bit with Dr. Gibbons on the way over here.  I had hearings one time wherea scientist used sort of technical terms that he then explained --it madean impression on me.  He said, if you tried to describe the human mind interms applicable to a computer you'd say we have a low bit rate but highresolution.  (Laughter.)  Meaning --this is one of the few audiences Ican use that line with.  (Laughter and applause.)        But he went on to explain what that means.  When we try to absorbinformation bit by bit, we don't have a huge capacity to do it.  That'swhy the telephone company, after extensive studies, decided that sevennumbers were the most that we could keep in short-term memory.  And thenthey added three more.  (Laughter.)  But if we can see lots ofinformation portrayed visually in a pattern or mosaic, where each bit ofdata relates to all of the others, we can instantly absorb a lot ofinformation.  We can all recognize the Milky Way, for example, eventhough there are trillions of points of light, stars, and so forth.        And so the idea of incorporating visualization as a key componentof this strategy is one that we recognize as very important and we'regoing to pursue it.        THE PRESIDENT:  Let me just add one thing to that.  First of all,I told the crowd last night that the Vice President was the only personever to hold national office in America who knew what the gestalt of thegigabit is.  (Laughter.)  But anyway -- and now we're going to get somevery funny articles out of this.  They're going to make fun of us forbeing policy wonks.  (Laughter.)        Let me say something to sort of take this one step further.  Thiswhole visualization movement that you have been a part of in your line ofwork is going to merge in a very short time with the whole business intraditional education theory called applied academics.  We're now findingwith just sort of basic computer work in the elementary schools of ourcountry dramatic differences in learning curves among people who can seethe work they're doing as opposed to people who are supposed to read it.And we're now finding that the IQs of young people who might take avocational track in school may not be^Lall that different from kids that would stay in a traditional academictrack and wind up at Stanford, but their learning patterns aredramatically different.        And there are some people -- this is a huge new discovery,basically, that's coming into the whole business of traditionaleducational theory.  So someday what you're doing here will revolutionizethe basic teaching in our schools, starting at kindergarten and goingforward, so that the world of work and the world of education will beginto be merged backwards all the way to the beginning.  And it's going tobe, I think, the most important thing we've ever done.  And veryimportant for proving that in a diverse population all people can reachvery high levels of achievement.        MR. MCCRACKEN:  The President and Vice President have also comehere today to present a new national technology policy for the country.Do you want to --        THE PRESIDENT:  We'll answer some more questions.  (Applause.)I'm going to forego my time and just let him announce the policy, so wecan hear some more questions.  Got to give the man equal time, I know.(Laughter.)        Q       I'd just like to say, I didn't vote for you; I wish Ihad.  (Laughter.)        THE PRESIDENT:  I hope you feel that way four years from now.(Laughter and applause.)        Q       Well, that's actually why I'm standing up -- I really seea possibility in what you stand for and I really think this is why youwere elected.  That you say you stand for change; you said that duringyour campaign.  I think the company believed that.  They're counting onyou -- I'm nervous -- and I just want to say we're really with thecountry behind you.  I think that's why the statistics are saying thatwe're willing to have our taxes increased, we're willing to have cuts,because you say you're really going to do it this time and decrease thedeficit.  I hope to God that you do.  We need it not just for thispresent time, but by your actually fulfilling on this it will make amajor change in how we feel about government; that when government saysthey're going to make a difference and they really come through, it willmake a huge impact for the future.  And I'm really personally behind youall the way.  I wish I'd voted for you.  (Applause.)        THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  I really appreciate that.  Let memake one comment in response if I might.  I think it's important -- andyou can help others understand this -- to understand why we have toreduce the deficit, which is something that is normally not done whenunemployment is high.  And unemployment is still too high.  Even thoughwe're in an economic recovery, most of our recovery is due to highproductivity from firms that, in turn, this time are not hiring newpeople for all kinds of reasons.        And we have to reduce the deficit for two reasons:  Number one,if we don't -- we're already spending 15 percent of your tax money justto pay interest on past debt.  If we don't change present patterns we'llbe over 20 cents by the year 2000.  That's money we should be spending oneducation and technology in the future.        Number two, the more money we take out of the pool of funds forborrowing the more expensive it is for companies like this and othercompanies that have to go into the markets and borrow to borrow.  Justsince the election, since we made it clear we were going to try to bringthe deficit down, long-term interest rates have dropped .7 of onepercent.  That is a huge savings for everybody that is going to borrowmoney or that has a variable interest rate on a loan, whether it's a^Lhome mortgage or a business loan or a car loan or whatever.  That'simportant.        The second thing we're trying to do that I know you will alsoappreciate is to shift the balance of money we do spend more away fromconsumption toward investment.  Investments in education technology,environmental cleanup, and converting from a defense to a domesticeconomy.  That one of the bizarre things that happened to us in the '80sis that we increased the deficit first through defenses expenses and thenthrough exploding health care costs and increasing interest payments.But we reduced our investments in the future and the things that make usricher.        So those are the changes we're trying to effect.  