Transcript of interview with President Bush

CNBC: What about he corporate sector and malfeasance overall today? Just today we're seeing Jeff Skilling get sentenced.

Pres. BUSH: Yeah.

CNBC: And while we haven't seen something as enormous as Enron recently, we have this new issue of fast-dating of options and companies going over the line there. How would you characterize the corporate sector with regard to fraud or the possibility of malfeasance?

Pres. BUSH: I think the word's out that this administration will come and get you if you break the law. The culture is now one of enforcement, that says, you know, we're not going to put up with it. The Justice Department is active, the FCC is active, and it's important to hold people to account, and we have been and will continue to do so.

CNBC: What about Wal-Mart? You just met with small business owners. Is Wal-Mart good for this country, or does it put small business out of business?

Pres. BUSH: I think Wal-Mart is--you know, made a significant contribution to this country in terms of affordable goods as well as employing people. I think that people are going to--you know, obviously competition is a vital part of the American society, and people shouldn't fear competition. They ought to learn how to adjust and compete.

CNBC: Aside from being a baseball fan, it's not a great time to be in Detroit these days, Mr. President.

Pres. BUSH: Yeah.

CNBC: The economy there is under pressure, the automakers continue losing market share to Japan. How far should the government be going in terms of bailing out the autos?

Pres. BUSH: Mm. I'm going to meet with the automobile CEOs here after the midterm elections. I chose not to meet with them before the midterms because I didn't want to politicize their issues. And they understood that.

I think, look, the--to the extent that they made commitment, they got to keep their commitments. There's a lot of people saying, `Well, you need to take their--take their health--their benefits that the promised off their hands.'No, I don't think that's a proper roll of government. They made a private contract with their employees; they need to keep it. On the other hand--keep that contract. In other words--but in terms of dealing with health care costs in general and ways for the government to be able to affect the rising cost of health care, I look forward to discussing it with them.

CNBC: What are your priorities in your final two years in office?

Pres. BUSH: Well, I want America to be the most competitive country in the world, and the best way to do that is for us to focus on engineering and science and make sure No Child Left Behind Act remains strong and vibrant so that our kids get the basic education. I do want to continue to make sure that we have alternative forms of energy available for our economy so they can remain competitive. I'm very worried about our dependency on oil from an economic security perspective and a national security perspective. I want to--I want to deal with the unfunded liabilities inherent in Social Security and Medicare. I believe we can do that, and at the same time assure those who are on Social Security they have nothing to worry about, and those who are going to pay into Social Security that we'll make sure you don't pay into a bankrupt system.

So I've got some big items I want to work on, and I'm going to work hard to get them done.

CNBC: Is the privatization plan effectively dead, regardless of happens in November?

Pres. BUSH: I would call it a reform plan, Social Security. No, I think it's very much alive. Because what hadn't worked is that Democrats and Republicans put aside all their partisanship and come together and say, `Let's work together to make this program solvent.' And I know Secretary Paulson is anxious to be a part of getting Democrats and Republicans to the table, as am I. Hopefully in my last two years of office people will say, you know, all this kind of politics that has dominated so much of Washington, DC, as a waste of time and effort, let's work with the president and get some things done.

CNBC: Can you tell us any detail about the reform you're thinking about?

Pres. BUSH: I can. And that is that, first of all, this is my idea. As I say, there has to be Republicans and Democrats very much a part of the mix for Social Security. I want to--I think the best way to do this is to say if you're a person at a certain income level or below, nothing changes for you, today or in the out years. If you're a wealthier citizen, your benefits increase at the cost of living, as opposed to a higher cost. So everybody's benefits go up, some go up faster than others. And that'll cure a lot of the problem.

I also happen to believe that a worker, at his or her option, ought to be allowed to put some of their own money in a, you know, in a private savings account, an account that they call their own. It's an asset that they're call their own. They'll get a much better rate of return on their own money than they would in the Social Security if the government manages their money for them, for example. And that would be, you know, a valuable contribution to our economy because it's asset accumulation, which is good for American families.

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