Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

By Randall Mikkelsen
Reuters

AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 4) - President-elect  Bush finishes a two-day economic workshop  Thursday by meeting high-tech leaders to discuss ways to help the tarnished "new economy" sector shine again.

Bush is to meet with about 15 leaders of mostly blue-chip high-tech firms, including International Business Machines Corp Chairman Louis Gerstner, Dell Computer Corp Chairman Michael Dell and chief executive Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems Inc

The meeting at the Texas governor's mansion will focus on issues important to the sector, including education, free trade and regulatory relief, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said in announcing the meeting last week.

It will also deal "with the great strength that high-tech has provided to the economy," Fleischer said.

The session follows a meeting Wednesday in which Bush and some three dozen corporate leaders -- including some who will also be present Thursday -- focused on signs the overall economy was losing steam.

The high-tech sector has been battered over much of the last year by the bursting of a speculative bubble in Internet company stocks, which has dragged down stock markets and threatened to slow the U.S. economy after an unprecedented eight years of growth under outgoing President Clinton.

The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped in on Wednesday to shore up the economy with a 0.5 percentage point cut in a key interest rate, delighting the business chiefs who met Bush in Austin on Wednesday.

Bush welcomed the news, but said it did not reduce the need for a $1.3 trillion across-the-board tax cut he has proposed as an additional stimulus. Bush is to take office on Jan. 20.

WARNING ON TRADE

Congressional Democrats on Wednesday sounded a warning on trade -- one of the major issues likely to be discussed on Thursday -- saying Bush would meet resistance to his goals of expanding free-trade agreements if he failed to include labor rights and environmental protections in any deals.

Bush on Thursday is also likely to continue filling out his administration, possibly naming campaign strategist Karl Rove to his inner circle of White House advisers.

A Rove appointment would reassemble two legs of the "Iron Triangle" of trusted aides that formed the core of his successful presidential campaign.

Communications director Karen Hughes was earlier named as a counselor to the new president, and campaign manager Joe Allbaugh is expected to be given a key White House role if he wants one.

Bush rounded out his Cabinet Tuesday, although he still has important non-Cabinet jobs to fill -- director of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. trade representative.

Aides said Bush would keep working on fleshing out his administration this week.

As he continues his pre-inaugural task of reaching out to key political supporters and laying the groundwork for his presidency, Bush has scheduled a meeting out at his ranch on Saturday with a group of Republican governors.

Fleischer told reporters Wednesday that Bush wanted to talk to the state executives about "several upcoming matters that President-elect Bush considers national priorities," including education.

02:34 01-04-01

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