[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 33 (Monday, August 19, 2002)]
[Pages 1338-1341]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Economic Recovery and Job Creation Session of the 
President's Economic Forum in Waco

August 13, 2002

    The President. Good morning. Sorry to interrupt. I was hoping to 
hear Phyllis. [Laughter]
    Phyllis Hill Slater. I was quoting you.
    The President. You were?
    Ms. Slater. Yes, I was quoting you: ``Let no child be left behind.''
    The President. There you go.
    Ms. Slater. Education is key to keeping us strong in this country. 
And I especially want to look after those children in the rural and 
urban communities, because that's our future.
    The President. You bet.

[[Page 1339]]

    Ms. Slater. And I thank you for that lead-in.
    The President. Well, listen, thank you all for coming.
    So here's what happens. I come for 15 minutes and then go to another 
seminar--the Vice President as well. But I can assure you that any 
recommendations that come out of this discussion will make it to my 
desk. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
    I want to thank you all for coming. Welcome to central Texas, and I 
truly look forward to hearing what you have to say. I suspect I know 
what's on Doug's mind, and that's how to get people back to work. And 
that's on my mind. I mean, we ought to seize every opportunity to get 
our workers working.
    In one case, Congress can do something about it and should do 
something about it quickly, and that is to provide some terrorism 
insurance so that roughly $8 billion worth of projects move on. And 
that's $8 billion worth of work for somebody. I view that in human 
terms, not in balance-sheet terms.
    So I want to thank you all for coming to talk about ways to get the 
economy moving again. You know, we're pleased with some progress, but 
we've got more to do. And that's what we're really here to discuss. So 
any specific ideas that bubble up, you know, we'll give it a good look. 
But in the meantime, keep the conversation moving here. I don't want to 
dominate.

[At this point, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill introduced John 
Brooks, executive secretary-treasurer, Greater Pennsylvania Regional 
Council of Carpenters.]

    The President. Big John, what do you do--excuse me.
    Mr. Brooks. I'm a business manager for the Carpenters----
    The President. Oh, good.
    Mr. Brooks. ----of Pittsburgh, which--we've entertained you.
    The President. Yes, you have. You certainly did.
    Mr. Brooks. I was probably the first person you met.
    The President. That's right. Well, I didn't notice you. I didn't 
recognize you in a coat and tie. [Laughter]

[Mr. Brooks discussed the need for accurate pension fund reports.]

    Secretary O'Neill. Mr. President, before we started, Van, who is 
sitting between us here, was telling me that her 92-year-old grandmother 
is watching this on television. So I think we ought to give Van an 
opportunity to talk. [Laughter]
    The President. Your grandmother and my mother. [Laughter]

[Van Eure, owner, the Angus Barn restaurant, briefly discussed the 
importance of tax deductions for small businesses and her experiences in 
dealing with the death tax.]

    The President. Thanks.
    Ms. Eure. And I'm just honored to be sitting beside one of my 
heroes. [Laughter]
    The President. Who, O'Neill? [Laughter]
    Secretary O'Neill. Mr. President, I'll take it. [Laughter]
    Ms. Eure. Yes.
    The President. Thank you.
    Ms. Eure. You're welcome.
    The President. The thing about the death tax--the death tax is 
punitive on small-business owners. It is very tough on farmers and 
ranchers. It's hard to be able to keep your farm and your family if 
you've got a big appraisal value when a loved one dies. We're trying to 
get rid of the death tax. I firmly believe the death tax is good for 
people from all walks of life all throughout our society. As the 
entrepreneurial spirit takes hold in communities all throughout America, 
the death tax is going to try to be very punitive on many minorities, 
minority-owned firms. And our view is, is that if you build up your 
asset base, you ought to leave it to somebody you want to leave it to, 
whether your kid or your cousin or whatever it is.
    And so we've put the death tax on its way to extinction. However, as 
a result of a quirk in the law, it arises again 10 years from now. 
That's a hard one to explain. But, nevertheless, it does. And so we've 
got to make the repeal of the death tax permanent, for the good of the 
entrepreneurial spirit and for the

[[Page 1340]]

good of our farmers and ranchers. And thank you for bringing that up.
    Secretary O'Neill. Sheri Orlowitz, I wonder if we could hear from 
you?
    The President. Where are you from, Sheri?
    Sheri Orlowitz. I'm from Washington, DC.
    The President. Nothing wrong with that. Me, too. [Laughter]
    Ms. Orlowitz. I haven't seen you around lately.
    The President. Well, I'm on a temporary basis there. [Laughter]

[Ms. Orlowitz, chairman and chief executive officer, Shan Industries, 
LLC, discussed the importance of patience during economic downturns and 
greater corporate accountability.]

