Bill Clinton: “Well, we haven't--it could mean that more evidence will come in the deficit will be smaller. But there's no--it could…”

“Well, we haven't--it could mean that more evidence will come in the deficit will be smaller. But there's no--it could mean that we'll have more jobs, which is the real issue. But we don't see it yet. I think the real issue--what appears to be the case is that American productivity is up and that a lot of Americans are refinancing their homes or buying new homes because of low interest rates. But so far, we're not adding jobs to the economy. That's the critical thing. I think it means we need to take a real close look at the credit crunch for small business. I think it means we need to redouble our efforts on health care cost restraints because that's one of the things that's preventing small business from hiring more people. But if you look at the downsizing going on in a lot of these big companies, we still need a program which will help us to generate jobs and higher income jobs. And that's the focus that I had for several months now. I'm happy that the productivity rates picked up, and I'm glad that people are able to finance their homes at lower interest rates. But I'm still not convinced that this country is yet set on the right course in terms of generating the jobs. And that's the key thing: jobs.”