George H.W. Bush: “One, the economy is improving. Not near enough. It is growing. You wouldn't hear that--I keep citing a statistic that 92…”

“One, the economy is improving. Not near enough. It is growing. You wouldn't hear that--I keep citing a statistic that 92 percent of the economic news has been negative as you analyze it. They've got this group that analyzes the news coverage. A tremendous percentage, 60 percent, think the economy's getting worse. A lot of people are hurting, but the overall national economy is growing, not near enough. What I want to do is stimulate it to grow more. That was what was behind and still remains behind an incentive program that encourages buying homes; that encourages getting the deficit down; that encourages changing the--this is technical--but the IRA rules; that encourages an investment tax allowance to stimulate the investment in equipment that actually brings jobs. So jobs are being created, not fast enough. If I can get the American people to give the strong support in Congress for the economic program, I believe that's the best guarantee of jobs for people. It is not going to be Government-created jobs, by the Government getting into the private sector. I oppose that. This idea of an industrial policy where the Government should pick the winners and losers is wrong. What we ought to do is increase the R&D credits so you stimulate the research that has made this country a job-creating country. So that's the program that I'll be taking to the American people. AIDS”