Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140084
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Figgie, chairman of Fortune 500 company Figgie International Inc., warned that the government "has been absolutely lying to us" since 1984 about the budget deficit. If the government's deficit projections included the Social Security money it borrows to run the government, the deficit would hit $640 billion by next year.
In 1995, Figgie said, the "actual debt" of $7 trillion will exceed the country's gross domestic product - the value of all the goods and services produced in the country - for the first time in history.
"The first thing you've got to ask yourself is, `Where the hell is the money going to come from for this medical program?' " he said. "It isn't there."
Figgie, 69, founded Figgie International, a Willoughby, Ohio-based company that makes baseballs, baseball gloves, fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems.
His speech at the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Employment Commission's annual breakfast at the Radisson-Patrick Henry Hotel was part of a tour to push sales of the paperback edition of his book: "Bankuptcy 1995."
Figgie became frustrated when President Bush didn't mention the deficit during his 1992 State of the Union address. Encouraged by his wife, he decided to write the book and try to get it published by August 1992, soon enough for it to make deficit reduction a campaign issue.
The hardback version of the book was on The New York Times bestseller list for nine months. Figgie updated it and recently released it in paperback.
Figgie said he is only slightly encouraged that the country will get its checkbook in order.
"In March of 1992, you never heard the words `debt' and `deficit' from anybody," he said. "Now, at least they're giving it lip service."
by CNB