Remarks at a White House Luncheon for Businessmen

My business is your business--the Government of the United States of America belongs to all the people.

I want to talk to you about the business of government.

In trying to keep unnecessary expenditures down I believe the President ought to be as unsatisfied as a little boy's appetite.

This is what I have tried to do.

--My first budget called for a reduction in the level of expenditures--an event which happened only once before in the last 9 years.

--I have asked Congress for $450 million less in appropriations than I said I would when I submitted the Budget in January.

--The latest figures show that actual expenditures so far in this fiscal year were $676 million below the same period last year.

--The latest figures on Government employment show that there are 17,000 fewer Government workers than there were a year ago and 16,800 fewer than 2 years ago. In fact:

--Federal spending this year will be lower in relation to gross national product than at any time since 1951.

--Federal employment will be lower in relation to population than at any time since 1950•

--The Federal debt will be lower in relation to gross national product than at any time since 1941.

You have all been following Secretary McNamara's cost-cutting program which last year produced identified savings of $2.5 billion. Similar programs are going forward in other branches of the Government.

--So far this year nondefense agencies have reported to me management improvement actions which will save over $400 million on an annual basis.

--Our drive to cut out unnecessary Government publications has resulted in the elimination of 240 existing publications, the cancellation of 130 proposed publications, and the consolidation of 50.

--In our drive to reduce the burden on the public of Government reports and questionnaires, we have dropped or simplified 320 reports, representing a net reduction in annual responses from the public of 2,536,000.

But fiscal responsibility does not mean the lowest possible Federal budget, obtained by ruthlessly slashing existing Federal programs and never proposing new ones.

Our expenditures safeguard the strength of our Nation and of our people, at home and abroad. We must not evade our responsibilities for the defense of the free world and the security and economic progress of free peoples who need our help to remain free.

At home, we have to meet the needs of a society rapidly growing in population, in wealth, and in complexity.

--We have to improve our programs in education, in vocational training and retraining, and in health.

--We have to help our States and cities to fight urban decay, crime, and delinquency-and help them provide adequate transportation systems.

--And in a society with our high and rising living standards, we have to look with compassion on needs of our aged and disabled, and meet the minimum needs of all our people.

I believe we can make great achievements without great increases in Federal spending:

--by cutting back on obsolete programs, and

--by applying the same careful efficiency to Government as a prudent businessman or householder applies to his own affairs.

But a responsible fiscal policy does not end with better programs and their frugal administration.

An ever-broadening consensus--conservative and liberal, labor and business, Republican and Democratic--now recognizes the further responsibility of the Federal Government to take account of the impact of its total spending and its taxing on our economic life--on markets, on jobs, on wages and prices.

That consensus recognizes that true fiscal responsibility will achieve a balanced budget out of the rising revenues of a healthy and prosperous economy--not by reckless cutbacks of expenditures to fit the shriveling tax revenues of a sick economy.

Reflecting that consensus, 70 percent of all Republican Senators and 84 percent of all Democratic Senators joined forces to cut taxes by $11 ½ billion this year. The results of that prudent action--carefully tailored to our present economic situation--are seen everywhere in rising sales, expanding payrolls, shrinking unemployment--and without a sign of the inflation that some critics feared would inevitably result.

We are proud:

--of the new vigor in our long-lived expansion;

--of the Nation's output now rising at an annual rate of 5 percent;

--of the 1.2 million jobs added thus far in 1964;

--of the unparalleled advances in consumer spending and living standards; and

--of the stability of average wholesale prices, today lower than they were at the start of the expansion and at the time the tax cut was enacted.

These are just the first steps to an expanding economy that will be limited only by our vision and our will.

We will take other steps. I have already appointed a task force of prominent Americans to study ways of improving the competitive effectiveness of American business.

Many of our most important national objectives depend upon how effectively American business competes in world markets. Our capacity for meeting the Nation's worldwide commitments and our success in strengthening the dollar as the world's principal reserve currency depend heavily on the foreign exchange earnings of American business.

On the domestic front, the maintenance of economic prosperity, high levels of employment, and rapid economic growth are closely related to a vigorous growth in American exports.

I have asked this task force to examine the current practices of the Government and the business community to determine whether any of them hinder competitive effectiveness of American industry. I have also asked its members to explore new avenues by which the Government and business community can contribute toward a more vigorous American participation in world markets. This task force will report to me by November 15.

This is what it means to Americans today to have responsible and responsive fiscal and monetary policies. And these are the policies that I shall continue--with your help.