George H.W. Bush: “Let me just comment on these, and then I want to hear from as many people as possible. First, on Doug, one of the things…”

“Let me just comment on these, and then I want to hear from as many people as possible. First, on Doug, one of the things this trip was about was trying to expand markets abroad. And I get hit by some saying this is managed trade. I am for free and fair trade, not managed trade. And what we did was go over there and get access, not everything I wanted, but get access to markets. Doug mentioned high-tech. One of the things we did do, and we've been supported 100 percent by the computer industry, is get access to the Government computer industry. Forty percent of the computers in Japan are American; in the Government, .04 percent are. Now we've broken that barrier down. We can help the Governor on his trade missions by this kind of initiative. And I am not going to stop trying to open these markets because somebody said I ought to stay home. We've got a global economy. And he put his hands on it when he talked about the high-tech factor. We are good in this area; we need to do better. You mentioned financing and venture capital. Please help me and Bob Smith and Bill Zeliff and Warren Rudman get a capital gains tax cut. This is not a tax break for the rich; it is a creation of small jobs. We are in a demagogic year. A lot of people that have discovered New Hampshire for the first time, they've never been to this State before, never heard of it, don't know the heartbeat of the State. I think I do. Went to school across the line here, have a house down the road here, can see it almost, what's left of it, when we landed at Pease--[laughter]--and come in here all the time. And I think I understand. And I think that this State would prosper by getting the kind of capital gains reduction--and let me take the heat on whether it's a tax cut for the rich or not. But help me when I come out with this yet again in the State of the Union. Deborah, you talked about ``hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train.'' I would remind you of another country-western song by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, ``If you want to see a rainbow, you've got to stand a little rain.'' And New Hampshire has stood more than a little rain. It's had a flood of bad news. And again, I understand it, but I think the answer: less in the regulations. We're trying to do better on regulations. I do believe that the Fed interest rates that are down now--and interest rates are at a wonderful level, I'd like to see them down further frankly, but at a wonderful level--will kick in and will stimulate investment. There is no other side to that coin. It will help. And it will help the real estate business. Frankly, I think that the talks we've had with the regulators, so that the good loans are not marked up, is going to help. I hope it will. I think we have had some excesses of regulation. Yet some of the people running around this State are the very ones in their hearings that are trying to say that forbearance, they call it, forbearance is bad. By that they mean you need more regulation. We need less regulation. And I think the Vice President is trying very hard on this Competitive Council. We've got a better job to do there, but I just wanted you to know I think you're on to something on that. And I won't comment on all the others, but in terms of bank funding and bank--the only good news out of all this dreary news in terms of the financial institutions is that the depositor, thank heavens, and again, I salute the Members of the Senate and Congress that are here today, has not lost a dime. The depositors haven't. But the financial institutions--I still feel good banks should make good loans. And as this interest rate goes down, I think, inevitably, that is going to happen. But real estate has been hurt. And I will have proposals in the State of the Union Message that I think will put value back, and capital gains is a part of this, in the asset people care about the most; that's their homes. Part of the fear that I think exists is because people wonder, ``Hey, what's happened to my home, my house?'' Again, I might say that I haven't diverged one inch from my commitment to what I think are New Hampshire values; I know they're Bush family values, in terms of family and neighborhood and community and child care that can be done at the local level and all of this. Last point, Dan, yes, I remember talks long ago here. And this helps me. I think I've known, look, this economy is in free-fall. I hope I've known it. Maybe I haven't conveyed it as well as I should have, but I do understand it. And your comments make that even clearer. But I do think that on high-tech, which does offer a partial and hopefully optimistic part of the answer to the problem, R&D, capital gains, a new education program that literally revolutionizes schools, but one of which's goals is proficiency in math and science for young people. Little longer range, incidentally, but it is absolutely fundamental to the innate well-being of a State like New Hampshire. And in the meantime, we can go forward with job training to take the work force you're talking about and try to equip them for jobs that will be there as this economy turns around. I've got a couple of other specific things, the R&D that you mentioned and Doug mentioned also. Somebody mentioned mandated benefits. We are going to continue to fight against the mandated benefits, telling the communities that if they want, quote, Federal money, they've got to do it by some Federal formula. I think that has been a problem on health care containment and a lot of other things. So, I'll stop there, but R&D, we will continue to press for the R&D credits that I do think will have a big difference in creating the kind of job opportunities that you appropriately mentioned. There are many more. But again, these comments were helpful, and I welcome any more. Or comments.”