Bush Seeks To Assure, Cheney Silent, At Economic Forum
Dow Jones Business News
Tuesday August 13, 2002
WACO, Texas -- President George W. Bush assured Americans Tuesday that his administration has a steady hand on the economy after hearing blue-collar workers and blue-chip CEOs alike voice concern about slower growth and market volatility.
"We have heard from Americans who are concerned, but not discouraged. We see problems, but we're confident in the long-term health of this economy," Bush said at the close of a half-day economic forum he convened at Baylor University. It was an effort to calm the jittery stock market and blunt the damage in this election year.
"This administration is determined to build on the long-term security of the American people," Bush pledged. With stern words for Congress, he said spending restraint is essential to economic growth and announced he will not release $5.1 billion recently approved for combatting terrorism because Congress lumped in several unrelated projects.
"Recession and the cost of war and the cost of homeland defense have increased our deficits, yet I am determined to fund the great priorities of our government while exercising the spending restraint that will return America to the path of a balanced budget as soon as possible," Bush said, to applause from a hand- picked audience of economists, corporate executives, and small-business owners.
The president and Vice President Dick Cheney made the rounds among eight seminars, combining policy and politics, which were led by various Cabinet secretaries and other top government officials. Bush said they were there to "to talk about ways to get the economy moving again." He dropped by four sessions for 15 minutes at a time.
"I can assure that even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars - nor will the vice president - we will look at the summaries," Bush told one working group.
Investment counselor Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCH - News), whose company manages eight million individual accounts with $800 billion in assets, reported to Bush that the confidence of American investors "is at a very fragile point."
While he said that the stock market's downturn will be only temporary, Schwab added: "The bear market that we're suffering right now is probably one of the worst I have ever gone through, and it's not a comfortable place to be."
Bush, speaking with a noticeably heavy Texas folksiness, replied that "what caught my attention was all this business about confidence."
"Even though times are kind of tough right now, we're America," he said. "I'm incredibly optimistic about the future of this country because I understand the strength of this country. ... We got a lot going for us."
In another panel discussion, Sheri Orlowitz, founder and CEO of Washington's Shan Industries, told Bush she spent a day polling her customers and bankers before traveling to Waco, Texas. "The same message came through: We're very fragile. We expect a little more of a downside. But the government has taken action and the question now is focus and patience," she said.
Cheney, whose tenure as CEO at Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - News) is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, sat mostly in silence during his visits to sessions on trade, technology, small business and education. "I don't propose to make any remarks," he said at one point. "I came here to listen; the best policy this morning is to sit here and soak up your wisdom."
A welder, a truck driver and other wage earners were among those invited to the forum at Baylor University law school, about a half-hour's drive from the president's ranch, where he is spending August.
But the leading forum participants represented a short cross-section of the cream of America's corporate boardrooms, including the CEOs of International Paper (NYSE:IP - News) , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the New York Stock Exchange, American Express (NYSE:AXP - News) , Home Depot (NYSE:HD - News) , Caterpillar , Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) , the National Association of Manufacturers, Folgers Coffee, eBay , Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) , National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM - News) and Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - News) .
A few blocks from the Baylor campus, which was closed to demonstrators, anti- abortion activists and protesters of China's religious persecution pressed their causes.
Democrats dismissed Bush's forum as a public relations ploy and a nod to corporate donors to GOP coffers. Many economists were skeptical it would do much to restore consumer confidence.
"I think it's pretty much a complete waste of time. I think the president's time would be better spent just being on vacation," said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economic adviser to the first President Bush.
College presidents, economists, labor officials, farmers, health and education professionals, and technology experts also were invited. The roster included more than 240 participants.
Administration officials hastened to rebut complaints that vocal critics of the administration's economic policies were excluded from the forum, as were members of Congress.
"The president believes that the best solutions are found outside Washington, and that's why he wants to hear directly from working Americans and small investors," deputy White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
With control of both houses of Congress at stake in November's midterm elections, Democrats have been quick to attack the forum.
Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the House Budget Committee's top Democrat, issued criticism from afar. "By limiting this meeting largely to like-minded participants and special interests, the administration protects its policies from serious scrutiny," Spratt said in a news release. |
