Hightower Lowdown

All the politicians, media sparklies, and Wall Street analysts tell us so. The stock market's soaring, people are buying fabulous new homes, and there's caviar in every pot!

Unless, of course, you live in the real world. Out here, it's a different story.

In Bill Clinton's State of the Union address last month, he crowed that America was prospering like never before. Within the next two days, British Petroleum- Amoco announced 1,600 more US job losses as a result of its 1998 merger; Avery Dennison, maker of labels and office equipment cut 1,500 jobs to make its stock price more attractive; Universal-PolyGram punted 500 employees; Frito Lay shut down four plants employing 850 people.

Also, Burlington Industries, the clothing and textile giant shut down seven factories in North and South Carolina and Virginia, cutting 2,900 jobs and crushing the small communities where the plants were located. Guess how many new factories Burlington has opened in Mexico? Bingo if you said seven!

Thanks to Clinton's NAFTA deal, Burlington can exploit cheap labor there, then ship their goods back here to sell to us at high prices, But who's going to be left to buy their stuff?