    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [January 13, 2000]
    [Pages 52-54]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 52]]

    Interview With Ron Insana of CNBC's ``Business
    Center'' in
    New York City
    January 13, 2000

        Mr. Insana. As you know, the Wall Street Diversity Project has been
    underway for a number of years now, and President Clinton is here at the
    New York Stock Exchange to talk about diversity on Wall Street, among a
    number of other topics.
        Mr. President, it's good to see you again. Thanks for coming back to
    the program.
        The President. Thank you, glad to be back.

    New Markets Initiative

        Mr. Insana. Are you getting a sense that there is some progress
    being made on the diversity issue down here in the lower corridors of
    Manhattan?
        The President. Oh, I think so. We had the annual meeting of the Wall
    Street Project here with Reverend Jackson and
    Sandy Weill and Dick Grasso and a lot of other people. There is, I think, a
    general sense that the economy is opening up more and more to all
    America and a specific sense of urgency that one of the ways to keep
    this expansion going without inflation is to involve people and places
    that have been left behind. So I'm quite hopeful.
        Mr. Insana. Now, last time we met, in fact, in July--that was one of
    your initiatives, the new markets initiative, that focused on
    underprivileged people in rural and other parts of the country. And
    today you talked about tax incentives, also, for the working poor. How
    likely is it that a Congress in an election year will let you make any
    progress on that issue?
        The President. Well, I think it's quite likely, actually. I have
    worked very hard to make this a bipartisan or a nonpartisan issue. I
    don't think economic opportunity ought to be the sole province of the
    Democratic Party. I think it ought to be the birthright of every
    American. And I've worked very hard to involve the Speaker of the
    House, particularly, who is from Illinois.
    And he came to our meeting in Chicago, and I've had several good
    conversations with him. And I expect that we will have legislation
    coming out of the House to give significant tax incentives to people who
    will invest in poor places in America that haven't been part of this
    recovery.
        What I want to do is basically give the same sort of incentives, at
    least, if not more so, that we give to people to invest in poor
    communities in Latin America or Africa or Asia. And I'm going to offer a
    more aggressive program this year even than I did last year in the State
    of the Union. And I think it will be well-received.

    National Economy

        Mr. Insana. Let me ask you a question about the broad economy right
    now. We've got some information today showing that retail sales were
    strong, inflation starting to creep up a little bit, and bond market
    interest rates have gone up a lot in the last 15-16 months to nearly
    6.75 percent. Do you get the same whiff of inflation that the financial
    markets seem to be getting at the moment?
        The President. I think the evidence is mixed. There still have been
    remarkable increases in productivity. And I think the fact that we're
    still--we actually paid off some of our debt in advance in the last day
    or so, for the first time in the history of the country. So the
    Government is continuing to try to get out of the debt market, make it
    more liquid. Wages still aren't going up at any unreasonable amount.
    Productivity driven by technology is going up a lot, and we're still
    trying to keep our markets very open.
        So I think that the larger forces are still operating against the
    resumption of inflation. It's almost inevitable that you're going to
    have--well, like we had last year, where oil goes up, or you have a
    bottleneck in this product or that service because of the growth of the
    economy. But so far I feel pretty good about where we are on inflation.
        Mr. Insana. When we spoke in July, I asked you a question about
    whether or not you were worried if there was a bubble in the stock
    market. At the time, the NASDAQ was at about 2800, and you said
    thoughtful people should think about this question and at least review
    how they should invest in that environment. It's gone from 2800 to 4100
    on the NASDAQ, a 46 percent gain in that period. What should thoughtful
    people do now?

    [[Page 53]]

        The President. Well, I think one of the things that we have seen,
    since you and I talked last, are some very encouraging new studies about
    the nature of productivity, indicating that people who do this sort of
    thing are actually beginning to measure, and feel comfortable measuring,
    much bigger increases in productivity driven by technology and
    information spreads than they had previously thought.
        To me, the main thing for us to do is to keep our markets open, keep
    paying the debt off, try to have a competitive environment, and continue
    to invest in new technologies and the human capacity of our people. And
    we'll just see how long it will go. In a few weeks, this will be the
    longest expansion in history, including that which embraced World War
    II, where we were completely mobilized for a war and had legal controls
    on inflation.
        So there's never been anything like this before. The truth is, no
    one knows for sure what's going to happen. I will say again, I think
    having good fundamentals and then continuing to invest in the people and
    places left behind--because that's a noninflationary way to go, where
    you create new markets as well as new businesses, new employees--that, I
    think, is what we should do. And then we'll see what happens. But I'm
    quite hopeful.

