    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [August 13, 2002]
    [Pages 1374-1376]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Small Investors and Retirement Security Session of the
    President's Economic Forum in Waco
    August 13, 2002

        The President. Welcome to Texas.
        Participant. Nice to be here.
        The President. Thanks for coming.
        Participant. It's a long ways. It's nice to be here.
        The President. It is a long ways. It's going to be a great day. I
    appreciate you all being here, and I look forward to hearing what you
    have to say.

    [At this point, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Glenn
    Hubbard made brief remarks and introduced
    Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefits Ann Laine
    Combs.]

        The President. Ann, thanks. Good to see
    you.

    [Ms. Combs summarized the administration's
    efforts to improve pension security,

    [[Page 1375]]

    increase opportunities for retirement savings, and restore confidence in
    the markets. She then introduced Charles R. Schwab, chairman and co-chief executive officer, Charles Schwab
    Corp., who expressed confidence in the stock market and discussed ways
    to increase investor confidence. Mr. Hubbard
    then asked if the President wanted to comment.]

        The President. Well, I think what caught my attention was this
    business about confidence. I'm spending some time in Crawford, Texas. I
    think about how people in Crawford look at Wall Street and the numbers.
    And one of the things I hope that comes out of this discussion is, how
    do we simplify the numbers so that people can understand what they're
    looking at? People in this part of the world get a little suspicious of
    the fine print. But yet, a lot of them are now investing for the first
    time. And I think Chuck brings up a great
    point, is how can people not only on the east coast or the west coast
    feel confident about what they see but all throughout America can feel
    confident about what they see and hear?
        Part of it is--I remember going--working a ropeline in New York, and
    a business professor said, ``Thank you for mentioning in your speech on
    corporate responsibility that business schools need to learn how to
    teach right from wrong.'' Evidently, there's this kind of nervousness
    about being clear about teaching young MBAs right from wrong. And a guy
    walked up to me and said--it was a laboring man--and said, ``Well, the
    best way to teach a lesson is to put some of them in handcuffs. That's
    the best way to send the message for corporate responsibility''--which
    we're doing. So we'll enforce law, but confidence is more than just
    Government enforcing law. Confidence is an industry policing itself as
    well as understanding the new customer.
        And I'd be curious--first of all, I love your ideas about how to
    account for loss and/or double taxation dividends. That makes a lot of
    sense.
        But another question I would have for the panelists and look forward
    to hearing the recommendations is, how do we take care of the new
    investor? Chuck does a good job of it by
    recruiting them and then helping them invest. But throughout the system,
    how do we understand that the nature of the investor has changed?

    [Mr. Hubbard introduced Muriel ``Mickey''
    Siebert, chairman and co-chief
    executive officer, Muriel Siebert and Co.]

        The President. How do you like being known as a legend,
    Mickey? [Laughter]
        Ms. Siebert. As long as I'm a
    living legend--[laughter].
        The President. You look living to me. [Laughter]

    [Ms. Siebert discussed the need to
    protect investors from deceptive corporate practices.]

        The President. Well, thank you, Mickey. You bring up a very interesting point that
    Chuck alluded to, and that is--you know,
    you talk about some of these fancy financial instruments being designed
    to inflate revenues, for example, and it takes a fairly sophisticated
    soul to figure out what's going on. And the fundamental question: Who is
    that sophisticated soul? And it seems like to me, the sophisticated soul
    is the recommenders of the stocks. And Chuck brought up a very good point, and that is, the industry
    itself is culpable of not blowing the whistle on practices that aren't--
    that kind of deceive, I guess, is the best way to put it.
        And my question is how best to--you know, apart from Government, how
    best may an industry police itself? How best for--as I one time said, I
    said, they'll sell or buy you depending upon what's in their interest--
    and how best to protect the unsophisticated now, a person accumulating a
    lot of assets from these practices that are pretty darned sophisticated.

    [[Page 1376]]

    [A participant suggested that to protect customers, the CEOs and
    compliance officers of companies providing help and advice need to sign
    a statement that they have no conflicts of interest. Mr.
    Hubbard then introduced Sylvester
    Schieber, vice president, Watson Wyatt
    Worldwide.]

        The President. Excuse me for a minute. So here's what happens. I'm
    going to four of these; the Vice President is
    going to four of them. I can assure you, however, that we look forward
    to hearing the recommendations--Hubbard or
    somebody is going to be a note-taker. We will look at everything you
    say.
        Again, I also want to tell you how much we thank you for coming, and
    I'll see you at lunch. We've got a great group of our fellow Americans
    here that really goes to show that people are concerned about the future
    of the country. I really want to thank you for coming. I know it was a
    stretch for a lot of you to come, but the fact that you're here is
    really meaningful for the country. So thanks from the bottom of our
    hearts.
        Again, I look forward to what you have to say. In the meantime, I've
    got to leave here. Thanks.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:03 a.m. in the Baylor Law Center at
    Baylor University.