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To: 10K a day who wrote (111421)	10/28/2000 11:56:17 PM
From: KeepItSimple	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>I emphatically believe there were alleged misstatements. I did not have sexual relations with that woman!

To: 10K a day who wrote (111421)	10/29/2000 10:59:20 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Rubin: New Economy Subject to Old Rules By James M. Morrow NewsFactor Network October 27, 2000 Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin gave the keynote address at Internet World.Despite the roller-coaster stock market and the get-rich mentality in America's high-tech corridors, the laws of economics still apply to e-businesses, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Delivering the keynote address of the Internet World convention, Rubin said that while the past few years have been incredible from an economic point of view, the boom will not last forever. "There has been, and still is, a belief held by too many that the so-called New Economy has repealed the laws of human nature and economics," said Rubin. Profits Required Rubin pointed out that the rules of economics still applied following the advent of other revolutionary inventions, such as the telephone. Number one among the rules, he said, is that businesses need to be profitable, and only thoughtful planning can ensure that a business will turn that corner. "There has been a super abundance of capital but not much discipline in how it has been invested," Rubin said. "I think there will continue to be more capital available, but in a more normal mode. Businesses are going to have to show profits." Admitting that making profits is not always easy, Rubin said that "any technology that leads to greater price transparency and more competition should lead to greater productivity, but it also compresses profit margins." Despite the warnings he offered, Rubin described the Internet as "one of the most important economic, cultural, and social events" of his lifetime. Other Anomalies Rubin said that much of the economic growth triggered by the Internet has also been the result of other economic anomalies. For example, there is a low personal savings rate (less than one percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP) and a high trade deficit (around four percent of GDP). In addition, the stock market has recently been valued at as much as 200 percent of GDP. This condition is in stark contrast to an equities arena that was valued at 50 percent of GDP ten years ago. "These factors could all turn out to be harmless if, for example, we have an exceedingly high rate of growth in years ahead. On the other hand, they could also -- and this seems to me to be the more likely possibility -- reflect excessive reactions to the very real strengths of the United States economy," said Rubin. Rubin concluded by saying: "If [the anomalies] are excesses, in reaction to these real strengths, then of necessity they will have to unwind and that unwinding could be a soft landing that would be healthy. Or, it could be a hard landing." newsfactor.com