Bill Clinton: “Nationwide; and we don't have to keep going back to Congress over and over and over again saying, ``Give us 10 more…”

“Nationwide; and we don't have to keep going back to Congress over and over and over again saying, ``Give us 10 more empowerment zones''; and then everybody's got different spending priorities, or Republicans say, ``We like tax cuts; we don't like the spending you do, and you don't have to do any of that.'' You put it out there, and you say, ``Here it is, nationwide.'' Secondly, what it is, is particularly a heavy emphasis on venture capital, because you get up to a 25 percent tax cut for investing in vehicles that make direct investments to put up the venture capital. And then you also lower the relative risk of bank loans by saying that for every dollar you put up in venture capital, you're eligible for $2 in borrowing, Government guaranteed, which cuts the interest rate way down. And keep in mind, all this stuff would be available within the empowerment zones, too, so everywhere, you're lowering the relative risk of investment enough to make it more appealing. But the reason I said that, the most important thing, was to impact the economic and political links to the opportunity here is. I mean, that's why we've taken a lot of these businesspeople, and we're having all these announcements about what we're doing with the--you know, right now--is that it is very important that people see these opportunities as they are and also see the problems. But at least see that there really is opportunity. Now, if you believe, as I do, that there are a lot of people in business and in politics who think as well as we're doing now, we have a moral obligation to try to finally get some sustaining free enterprise into these areas, and you show that it's good business, and then you lower the relative risks, you've really done something. But the first thing you have to do is to make sure that there is enough accurate knowledge and communication out there to make the market work. Any economist will tell you that all markets work based on--still work through human beings based on adequate knowledge. And I would argue that there is far less than perfect knowledge within the American investor community about the opportunities in these developing areas. Mr. Brownstein. It sounds like what you're trying to do this week is almost a trade mission within your own country.”