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CNN Live Today

President Bush in Texas at Economic Forum

Aired August 13, 2002 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin on a mid-August day in the middle of Texas, with what the White House says is a cross section of the struggling U.S. economy. President Bush is there, listening and teaching, aides say, believing "the best solutions are found outside of Washington."
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us from the president's economic forum at Baylor University.

How's it going, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's going well, Carol. The president is expected to speak in a couple of minutes actually, in a wrap-up session here at the economic forum, and he is expected to make some news. He is going to be announcing that he is rejecting $5 billion in spending that was actually approved by Congress. It's part of a $28.9 billion dollars spending package for homeland security and defense, he signed it in August, and is he rejecting a portion of it because the Office of Management and Budget discovered additional unspent emergency fund in the tune of $14 billion, but also to send a clear message to Congress that they have to be fiscally responsible.

Now that is one of the many messages being delivered here at the economic forum. As you mentioned before, more than 240 participants involved, not only with a president, vice president, eight cabinet members, but really a whose who of the CEOs, top corporations, as well as housewives, farmers and truckers, ordinary Americans.

Now the president was able to attend four out of eight of the sessions, really kind of a whirlwind about 90 minutes long this morning. One of those sessions actually dealt with economic recovery, and job creation. He talked about the need for investors to get clear information from Wall Street in terms of their funding.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I, too, am concerned about the language of Wall Street not being clear so that the average investor can understand what's going on. 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, you know, be totally open and transparent, so everybody understands what is happening.

MALVEAUX: The president also talked about other items on his economic agenda, repealing the death tax. He talked about strengthening the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as making those tax cuts permanent.

This is all a part of the administration's effort to show that the president is serious, that he is engaged in the economic concerns of the American people. I have to tell, Carol, of course, there is a controversy around this, Democratic lawmakers in particular, who were not invited to this, claim that this is nothing more than a public relations show. They point to the fact that there are many participants who are major Republican donors, who are here. They say this is simply to make the Republican Party look good for the November congressional midterm elections, to get their agenda out to the American people -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live from the president's economic conference. We've got lots of coverage on this today. It is safe to say at a closed-door meeting under way in Washington will have a lot more impact on the economy, though, at least in the short term, than anything they say or do in Waco, Texas.

And, joining us now with some insights on both those gatherings, the president's forum and Federal Reserve policymakers, is the managing editor of CNN's "MONEYLINE," Lou Dobbs.

Lou, what is your read on what exactly is going to come out of the president's economic forum?

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Very little of substance, but a great deal I think of heightened understanding, on the part at least some of the participants here, about the issues. The fact of the matter is this is more about the political economy than just the economy itself. This is, as you well know, a mid-term election year. The absence of Democrats here makes for a certain harmony that perhaps might otherwise not exist, and the president may be hearing from a few people he may otherwise not have, but the number of business leaders here have access to the president, and he of course to them.

The most interesting people here to speak so far, Carol, have been the homemakers, the small business people who have saying things straightforwardly, saying, don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal and hold corporate America accountable. Those are strong simple message, and they go right to the essence of the problems that the set corporate America and the markets today.

You mentioned Washington D.C., the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal reserve, that sets the direction of interest rates, meeting in Washington D.C., at 2:15 Eastern this afternoon. We will learn the direction of interest rates following the decision of the Fed, the FOMC.

And the expectation is despite a great deal of hype and some considerable speculation over the past couple of weeks that there would be interest rates cuts, the great likelihood here is that there would be no change in interest rates direction.

So it's looking on balance to be something of neutral influence, emanating both from Waco and Washington D.C., on industrial psychology and sentiment.

LIN: Lou, you are doing your show, "MONEYLINE" out of the economic forum there. What do you have coming up tonight?

DOBBS: Tonight we will be talking with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who is much beleaguered and criticized and participating in this conference. We'll be talking with the president's chief economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, of course, and we'll be talking a couple of private economists as well about what they learned, if anything, at this conference.

And of course, we will be focusing as well on the day's geopolitical economic developments, all of that news.

LIN: All right, we will look forward to it. Thank you very much.

DOBBS: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: Lou Dobbs of "MONEYLINE." Once again, "MONEYLINE" live from the president's economic forum, with Lou.

Well, national correspondent Candy Crowley. Actually, she's our senior political correspondent here, has been keeping tabs on what this all means and what may or may not be coming out of the president's economic forum.

Good afternoon, Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

LIN: So what do you think? Is this about fixing the economy, or do you think this is more about the mid-term elections?

CROWLEY: It would take a lot to fix the economy. It's multidetermined, as they say. I agree with Lou. Look, you know, maybe some people will come out of this conference with better understanding. I think one of the things that hasn't entered into the conversation yet is consumer confidence is really important to the economy. It has kept it riding through some tough times after 9-11. So a lot of this I suspect that you will from Bush does in fact have to do with keeping consumer confidence going.

LIN: What do you think that the Democratic mantra will be during this election season. I mean, are they going to be able to stick with, is it the economy stupid?

CROWLEY: Well, they are going to say gosh, you know, when our president, Clinton was there, we had this great surplus and the economy was booming, and now, wow, you know, almost two years later, look where we are. They are beginning to bring up that point.

They have Social Security. You have to remember during election years, midterm elections in particular, the die-hards vote, and the die-hards are usually seniors, and privatizing Social Security is a tough road for seniors right now and nothing that seniors have really been supporting, so that is something you will see the Democrats are already bringing up. And in fact there is a story today in one of the papers about Republicans backing away from the whole idea of privatizing Social Security, which right now, with what's the market's doing looks like not a great thing.

LIN: But certainly, do you think that at least having this economic forum helps President Bush avoid the mistakes that his father, Bush senior, made in paying more attention to war with Iraq than average Americans suffering in a bad economy?

CROWLEY: No, absolutely, and I think that is one of the reasons for this to say I am paying attention, I know you are suffering and I know -- he is walking this sort of balancing act, because he has to say, look, the economy is pretty good, to keep consumer confidence up; on the other hand he has to say, for some of you, it does not feel that way.

And yes, absolutely, this is based on what George Bush learned firsthand in the campaign, the final campaign of his father, and that is, you've got to pay attention to domestic problems.

LIN: That is what he is certainly doing today. Thank you very much, Candy Crowley, CNN senior political correspondent.

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