Bill Clinton: “Well, let me make two points, if I might. First of all, you characterized what happened in the eighties rather well. We…”

“Well, let me make two points, if I might. First of all, you characterized what happened in the eighties rather well. We had a lot of droughts in the eighties, but we also had, as you well know, a huge amount of farm debt out there which had been taken out when there was inflation, rising prices, rising land prices, and high interest rates. And then when commodity prices collapsed in the eighties, a lot of farmers couldn't finance that debt. And it took about 5 years for the Federal Government to agree on a bipartisan basis on a farming refinancing system, which then the private lending institutions could plug into. I think that provided for forbearance, for example, and other things. I think you've got a lot of that out there now. There are also some real options that every farming State in this country has to try to help the lending institutions deal with the farmers. We won't go through all the details, but we do. The next thing I would like to say to you, however, is that we are working aggressively to try to change the regulatory environment in which small business and agriculture live and relate to the federally insured financial institutions, the private banks. And I think that over the next year you will see a significant increase in credit offered to businesses and to agriculture because of this changing regulatory environment. Mr. Mickelson. Mr. President, we're out of time here. On behalf of KMOX Radio in St. Louis, WCCO Radio in Minneapolis, WHO Radio here in Des Moines, along with KLYF-FM and TV-13, thank you for coming and sharing your thoughts and visiting the heartland. I appreciate it.”