Remarks to the Business Council

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Feb 28, 2000

February 24, 2000

Thank you, Ralph, and good morning. I want to begin by asking if the microphone's too loud, so--can we turn it down just a little bit? That's good. I'm delighted to be here. I know you just had a good panel on the economy. And I wanted to talk mostly about China today, but I would like to mention just a couple of other matters very briefly.

First of all, you've already talked in some detail about the question of how to keep the economy going. And I don't have much to add to what I'm sure Secretary Summers said, except I would like to just make three points very briefly. Number one, I think it is terribly important that we continue to pay the debt down and for reasons that you understand. But it's an enormous hedge against the necessary borrowing by business to continue to invest and continue to grow. And whatever the Fed does, the interest rate structure will be lower than it otherwise would be, not only now but for, perhaps, decades in the future. So I think it is a critically important thing. And I think it's important that people understand this. I've seen all kinds of articles in the papers saying I've adopted Coolidge economics, but I don't think so. We're continuing to invest robustly in our people and our future. But I think it's important.

The second point I want to make is, I think it is even more important that we continue to invest in the education and skills of our people. A lot of you are heavily involved in trying to make our elementary and secondary schools better. We have a proposal now before the Congress to make college tuition tax deductible, which would functionally open the doors of 4 years of college to every American, with the other increases we've made in the Pell grants and other things. But I think we need to do more on this, particularly with people who are already in their young adult years who are out there and not either employed or are underemployed. I think that's important.

And the third thing I would say is, many of you have helped us on this new markets initiative, but I hope all of you will. Some of you have been involved in our Welfare to Work Partnership, which has 12,000 companies now and has hired hundreds of thousands of people from welfare to work. And reports indicate that they're doing quite well.

But I think when you consider the fact that telecommunications, among other things, enables us to bring economic opportunities to rural areas--and in the worse case, some of our Indian reservations still have unemployment rates that are around 70 percent-- there are real opportunities there for noninflationary growth if we can figure out how to do it. I don't want to minimize the risk. I'm trying to get Congress to pass some legislation that would give significant tax credits to minimize the risk of private sector investment in these areas, but I think they are profoundly important.

And as I said, I know a lot of you have been involved in this already, but this is the only chance we've had, I think, in my adult lifetime to genuinely bring free enterprise to people in places that have been left behind. And it's an opportunity I think we ought to take, and I also think it would be good for the overall economy.

Now, I want to talk a little about China today, because I think it is the most important question that the Congress will take up in the first half of this year. And I realize that in many ways, I may be preaching to the choir, but I think it's important that we all understand not that this is a good thing to do but that it is an essential thing to do.

For 30 years now, every single President, without regard to party, has worked for the emergence of a China that contributes to the stability, not the instability, of Asia; that is open to our products and to our businesses; that allows people access to ideas and information there; that upholds the rule of law at home and adheres to the rule of law around the world.

We have a big stake in how China evolves. We have, after all, fought three wars in Asia in the 20th century. And the path China takes to the future will either eliminate or cast a great shadow far beyond its borders. I think we all know that. Therefore, it is clear that the more we can promote peace and stability in Asia by helping the right kind of China to develop, the more America's interests and values will be served.

The WTO agreement with China helps to advance all these goals in unprecedented ways. It's the kind of opportunity that comes along once in a generation. If we seize it, a generation from now people will wonder why the debate was hard at all. If we don't, we'll be regretting it for a generation.

I don't think there's any question that this is in America's economic interests. The agreement requires China to open its markets on everything from agriculture to manufacturing to high-tech products. All we do is simply agree to maintain market access already given to China. For the first time, our companies will be able to sell and distribute in China products made by American workers here at home. It strengthens our response to unfair and market-distorting trade from China, from import surges to forced technology transfers to protection of intellectual property.