    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 21, 1999]
    [Pages 2131-2133]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Morning Session One of the Conference on Progressive
    Governance for the 21st Century in Florence
    November 21, 1999

        Well, first of all, let me say that I think, Prime Minister
    D'Alema, the morning session is well named.
    We are concerned about equality and opportunity in the new economy.
        Let us begin with the proposition that the new economy is powered by
    a revolution in technology, especially in information and
    telecommunications, and exponentially enhanced by the growing global
    trade. The new economy does best in a highly entrepreneurial environment
    where people with new ideas have access to capital and low barriers to
    establishing a growing business. More than in any previous time of
    economic expansion, job growth is disproportionately higher in the
    private, as opposed to the public, sector.
        Now the good news is that there is an extraordinary potential for
    the growth of jobs, businesses, and wealth. We have in the United States
    been blessed, for example, with a stock market that has more than
    tripled in the last 7 years. But this is not free of challenges, both
    within and among nations.
        Even though, for example, in our country we have the lowest poverty
    rate in 20 years and the lowest poverty rate among households headed by
    single parents, principally women, in over 40 years, we know that there
    are the following problems with the new economy if you just have a
    laissez-faire policy.
        Number one, the skill gap among people with high levels of education
    and low levels will lead to even more dramatic income inequality.
        Number two, in a highly volatile environment where lots of jobs are
    being created and lots of jobs are being lost, it requires a special
    attention to the transition assistance needed to give people the skills
    and other support they need to move from one job to another.
        Number three, there will be people and places that are completely
    left behind; I mentioned this in my remarks last night. The United
    States has the lowest unemployment rate we've

    [[Page 2132]]

    had in 30 years, but if you look at some of our inner-city
    neighborhoods, the remote mountain places in Appalachia, for example,
    the Mississippi Delta, the Native American, the American Indian
    reservations, you find unemployment rates anywhere from 3 to 12 times
    the national average.
        So if you wish to promote equality and opportunity, there must be a
    strategy, first, to close the skills gap, which means that there's a
    role for Government here. We have to spend more money, not less, than
    ever before on education. It needs to start sooner; it needs to last for
    a lifetime. And it needs to be focused much more rigorously on results,
    so that it's not just a question of spending money, but you're actually
    getting a higher return for the money that's being spent. Number two,
    there needs to be a system of lifetime learning for people in
    transition. You have people at the age of 50 changing jobs now. They can
    still do quite well, but they have to have help and support. Number
    three, there needs to be a system for getting capital to those people
    and places that are left behind.
        Let me just give you an example. One of the big debates we're having
    in America now is how long we can keep this economic expansion going. It
    is already the longest peacetime expansion in our history. In February,
    it will be the longest economic expansion in American history, including
    World War II. I believe that this is happening--I'd like to tell you
    it's because of my policies--I believe it's happening because we have
    underestimated the productivity gains of technology and underestimated
    the power of open borders and open trade to restrain inflation, which
    permits these economic expansions to go on if you have good policies.
        Now how can we continue to grow the economy? You can bring
    investment to the places that are left behind. So I have before the
    United States Congress, now, a proposal essentially to set up the
    equivalent in America of our Export-Import Bank and our Overseas Private
    Investment Corporation to give American investors the same incentives to
    invest in the poorest areas in America we give them to invest in the
    poorest areas of Latin America or Africa, not to take away the foreign
    incentives but to mirror them in the very poor areas of our country. I
    think this is something that all advanced countries should look at.
        Finally, let me say there is a big problem with the so-called
    digital divide--the people who have access to the Internet and
    technology have enormous advantages--and it has to be closed. We are now
    hooking up all of our classrooms to the Internet, and we should finish
    next year. But I think we should shoot for a goal in the developing
    countries--the developed countries, of having Internet access as
    complete as telephone access within a fixed number of years. It will do
    as much as anything else to reduce income inequality.
        Last point I want to make: There are not just problems in this
    economy dealing with equality and opportunity; there are opportunities,
    too, and let me just mention two.
        Number one, technology has permitted us to say, for the first time
    since the industrial revolution, it is no longer necessary to grow an
    economy to burn more greenhouse gases to burn up the atmosphere. It is
    now possible to grow an economy and actually use less greenhouse gases
    and put less strain on the economy. That opens up the opportunity not
    only to save the environment but to create literally millions of new
    jobs around the world.
        Number two, the Internet itself offers opportunities for people who
    don't have access to traditional jobs to make money. There is an
    American company that perhaps some of you have used, called eBay, and
    it's basically a place on the Internet where you can buy anything. It's
    like a great international market on the Internet. There are now over
    20,000 people, including a lot of people who are on welfare, who are
    making a living on eBay--making a living on eBay.
        So there are opportunities as well as problems in this economy. We
    should not be depressed about it. We should just realize that governance
    requires new policies.
        Mr. Prime Minister, you asked us to talk
    about the domestic issues first, and there are a whole lot of global
    issues I'd like to deal with, but this is what I would like to say about
    the domestic issues. We have to deal with more investment in education,
    more investment in transition aid, a strategy to get capital to people
    in places left behind, a strategy to close the digital divide. And we
    have to make the most of the new technologies, especially in the
    environmental areas, and the new opportunities for isolated people and
    places to make money because of the Internet, not in spite of it.
        Thank you.

    [[Page 2133]]

    Note: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. in the Room of Five Hundred at
    the Palazzo Vecchio. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister
    Massimo D'Alema of Italy.