Remarks in a roundtable discussion on small business development in Phoenix, Arizona

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 12, 1999

Intel and America Online - huge companies worth billions upon billions of dollars - started with SBA loans. And so, I think, you know, that's enough to rest our case. The second thing I would tell you is, there are - not all the business people that have been on this trip are right here in Phoenix, and not all the business people who wanted to go on this trip can go. But there is a phenomenal amount of interest in this, and I must - I want to give credit to Reverend Jesse Jackson. His Wall Street Project has been working on this for years.

I mean, there is a much higher level of awareness among American business leaders that there is money to be made and a better society to be made at the same time in these neighborhoods. So I don't think you have to worry. I think when we can finish this tomorrow afternoon in East LA, you will see a much higher level of commitment and interest in corporate America than we had before. Thank you, Mr. Corella. You're great.

[The discussion continued.]

The President. First of all, I want to thank Gene, because, really, Texas is a classic example - it's almost exactly like Arizona and Phoenix. The unemployment rate in Phoenix as a whole is less than 3 percent. The unemployment rate in this section of Phoenix is twice the national average, maybe a little more. You have the same thing in Houston.

I just want to illustrate, use Enron, which is a fabulous and very large energy company, to illustrate a point that he made, that I think we should emphasize because it goes back to something John made. One of the reasons we're taking this trip here is that one of the - is that even in business, even with a market economy, where people are always supposed to act in their own self-interest, people cannot do what they don't know. And people cannot have a relationship with people with whom they are not acquainted.

And one of the things that Enron did, saying that he worked through a local community investment group, is to have - to literally build networks of relationships between big businesses and people that they would otherwise never, ever, ever come in contact with.

And so, I say again, I think - you heard what Steve said about Safeway figuring out there was a market here. Once you begin to establish these networks of relationships, and once they become a part of the fabric of American life, then we can build an economic, a normal economic infrastructure in these distressed areas so that the next time a recession comes along, we won't be hurt so badly here. And then when the pickup comes, everybody will benefit instead of just a few.

So I can't thank you enough. But I do want to emphasize what - Gene Humphrey was a little too modest here. We do have a substantial number of business leaders heading companies more or less in the size range of Enron, who are helping. But we are nowhere near where we need to be. We need hundreds, we need thousands of people with the kind of commitment that he's manifested, because without these relationships, the decisions cannot be made to put the money there. Thank you.