July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 10:16 p.m. EDT (0216 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (AllPolitics, July 8) -- On the final day of his cross-country poverty tour, President Bill Clinton called for more investment in "human capital," particularly job training for disadvantaged youth.

Clinton and California Gov. Gray Davis

"We can put in place the financial nets. We can create a lot of jobs," Clinton said. "But if our young people don't have the opportunity to learn, and continue to learn and continue to train for a long time, we'll never be able to do it."

Clinton toured a job training center in South Central Los Angeles, not far from the scene of deadly riots in 1992. He was accompanied by former National Basketball Association star Magic Johnson, who has opened multiplex movie theaters in inner cities across the country.

Later, the president met with a group of business leaders who unveiled an $8 million private initiative to create "information technology academies" to train young people for high-tech jobs.

"Government cannot do this alone, but business cannot be expected to go it alone," Clinton said. "We can build one America where nobody is left behind when we cross that bridge into a new century. And when we do, we'll all be better off."

Clinton's visit to the Los Angeles area was the last stop on a four-day tour that took him from a Kentucky coal-mining town to the Mississippi Delta; East St. Louis, Illinois; an Indian reservation in South Dakota and a Latino community in Phoenix. The president termed the trip "a remarkable ride."

At each stop, Clinton called for public and private investment in areas that haven't shared in the booming economy.

More than 36 million remain in poverty

The president's pitch reflected the changing debate over the causes of, and cures for, poverty. After three decades of the federal government pouring money into anti-poverty programs, more than 36 million Americans remain below the poverty line, and Clinton admitted that the government can't do it all.

"American business needs to know that there are good opportunities right now in inner cities and in rural America," Clinton said. "This is not about charity."

Part of Clinton's appeal is that corporate America should feel a social obligation to help -- and that there is money to be made in serving pockets of America that prosperity has long passed by.

CNN White House Correspondent John King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday, July 8, 1999

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• U.S. House Republicans unveil college savings plan
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• Clinton calls for investment in 'human capital' as poverty tour ends
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• New Treasury chief: 'Right course has been set'
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• For Bush, a rare low-dollar breakfast
• McCain calls for Internet tax ban
• Verney won't seek re-election as Reform Party chairman

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