NYT, 01/26/00: Consumer Confidence Hits an All-Time High; Jobs Called 'Plentiful'... [View All]

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Consumer Confidence Hits an All-Time High; Jobs Called 'Plentiful' : Clinton Sees An Early Payoff of U.S. Debt

By Brian Knowlton
Published: January 26, 2000

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/26/news/26iht-usecon.2.t_5.html

WASHINGTON— On a day when consumer confidence was reported at a record high, President Bill Clinton seized on the prolonged U.S. economic expansion Tuesday to propose paying off the government's public-held debt by 2013, two years sooner than had been expected.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index reached a record 144.7 in January, up from 141.7 in December, a larger-than-expected rise. A majority of consumers in the 5,000 households surveyed by the private research group said they were more optimistic both about current and future business conditions.

Fifty-four percent described jobs as "plentiful."

Mr. Clinton, in an announcement from the White House, called on Republican leaders in Congress to "put politics aside and join me" in a budget proposal that would pay off dollars 3.6 trillion in debt by 2013. This, he said, would leave the United States debt-free for the first time since 1835.