    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [February 16, 1993]
    [Pages 108-109]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Teleconference Remarks to the California Economic Conference
    February 16, 1993

        Thank you very much, Willie Brown. And thank you, ladies and
    gentlemen, for letting me join you by high-tech communications for just
    a few minutes.
        First of all, let me say how very impressed I was by the comment of
    the previous speaker. He may not have been in California very long, but
    I think his prescription for how to solve our Nation's problems,
    concentrating on investment and achieving consensus, is what we all have
    to focus on.
        I wish I could be with you in person today. You know, I have spent a
    great deal of time in California in the last 16 months talking to people
    about the problems and the promise of your State. I don't believe for a
    moment that America's economy can recover until California recovers, and
    I applaud what you are doing in this economic summit.
        I understand the economic summit that I sponsored down in Little
    Rock for our Nation may have been part of the inspiration for this
    meeting, and if so, I'm very grateful. I applaud Willie Brown and
    Senator Roberti and Governor Wilson for cosponsoring this, and all the
    rest of you who are part of it.
        Let me get to the point very quickly because I think that these
    summits work so much better when there is interaction, so I don't want
    to intrude on what I think is going very well. First, I want to reaffirm
    my commitment to the economic revitalization of California. Californians
    played a major role in my election as President and play a very major
    role in my Presidency now, people who are important to your future. Our
    Trade Ambassador, Mickey Kantor, has already spoken this morning; you
    know he's from California. The Secretary of State, Warren Christopher,
    is from California, and we're increasingly involving the State
    Department in the revitalization of the American economy. Our Budget
    Director, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Leon
    Panetta, was a Congressman from northern California and is here with me;
    I'm in his building as we speak today. And of course, the Chair of the
    Council of Economic Advisers, Laura Tyson, is from northern California.
    All of these people are in a position to bring their experience and
    knowledge to bear on what we in the National Government can do.
        In addition to that, I've already had an extensive visit with
    Senator Feinstein. I've talked with Senator Boxer. I've talked with many
    members of your congressional delegation about the issues that they have
    brought to my attention. And as I said, the time I spent there taught me
    a lot about the problems in California that are caused by reducing
    employment in the defense industry, by the collapse of real estate, by
    the problems in the financial institutions, by the general manufacturing
    difficulties, and by the increased costs brought on by immigration as
    well as the population increase generally in California.
        Let me say first that I'm convinced we're going to have to solve
    this problem by partnership. I am offering the American people a program
    which will reverse three big trends in our country which have affected
    California. We built an American dream, especially after World War II,
    based on increasing economic prosperity in a high-wage, high-growth
    economy, increasing equality among our working people, and making more
    and more strength out of our diversity. The economic and social
    difficulties we have faced in the last few years threaten to reverse all
    those trends. Wages are stagnant. Inequality has increased over the last
    decade, and our diversity has often been a source of great tension and
    division in California and elsewhere throughout the country.
        I'm convinced that in order to change this, the National Government
    has to take the lead,

    [[Page 109]]

    first of all in investing in our people, their jobs, their technology,
    and their future; secondly, in dealing with the health care crisis;
    thirdly, in reducing the enormous Federal debt to stabilize long-term
    interest rates and free up more money for investment in the private
    sector; and finally, by developing economic policies in partnership with
    the private sector which encourage more investment in the private sector
    and which enable us to work together to create that high-wage, high-
    growth economy again.
        As that applies to California, it means we will be doing the
    following things: First of all, in my economic program there's a plan to
    jumpstart the economy, to create another half-million jobs in the near
    future. California will receive a significant number of those jobs.
        Secondly, I intend to follow through on the technology policy I
    announced in California in the last campaign. That means we'll be
    providing more incentives to start new enterprises and to expand
    existing enterprises and to build on the job-generating capacity of the
    technology-leading companies that are in your State.
        Thirdly, I want to invest in our children and their future and our
    educational system. I want to do what I can at the national level to
    alleviate some of the problems caused by the financial conditions you
    have there.
        Fourthly, I'll ask the Congress to change some of the tax rules
    involving passive losses in hope of alleviating some of the real estate
    problems in California, as well as giving industry more incentive to
    invest in the next couple of years.
        Next, Mr. Panetta and I have worked hard on trying to figure out how
    we can redesign some of these Federal programs so that the Federal
    Government can keep its commitment to the States that have been
    overwhelmed by immigration problems, California most of all, but also
    Texas and Florida and some other States who should have been helped more
    by the National Government because of the burdens they bear due to a
    national policy on immigration.
        Finally, let me just say, if I might harken back again to the last
    person who spoke before I did, California has some challenges that will
    have to be met by Californians. You will have to take the lead in
    improving your education system. I'm going to give you a good Department
    of Education that will help to reform the practices in education and to
    make education work again. But some of the premier reformers in America
    are right there in California now. You have to find a way to make their
    exceptions the rule in California education.
        And next, you will have to take the lead in making sure your
    manufacturing and production environment is at least competitive with
    other States in the United States, not by driving down wages but by
    changing the environment so that you can be competitive. I'll do
    whatever I can to support you. The best thing we could do here to help
    you with that is to solve the health care crisis: to bring health care
    costs in line with inflation; to make basic, affordable health care
    available to all; and therefore, to stop whatever incentives there are
    for people to move across State lines or to move their plants because
    they've got high embedded health care costs. But a lot of these
    productivity issues are going to have to be faced, and faced squarely,
    by the people of California and every other State.
        We're prepared to do our part. I'll say again: This country cannot
    rise again to its full potential until California is on the move again.
    I'm going to do what I can to help. I ask you for your support in my
    aggressive plan to reduce the debt and to increase investment in
    education and training, in new technologies, in new jobs, and in dealing
    with the health care crisis. I'll do what I can to support you.
    Together, we can turn this country around. We can lift California up,
    and California can once again be the beacon of hope for America and for
    the world.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:38 p.m. via satellite from Room 459 of
    the Old Executive Office Building to the conference in Los Angeles. In
    his remarks, he referred to Willie L. Brown, Jr., California State
    Assembly speaker, and David Roberti, California State Senate president
    pro tempore.