Word: bergsten
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...being foiled for the most ironic of reasons: the U.S.'s mismanagement of its own economy. Under the arch- Republican Ronald Reagan, the U.S. spent so much more than it collected in revenues that it became the world's No. 1 debtor. Says C. Fred Bergsten, the director of the Institute for International Economics in Washington: "The richest country in the world is competing with the poorest for the pool of available capital. American indebtedness tends to drive up U.S. interest rates, which in turn drives up the cost of loans to other nations, which threatens to wipe...
...senior vice president of United Technologies, an automotive supplier: "Back in 1980 and 1981, we had to shut down 25 plants because of excess capacity in the auto industry. We said to ourselves, 'We're not going to face this again.' " That attitude is to be expected, says Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics: "A reluctance to invest in new capacity is a natural reaction to years of meager profits...
...finely etched electronic devices that process thousands of bits of information per second -- to the burgeoning world of high tech. Semiconductors are now used in virtually every advanced technology, including the Cray supercomputers that are a key component of the Reagan Administration's Strategic Defense Initiative. Says C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Washington-based Institute for International Economics: "Practically everyone in the U.S. agrees that semiconductors is a critical industry and that it would be dangerous, both to the economy and to national security, to lose...
...quarterly Foreign Affairs, Harvard Economist Martin Feldstein, a former chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, estimates that during the 1990s the U.S. will need to generate $60 billion annually just to repay the interest and principle on its burgeoning foreign debt. According to Washington Economist Bergsten, the pressure will thus be on to create a $200 billion improvement in the American trade balance. That is liable to add to the considerable trade ferment on Capitol Hill. As Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd puts it, "It is time to make more pragmatic use of our leverage...
...Government could use the proceeds to put a noticeable dent in the federal budget. Quota auctions might bring in revenues as high as $7 billion a year, according to C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics, a Washington research organization. Some of the money could be used to help modernize the beleaguered U.S. industries that the quotas were designed to protect, which might reduce the need for further trade limits...