    Microsoft Corporation

        Mr. Insana. One of the architects of that technological revolution,
    Bill Gates, today stepped back from his day-to-day responsibilities at
    Microsoft, elevated Steve Ballmer to the CEO position. What do you think
    about Mr. Gates switching his emphasis in his career?
        The President. Well, I think it's a very interesting move by
    him. Ballmer is
    obviously a very able man, and Gates is a genius with technology. So it
    will be interesting to see what happens.
        I'd like to say, since you asked the question, a word of
    appreciation to Bill and Melinda Gates for the commitments they've made through their
    foundation to help minority young people go on to college and the
    massive commitment they've made to make vaccines more available to poor
    people throughout the world. I think the fact that he is doing these
    kinds of things with the wealth he's accumulated is a very good thing to
    do. So I wish him well, and I want to encourage him to do more of that.
        Mr. Insana. Mr. Ballmer had a statement in his first day as CEO and
    suggested that it would be reckless and irresponsible of the U.S.
    Government to break up Microsoft. How would you respond to that?
        The President. Well, my response would be, first of all, that the
    decision would have to be made by a court and that, because it is a
    legal proceeding, I had nothing to do with what the Antitrust Division
    did, and I certainly can't have anything to do with what the judge does.
        So my response is, whatever I think, I shouldn't say it, one way or
    the other, because I'm not involved in it, and I shouldn't attempt to
    impact either the market or what's going on here. I think the record has
    been made; the judge's opinion is there, and they have to argue about
    the remedy, which is anybody knows in antitrust cases completely
    different from finding whether someone violated the laws or not. And
    they'll go through it all, and I hope they'll do what's best for the
    American economy and the American consumers in the short run and over
    the long run.

    Presidential Candidate Al Gore

        Mr. Insana. Going back to the economy for a minute. Vice President
    Gore has been out doing his campaigning, but he has not necessarily
    delivered a full-scale platform on the economy yet. Do you think he
    should? And if he did, what do you think should be included in that
    platform?
        The President. Well, I think he--first
    of all, he did give a pretty comprehensive speech in New Hampshire a
    couple of weeks ago, which I thought was quite good, committing himself
    to continuing to pay the debt down, which I think is very important, and
    to increasing our investments in education and in science and
    technology. And he has committed himself to continue to expand the
    frontiers of trade.
        I have said before, and I'll say again, I think it is a mistake that
    there are elements in both parties of the Congress that seem to be
    afraid of continuing to expand trade. I do believe we should try to put
    a more human face on the global economy. I think that core labor
    standards, being against child labor, trying to have basic environmental
    standards, all that is very important. But the expansion of trade is
    very important for a country like ours, with 4 percent of the world's
    people and 21 percent of its income and the longest growth in history.
    You

    [[Page 54]]

    can't keep that going unless you find more customers. And he believes in that.
        So he's for continued paying off the
    debt, continued investment in people, science and technology, and
    continued expansion of trade, and doing it in a way that tries to bring
    all people into the stream of economic opportunity. I think it's a good
    economic program, and I support it.

    President's Future Plans

        Mr. Insana. Final question to you. Down here on Wall Street, there
    have been a couple published reports that suggested that you have an
    interest in coming to work here, once you finish your term as President,
    and going to Lazard Freres for what is not an inconsiderable amount of
    money. Any truth to those stories?
        The President. It's a total fabrication. I must say that it was an
    immense surprise to my wife and
    daughter that anybody would ever offer me
    that kind of money to do anything. [Laughter] So, no, I don't think it's
    really appropriate for me at this time to be discussing that.
        What I want to do is to work until the last hour of the last day I'm
    President, to get as much done for the country as I can, to leave
    America in the best shape I can, and then to have--for the rest of my
    life, try to be a good and useful citizen. And I'll have plenty of time
    to figure out what I should do to make a living at a later time.
        It was a flattering rumor. Many of the other rumors have been
    flattering. But they're all, as far as I know, completely unfounded.

    Hillary Clinton's Appearance on
    ``Late Show With David Letterman''

        Mr. Insana. We saw Mrs. Clinton on ``Letterman'' last night. You
    didn't happen to bring a Top 10 list with you this evening, did you?
        The President. No, but I thought she was fabulous. I must say, I was
    sort of--I was amazed. I used to think I was the funny one in our
    family. And I was very proud of her. I thought she was wonderful.
        Mr. Insana. Mr. President, good to see you. Thanks for joining us
    tonight.
        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The interview began at 6:55 p.m. in a broadcast booth at the New
    York Stock Exchange. In his remarks, the President referred to Rev.
    Jesse Jackson, founder and president, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Sanford I.
    Weill, chief executive officer, Citigroup; Richard Grasso, chairman and
    chief executive officer, New York Stock Exchange; Steve Ballmer,
    president and chief executive officer, and William H. (Bill) Gates,
    chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft Corp.; and Mr. Gates'
    wife, Melinda. A tape was not available for verification of the content
    of these remarks.