    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [April 20, 1999]
    [Pages 584-586]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With the Economic Team
    April 20, 1999

    Attack in Littleton, Colorado

        Thank you very much, please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, let me
    begin by saying that we all know there has been a terrible shooting at a
    high school in Littleton, Colorado. Because the situation, as I left to
    come out here, apparently is ongoing, I think it would be inappropriate
    for me to say anything other than I hope the American people will be
    praying for the students, the parents, and the teachers. And we'll wait
    for events to unfold, and then there'll be more to say.

    Domestic and International Economy

        I have just met with my economic team to discuss the steps that we
    will be taking in the weeks and months ahead to continue to advance our
    prosperity at home and abroad. As you know, the economy continues to
    grow in ways that benefit ordinary citizens that are virtually
    unprecedented. This is happening thanks in no small measure to policies
    we instituted in 1993 to help to change America to meet the changing
    challenges of the new economy.
        We recognized that the new economy demanded fiscal discipline, so we
    balanced the budget. Now we're working to use the surpluses to
    strengthen Social Security and Medicare. The new economy requires and
    rewards greater skills, so even as we reduce spending in many areas, we
    have almost doubled the National Government's investment in education
    and training.
        In the new economy, we are linked to all the nations of the world in
    a web of commerce and communications. So we have worked to expand and to
    build--to expand trade and to build a 21st century trading and financial
    system that will benefit ordinary citizens in our country and throughout
    the world.
        The financial crisis that began in Asia in 1997 put our progress at
    risk and presented a very severe test to the global system that we have
    worked so hard to build. Though our economy has continued to grow, we
    have been affected by the Asian financial crisis, as you can see by the
    trade figures, by what has happened in steel, and by the loss of markets
    by our farmers.
        It's clear to me that we had to do something to contain the crisis,
    to restore growth, to prevent such crises from happening in the future.
    In September I went to the Council on Foreign

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    Relations in New York and set out a strategy with concrete steps to
    speed the recovery. We joined with other major industrial nations to act
    to spur growth. Now, 7 months later, we see a growing number of signs
    that those steps have taken hold. Some economies once in crisis are
    beginning to turn the corner.
        But substantial risks and challenges remain. This is not a moment
    for complacency. It's a moment to act to prevent financial crisis from
    reaching catastrophic stages in the future.
        In a world of 24-hour markets, we will never be able to banish such
    crisis altogether, and no single proposal will solve all the problems we
    have seen over the last 2 years. But acting on the lessons we have
    learned from this experience, we can find a way to harness the benefits
    of an open global economy while taming the global cycles of boom and
    bust, just as we have found ways to moderate those swings in our own
    domestic economy. That is the central challenge we face on the financial
    front.
        Working with the other industrial nations in the G-7, we have
    already taken several important steps, from developing a new contingent
    line of credit for countries with strong economic policies, to helping
    to restart the economies of Asia, to limiting the fallout of the crisis
    in Latin America.
        Now the leading industrial nations must be prepared to take the next
    steps in the design of a strong financial architecture that can be a
    platform of prosperity for all of us in the next century. We have worked
    to shape an international consensus and to develop an agenda for long-
    term reform of the global financial system.
        I know this is something that is very hard to grab headlines with,
    but if you think about what the world has been through in the last 2
    years because of the problems in the global financial system, and if you
    account for the fact that 30 percent of our growth until last year has
    come from expanded trade, it is clear that for the United States, for
    ordinary citizens in the United States, and for their counterparts
    throughout the world, there are few more important things for leaders to
    be doing than working on building a stable financial architecture for
    the new century.
        Tomorrow Secretary Rubin will outline in
    greater detail our proposals on a series of important initiatives.
    Starting with this weekend's gathering of financial officials in
    Washington, we will work to build support for these proposals among our
    colleagues at the summit of the world's leading economies in Cologne
    later this year. And eventually, we want to bring in all nations who
    have a stake in the health of the global economy.
        The emerging national economies need to be a part of this dialog,
    and all of them need to be convinced that we are trying to do things
    that will improve the lives of average working families everywhere.
        Our approach includes the following key elements:
        First, we industrial countries should take steps to reduce the
    entire financial system's vulnerability to rapid capital flows and
    excess leverage. For example, we should strengthen bank regulations so
    they actually take into account the real risks of lending.
        Second, we should continue to develop a better way to respond to
    crises, including appropriate sharing of responsibility by the private
    sector.
        Third, developing countries should take more responsibility as well,
    by strengthening financial regulation and bank supervision and
    developing sustainable debt management policies, thus avoiding excessive
    reliance on short-term debt. We will seek to reinforce these policies
    through the actions of the international financial institutions.
        Fourth, the international financial institutions should focus their
    efforts on encouraging developing countries to adopt sustainable
    exchange rate regimes and the macroeconomic policies necessary to
    support them.
        Fifth, we must ensure that the most vulnerable citizens do not bear
    the brunt of these crises. That means the IMF and the World Bank must
    pay more attention to social safety nets, working with countries to lay
    strong foundations during good times and to maintain adequate
    protections during bad times. In moments of crisis, budgets for core
    social programs should be preserved or at least should not bear the full
    brunt of necessary cuts.
        Sixth, we must remember that the poorest countries, nations that
    private capital flows are bypassing altogether, need help because they
    are burdened with unsustainable levels of debt. Last month I asked the
    international community to take actions to forgive $70 billion in global
    debt, at a meeting we had here with representatives

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    of over 45 African countries. No nation committed to good governments
    and economic reform should be crushed by a debt burden that it is so
    heavy it will punish ordinary citizens and prevent growth, no matter
    what people do.
        Now, if we take these steps, we can build an international
    marketplace that reflects our values. And we can achieve something that
    I think people in the United States want very badly: We can put a human
    face on the global economy. We can show people, here and around the
    world, that there won't just be economic numbers showing growth, but
    their lives will be actually improved by the work we do to draw closer
    together.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:34 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.