Economic Crisis

Tom Plate’s call for U.S. economic leadership (Commentary, Oct. 6) applies not just to the Pacific Rim but to Russia and South America. U.S. leadership means full funding of the International Monetary Fund. The Federal Reserve should continue to cut interest rates. A one-half-percent reduction, following last month’s quarter-percent cut, would make loans more affordable to developing economies in desperate need of capital. The Fed should loosen the money supply to help provide liquidity to Asian countries whose economies have been severely weakened by the flight of investment currency.

While these steps do not address every dimension of the current global economic crisis, they would help meet the most pressing needs. They would also buy time so that Japan and other Asian countries, as well as currency-starved nations in South America and Eastern Europe, can develop long-term recovery plans without the threat of continued economic corrosion hanging over them.

JERRY J. JASINOWSKI

President, National Assn. of

Manufacturers, Washington