[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 1995)]
[Pages 391-392]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Administration's Economic Strategy and an Exchange With 
Reporters

March 10, 1995

    The President. Good morning. Today's employment report shows that 
the economic strategy pursued by our administration has worked for the 
last 2 years, thanks not only, of course, to our economic policies but 
also to the dramatic increases in productivity by American businesses 
and American workers.
    The new unemployment rate of 5.4 percent is the lowest in almost 5 
years. We have the lowest combined rates of unemployment and inflation 
in 25 years. The fundamentals of this economy overall are healthier than 
they have been in a generation.
    When I took office, we had had 12 years in which the deficit had 
quadrupled and investments in our people had been ignored. There was no 
job growth. That's not true anymore. Our disciplined plan to reduce the 
deficit, lower trade barriers to American products and services, and 
invest more in the future of our people through education, training, and 
technology, is working.
    Let me underscore this: As of today the economy has produced 6.1 
million jobs since I became President. And if Michael Jordan goes back 
to the Bulls it will be 6,100,001 new jobs. [Laughter] That includes, I 
might add, 14 straight months of manufacturing job growth, something 
almost unheard of in the modern era. And encouragingly for our biggest 
continuing economic problem, last year we had more high-wage jobs coming 
into the economy than in the previous 5 years combined.
    Those are 6.1 million reasons for this country to stay committed to 
an economic strategy of opportunity and responsibility, disciplined 
commitment to investment in the future of our people through education, 
training, and technology, selling our products, and reducing our 
deficit. We have reduced the deficit by $600 billion, and of course, our 
new budget proposed another deficit reduction in excess of $80 billion.
    It has now been 66 days since the new Congress came to town. We are 
still waiting for the leadership to propose their budget plan. But now 
we do see that there is a pro- 

[[Page 392]]

posal for massive tax cuts which will benefit largely upper income 
Americans, tax cuts that will cost $188 billion in the first 5 years, 
but, if you look at the 10-year figure, will cost $700 billion. These 
are more than 3 times the aggregate amounts of the proposals that I made 
in my budget, which are heavily targeted to the needs of middle class 
Americans to raise their incomes, educate their children, provide for 
the basic health care needs through an IRA, a tax deduction for the cost 
of education after high school.
    And I want to emphasize furthermore, that I think what we ought to 
be working on now as we look ahead, are things that will continue to 
increase jobs. That means staying with deficit reduction, staying with 
investments in education and training and technology, staying with 
selling American products and things that will raise incomes.
    The ``GI bill'' for American workers does not cost any money, but 
the Congress could pass it to consolidate all these training programs, 
to give vouchers to unemployed people and people on low wages. The 
Congress could pass the minimum wage increase, which is overdue and 
which will have an impact in raising incomes.
    But the fundamental strategy is sound. We are producing jobs. Now we 
have to raise incomes. We have to stay with this strategy. There are 6.1 
million arguments for why it is the right strategy.
    Thank you.
    Q. What about the capital gains tax? What do you think of that?

Interest Rates

    Q. Mr. President, don't these numbers push interest rates up?
    The President. Well, Chairman Greenspan hadn't said that yet. 
Let's--I don't want--every time I say something about the money it turns 
out to be wrong, so I'm not going to comment on it.

Note: The President spoke at 9:45 a.m. in the Briefing Room at the White 
House.