15, 1992                   TAG: 9201150083
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
PROBLEMS DEEP-SEATED, BUSINESS LEADERS SAY
A group of top business executives told Congress on Tuesday that the country faces deep-seated economic problems which if not corrected could depress growth rates and living standards for years to come.
One executive warned that the United States was on the road to becoming a second-rate economic power because of a failure to make adequate investments in areas such as education and commercial research and development.
"The long-term economic future of this country is in crisis. Time is running out," said Robert E. Rubin, a senior partner of Goldman Sachs and Co.
"Our political leaders must take the lead in creating the political and public will to sacrifice consumption for quite some time to do what is necessary to deal with these problems."
Charles A. Corry, the chairman of USX Corp., the giant steel manufacturer, said misguided trade and tax policies by the U.S. government had "devasted the U.S. manufacturing sector."
"We have lost a large portion of the best jobs in our economy," Corry said. "The domestic steel industry alone has lost more than 335,000 jobs since 1974. These were the jobs that made the American factory worker the envy of his peers around the world."
The executives testified at a hearing chaired by Sen. Don Riegle, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Riegle, D-Mich., is sponsoring a bill to force the Japanese to eliminate their $42 billion trade surplus with America over the next five years or face import quotas on Japanese car shipments to this country.
While Corry said he supported Riegle's legislation, the other executives cautioned against making Japan a scapegoat for America's troubles.
Dexter Baker, chairman of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pa., and one of the executives on President Bush's trip to Japan, said the presidential mission represented a good start to opening markets.
"We did get market openings and some market gains," he said.
Robert G. Gilbertson, president of Connecticut-based Data Switch Corp., said Congress should focus on efforts to boost long-term investment in the country and not enact quick-fix tax cuts or protectionist trade legislation.
Rubin said it was wrong to blame Japan for the failure of Americans to make the kinds of investments needed to spur future productivity gains.
"The primary problem Japan represents to us is in being an excuse for not dealing with our own problems," he said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB