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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993                   TAG: 9305240238
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OFFER INCENTIVES TO REBUILD ECONOMY

ATTEMPTING to rewrite history, liberals are characterizing the '80s as a decade of greed and selfishness. They are proclaiming that the rich got richer and failed to share with the poor - and also didn't pay their fair share. They are saying the same about corporations, in that they made too much profit and didn't pay people enough. They now advocate increasing taxes on both the rich and big business.

In this connection, Mercedes-Benz is planning to build an automobile manufacturing plant in America. Every governor in the nation (including Gov. Wilder) is attempting to woo them. In enticing them to come to New York, Gov. Mario Cuomo is offering state tax relief and monetary incentives for relocating employees involved in construction and start-up procedures. He is also offering to relax some environmental constraints and various control standards. This, in essence, is trickle-down economics.

Although a liberal by any standards, Cuomo is going all-out to sway Mercedes-Benz by tendering every conceivable break. President Clinton would do well to take an economic lesson from Cuomo by submitting similar incentives to American individuals and corporations to get the economy thriving again. Anything else will only court disaster. CLAUDE E. STEWART JR. VINTON

by CNB