    The President. Well, thanks, Sheri. That's very articulate. A couple 
of points--we are going to find those who have broken the law and arrest 
them and prosecute them. And the SEC actually has done quite a bit of 
work. Some of it, I guess, hasn't received wide publicity. But 80 
different officers have been punished in a year's period of time. I 
think it is a year's period of time.
    Secretary O'Neill. That's right.
    The President. We've increased the SEC budget so that they've got 
more capacity now to move through the system. Part of what you say 
requires a board of directors and a compensation committee for 
understanding their responsibilities. I mean, you're right. Excessive 
executive pay sends confusing signals. I mean, when a guy makes a merger 
or a company makes a merger, the executive makes a lot of money; the 
shareholders lose; something is wrong.
    Independent members of boards need to be tough in their 
responsibilities. I don't think it's right for a Government to regulate 
pay. I don't think that's a role for the Federal Government. It is a 
role for the Federal Government, however, to bring those to justice who 
break clear law. And we will--and we will.
    The other thing that you mentioned is the recession. We were--
history now has shown, we had three quarters of recession, three 
quarters of negative growth, and now we've had three quarters of 
positive growth. So the trend is in the right direction, which is 
important for Americans to understand. But nevertheless, there's a lot 
more to do. One of the key things, as you mentioned, is this business 
about insurance. We've got to get these projects going. We want these 
workers working. We want McCarron to quit calling me on the phone 
saying, ``What are you doing about this insurance bill?'' [Laughter]
    Secretary O'Neill. Mr. Johnston, I wonder if we could hear from you? 
You're in a business that touches every American every day--in the 
grocery business, Mr. President--so maybe we could hear from you.
    The President. Yes.

[Lawrence R. Johnston, chairman of the board and chief executive 
officer, Albertsons, Inc., briefly discussed his suggestions for 
stimulating economic growth.]

    The President. Thanks. Thanks for coming.
    Secretary O'Neill. Mr. President, you have to go.
    The President. Yes, well, the life of the President--always has to 
go. But I do want to thank you all for coming. This is--I appreciate, 
Sheri, your talking about this summit in positive terms. That's how I 
view it too. You'll be amazed, when you go to lunch today, to see the 
quality of the folks that have come--got some of the world's leading 
economists here with you, in your panel, national labor union leader. I 
mean, we've got really fine people who have agreed to come and share 
their insights and share some thoughts with us.
    I think one of the things you'll hear is that even though times are 
kind of tough right now, that we're America. I'm incredibly optimistic 
about the future of this country, because I understand the strength of 
the country. And the strength of the country is our people. We've got 
the highest productivity in the world. We've got the best farmers and 
ranchers in the world. We've got the best manufacturers in the world. 
We've got the hardest working people in the world. We've got the best 
tax policy in the world. I mean, we've got a lot going for us. And I 
think when the American investor--one thing I do want to comment on, I 
was at an earlier seminar,

[[Page 1341]]

and I, too, am concerned about the language of Wall Street not being 
clear so that the average investor can understand what's going on. And 
we talked to Chuck Schwab about that. And Wall Street has got to 
understand that fancy footwork, when it comes to financial instruments, 
needs to--need to be totally open and transparent, so everybody 
understands what's happening.
    And you're right about making sure that the average investor feels 
confident in what he or she reads. A lot of folks in this part of the 
world aren't real--I would call it suspicious about some of the fine 
print. And there needs to be better disclosure so that people feel 
confident that they're not being led down the primrose path of fancy 
financial footwork, let me put it to you that way. And the Government 
can do some of this, but the industry itself, the investment advisors, 
and the people--I call them Wall Street--they need to--there needs to be 
some self-policing mechanism as well, so that people are confident in 
the numbers.
    More and more people invest. A lot of Doug's workers invest--all of 
a sudden become pretty sophisticated relative to their father and 
forefathers. But you can't be that sophisticated if you're fighting off 
lawyers and accountants that are trying to put the dark cloud over 
reality. And that's one of the things we've got to just make sure does 
not happen anymore. Part of it is to put these people in jail. But part 
of it is to insist that the advisory world not have conflicts of 
interest and everybody understands what's going on. And I think you're 
going to find some pretty interesting ideas come out of this summit 
along those lines.
    But anyway, thank you all for coming. Hope you've enjoyed central 
Texas. You're 45 minutes away from Crawford. [Laughter] No Albertsons 
yet, but we do have a stoplight. [Laughter]
    Thank you all for your time.

Note: The President spoke at 9:23 a.m. in the Baylor Law Center at 
Baylor University. In his remarks, he referred to Phyllis Hill Slater, 
president, Hill Slater, Inc.; Douglas J. McCarron, general president, 
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners; and Charles R. Schwab, 
chairman of the board and co-chief executive officer, Charles Schwab 
Corp.