Clinton to announce April meeting on U.S. economy WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton will announce plans on Thursday for an "economic summit" in April to discuss the challenges facing the U.S. economy much like the 1992 brainstorming session he held before becoming president. U.S. officials who asked not to be named said the meeting would be modeled on the roundtable that Clinton held in Little Rock, Arkansas in December 1992 to discuss the then-faltering U.S. economy. This time, however, they said he wants to bring executives, academics and community leaders together to discuss how the keep the record U.S. economic expansion rolling on and how to cope with some of the major problems on the horizon. Those include extending prosperity to the poor areas that have not taken part in the current boom as well as coping with the aging of the Baby Boom generation and the financial strains on the Social Security and Medicare programs. "The idea is to bring people together in a similar way to Little Rock to talk about the challenges that face the American economy over the long term," said one U.S. official who asked not to be named. Clinton is to announce the idea as he delivers a speech on the U.S. economy at 2:55 p.m. (1955 GMT) in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. economy this month entered its 107th month of uninterrupted growth, marking the longest economic expansion in the country's history. ) copyright 2000 Reuters, Ltd.

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 23, 2000

Answers

I get an uneasy feeling about this "summit", it seems a little late in his term to be gearing up to make drastic changes. A little election year grandstanding is expected, but don't get carried away.

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 23, 2000.