Bill Clinton: “I can tell you what we're trying to do. And first, let me say this is a big issue for small business, generally. There…”

“I can tell you what we're trying to do. And first, let me say this is a big issue for small business, generally. There has been a credit crunch in California and in New England and in Florida and a lot of other places in the country, but heavily concentrated, which means that small business people, especially people who aren't traditionally good sources of credit or haven't gotten a lot of credit in the past, had real trouble, and that's a nationwide thing. So we try to basically do three things. Number one, we've got all the financial Agencies, the Treasury Department, Comptroller of the Currency, all those folks together, and we came up with a plan to reduce the credit crunch, to simplify the ability of banks to make character loans to people that look like they'd be good risks. And we're trying to make sure every bank in America understands that there are new rules that they can follow to exercise good sense in doing that. Number two, I appointed, the first time in a good while, a person to head the Small Business Administration whose job in life before he became head of the Small Business Administration was to start small businesses. That's what he did, he went out and raised money for people who wanted to start small businesses. It was not a political appointment; he was a serious business person. And we are trying now to make the Small Business Administration a real job creator. We have slashed the rules and regulations; it's going to be a lot simpler to apply for loans. It's going to be very different. The third thing we have to do, and this will affect minority business people especially, I think is to create a national network of community development banks, either within existing banks or separate institutions, that are set up to make loans to people who traditionally have not gotten them but are good risks, modeled on a bank in Chicago called the South Shore Development Bank. And I set up one in rural Arkansas, too. And they made loans to minorities, to women, to low- income people, people who had a good reputation, who had a good product or service, who seemed like a good risk. And they have been quite successful in bringing free enterprise to places where they haven't been. So, community development banks, a different Small Business Administration, ending the credit crunch, those are the things we're trying to do. I hope it works. Write me in a year and tell me if it is. POW/MIA's”