Bill Clinton: “Every time I talk to business leaders I talk about that. But let me just say, as I've said on Labor Day, there are a lot…”

“Every time I talk to business leaders I talk about that. But let me just say, as I've said on Labor Day, there are a lot of alternative explanations being offered for this, but one of the clear lessons not only for our country but for every wealthy country is that is we want to continue to raise incomes in a global economy, we have to raise the level of education of the work force. We've got to do it. There are some other things we can do and that I hope we will do and some things they can do and that many of them are doing. But if we don't raise the educational level of the American work force and if we don't set up a system of real reform for excellence in our public schools and then lifetime education afterward, nothing they or we do will achieve that goal. So I will say again, the purpose of balancing the budget is to remove the burden of debt off of our children and grandchildren and to free up more capital for private investment so that the economy will grow. The purpose of balancing the budget is not to shut the economy down by undermining our fundamental commit- ment to education. So the question is, how can we meet both objectives? I've presented a plan which does that, there are lots of ways to get it done, and that's what I think we're all agreed on, again without regard to party. United Nations Conference on Women”