Bill Clinton: “That's a terrific point. I know we've got to quit in a minute, and I want to give you a chance to talk. But let me say…”

“That's a terrific point. I know we've got to quit in a minute, and I want to give you a chance to talk. But let me say that people say to me, ``Well, can you afford this program, and what if 250,000, what if 500,000, what if a million young people want to do this?'' Well, if you think about it, think what we're paying now for the failures of the present society, think what we're paying now for all the young people who drop out of school, who have children when they're children, who get involved in drugs, who wind up in prisons, who can't work and draw welfare or food stamps or unemployment or who wind up in homeless shelters, you think what it's cost us now to do that. We're living in a world where we need every person. And I agree with you. I think when people like you get out of college, you get a world- class education in a place like Tulane, if you can get people like that who still are really aware of what is going on and who understand the point you made, that homeless people are just like us. There are a lot of kids out there in these homeless shelters. A lot of them can learn and do real well if they're given a chance. And if they do well, this is going to affect you much more than me. One in ten Americans now is on food stamps. Now, you think about what your life is going to be like when you're my age, you have children getting ready to go to college, if we don't reverse these trends. What's the unemployment rate in America going to be? What's your tax burden going to be? What are you going to be paying it for? What's it going to be like to be in the streets of your country? This service thing has so much more to do with your future in a way than with mine. And I think the point you made is terrific. I know we've got to quit, but I want to--go ahead. [A participant stated that working on community service projects fosters a desire to continue serving others.]”