Let me justmake one other point.  I will not support raising anybody's taxes unlessbudget cuts also pass.  (Applause.)        Q       One of the things that Silicon Graphics has been reallysuccessful is selling into the international markets, approximately 50percent of our revenues come internationally, including a substantialmarket in Japan.  What types of programs does your administration plan tohelp the high-growth companies of the '90s sell to the internationalmarkets?        THE PRESIDENT:  Two things.  First of all, we intend to try toopen new markets and new markets in our region.  That is, I believe thathigh-growth companies are going to -- to keep America growing, I believehigh-growth companies are going to have to sell south of the border more.And to do that we have to negotiate trade agreements that will help toraise incomes in those countries even as we are growing.  That's why Isupport, with some extra agreements, the NAFTA agreement; and why I hopewe can have an agreement with Chile, and hope we can have an agreementwith other countries like Argentina that are making a serious effort tobuild market economies.  Because we want to build new markets for all ofyou.        With Japan, I think what we have to do is to try to continue tohelp more companies figure out how to do business there and keep pushingthem to open their markets.  I don't want to close American markets toJapanese products, but it is the only nation with which we have apersistent and unchanging structural deficit.        The product deficit with Japan is not $43 billion, which is our overall trade deficit, it is actually about $60 billion in product, inmanufactured production.  So we have -- we've got a lot of problems wehave to work out there.        With Europe, we sometimes are in surplus, we're sometimes indeficit, but it's a floating thing.  So it's more or less in balance.With developing nations like Taiwan and Korea, those countries had bigsurpluses with us, but as they became richer they brought them down, sothat we're more or less in balance.  We have our biggest traderelationship with Canada and we're more or less in balance.        So we have to work on this Japanese issue while trying to helpmore of you get involved.  Let me make one final comment on that.  Ithink we should devote more government resources to helping small andmedium-size companies figure out how to trade, because that's what theGermans do with such great success and why they're one of the greatexporters of the world.  They don't waste a lot of money on the real bigcompanies that have already figured it out, but they have extra effortsfor small and medium-size companies to get them to think global from thebeginning of their endeavors.  And I think we're going to have to do moreof that.        Q       In addition to concerns about the economy, SiliconGraphics employees are also concerned about the environment.  Your^Leconomic plan does a great job of promoting R&D investment.  Are thereany elements that are specifically targeted to promote the application ofSilicon Graphics' technology to environmental-friendly initiatives suchas the electric car or the -- train?        THE PRESIDENT:  I think I should let the Vice President answerthat since it's his consuming passion.  And if I do it, his book saleswill go up again.  (Laughter.)  You see, we devoted a lot of time andattention to that because -- for two reasons.  One is the environmentneeds it.  Secondly, we think it's wonderful economics, because I believethat all these environmental opportunities that are out there for usrepresent a major chunk of what people who used to be involved in defensetechnologies could be doing in the future if we're going to maintain ahigh wage base in America.        So I'd like for the Vice President to talk a little about thespecifics that we're working on.        THE VICE PRESIDENT:  That goal is integrated into the technologyplan as one of our key objectives.  The Japanese and the Germans are nowopenly saying that the biggest new market in the history of worldbusiness is the market for the new products, technologies and processesthat foster economic progress without environmental destruction.        Some have compared the drive for environmental efficiency to themovement for quality control and the quality revolution in the '60s and'70s.  At that time, many companies in the United States felt that theexisting level of product quality was more or less ordained by the forcesof supply and demand and it couldn't be improved without taking it out ofthe bottom line.  But the Japanese, taking U.S. innovations from Dr.Demming and others, began to introduce a new theory of product qualityand simultaneously improved quality, profits, wages, and productivity.        The environmental challenge now presents us with the sameopportunity.  By introducing new attention to environmental efficiency atevery step along the way, we can simultaneously reduce the impact of allour processes on the environment, improve environmental efficiency andimprove productivity at the same time.  We need to set clear specificgoals in the technology policy, in the economic plan.        And, you know, both the stimulus and the investment package focusa great deal on environmental cleanup and environmental innovation.  Andwhereas, we've talked a lot about roads and bridges in the past, andthey're a big part of this plan also, we're putting relatively moreemphasis as well on water lines and sewer lines and water treatmentplants and renovating the facilities in the national parks and cleaningup trails; taking kids from inner cities and putting them to workcleaning up trails in national parks, for example, as part of the summerjobs programs.        So you'll find when you look at both the technology plan and theeconomic plan an enormous emphasis on the environment.  (Applause.)        THE PRESIDENT:  Go ahead sir.  They say we have to quit in aminute.  I'll take one more question after this.        Q       Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, the news stories andarticles that the public has access to regarding the budget and theeconomy are very often confusing and contradictory.  I might explain itin the same terms you used:  the information is delivered low-bit rate,but the problem is huge and requires the high-road's view.  So myquestion is I wonder if you're using Lyndon Johnson's computer to analyzethe budget and the economy -- whether or not you might be open to using