Bill Clinton: “There's no doubt about that. And I think that whenever possible, if you think that there is a class-related or income…”

“There's no doubt about that. And I think that whenever possible, if you think that there is a class-related or income- related element in the difficulties we have with race, we ought to have income-based solutions to it. A lot of things that I've asked the Congress to do over the last 5\1/2\ years, a lot of things that are in this budget now are designed to address that, with grater incentives for people to invest in inner cities and Native American reservations and other poor areas; tax systems, which would disproportionately benefit working people on the lower income of the scale. I think those things are very important because--and there is, by the way, some evidence that, in the last couple of years, the income inequality has begun to abate some. But I think it's very important not to confuse the two. I mean, I believe the primary reason for income inequality--increasing inequality in America is that we have changed the nature of the economy. That is, if you go back to 100 years ago, and you see when we moved from an agricultural to an industrial economy, we also had a big influx of immigrants. There was a hug increase in inequality, not so much because of the immigrants, but because the way people made money changed. The whole basis of wealth changed. That's what's happened in this computer-based information economy, and the premium on education these days is so much greater than it's ever been, that there's a lot of stagnant incomes out there from people who have worked hard all of their lives but aren't part of the modern economy. And I think that we need strategies to identify the people that aren't winning and turn them into winners. And at the very least, turn their children into winners. Mr. Lehrer. Kay James, class or race? [Ms. James responded that no matter how middle class a person became, if that person was black, he or she still experienced discrimination. She suggested that issues of poverty and class, although worthy topics, should not take precedence over the discussion of racism in America.]”