[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 33 (Monday, August 19, 2002)]
[Pages 1337-1338]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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, Glenn Hubbard, Chairman of the Council of Economic 
Advisers, 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, 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 rope line 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

[[Page 1338]]

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.

[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.