 Mr. President, welcome to the Advanced Machine Tool Resource Center at Greenville Technical College. This resource center is the result of an unusual partnership between industry and education. As U.S. industry continues to strengthen its competitive position in the world market, it's making significant gains in productivity and quality. The principal way industry is doing that is by moving aggressively into computer-assisted machine tools and manufacturing systems such as these that we have here in our resource center. This is the kind of equipment that will be used in the factories of the future. But in order for our factories which are installing this kind of equipment to use it, they must have an educated and trained workforce. The technical colleges working closely with industry were quick to recognize this need and to respond to it. The result has been this partnership. The technical college system started the partnership by providing this facility the initial machine tools that we have in it and a fine staff to operate it. Industry became a partner by contributing well over $1 million worth of equipment. Computer vision donated this computer-aided design system that you see behind us. Cincinnati Millicron donated two machine tools worth over $1.5 million, the machine there and the machine to my left. The federal government, Mr. President, has become the third partner. This summer we were awarded through the Appalachian Regional Commission a matching grant of over $1 million to really further this work well into the future. Also, the advisory board of this resource center is made up of manufacturing executives from local industry and staff from tech, thus maintaining the close relationship between education and industry. This pooling of resources, public funds, private funds and people from this college and from the private sector has resulted in a partnership that really works. This resource center, the most advanced of its kind in the country, provides training, training for the faculty of all 16 technical colleges across this state, keeping them all abreast of the newest technology and training for students. We train full-time students who leave here to go into the job market with valuable skills and we train students who come here part-time from industry to learn new skills so that they can upgrade to a better job. This partnership, now in its third year, has already yielded these results. The technical college students are graduating and getting good jobs now. The technical college system has this advanced machine tool resource center. Local industry has a skilled workforce to work in its modern competitive factories and the community. The community has a growing industrial base of high-tech companies which put dollars into the local economy and help provide a better quality of life for us all. Everyone is a winner. Now, Mr. President, we'd like to take a few minutes to show you some of our most advanced machines and to introduce you to some of our students who have been learning to operate them. So if you would, please step over here. On the machine writing your name. On behalf of Greenville Technical College and also the staff of the resource center, we would like to present you with this desk set and appreciation of your visit to our resource center. You've been informing me and I understand that this... Now, I don't know whether I can do as well as informing you, but they help if you have some questions. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. The students decided to draw numbers and Todd Engle has the first question for you. Hello, Mr. President. My name is Todd Engle. I'm a student here at Greenville Technical College. My question is, what part do you think computerized design and computerized manufacturing plays in industry today? And what part do you think it plays in the future? Oh, I think it's all important. I think what we're seeing here is the same type of thing that earlier in our time and that's the great industrial power we were. We took, we gave our workers the advantage of tools. With their ability and the tools, we became the great industrial power and outcompeted most of the world. Well, the world has moved on. And I think this is just what we've seen here. Well, as I will say again in my remarks out there, you give Americans the tools they need, the opportunity of this kind and they allow to compete in any one of the world. And I think we're going to see that. Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Tim Bowen. And I would like to know why Congress cut $36.7 million from the appropriations bill you submitted for the Veterans Administration with this year in 1985. Well, I can tell you, Liz, that they see things one way and we see them another. They have certain targets that they think it's all right to cut and reduce and yet they will turn right around and add to the spending that we have not asked for because we believe that it wasn't as important. And this is about all that I can tell you. Thank you, sir. And that, the per unit cost of the item is going to put us back there in the marketplace and as I say, I'll convene to the others in a day. I have been on a few planets recently to see examples of what this is. One recently was a steel plant. They are building it. It isn't finished yet. The investment that they're risking is equal to about two-thirds of the total capital assets of the company. But they know that with this, time-wise and cost-wise, they will be able to be competitive with that particular steel from any part of the world. Hello, Mr. President. My name is Toby Taylor. And I'd like to know how do you view the future of high technology in technical instances such as Greenwood Tech? Well, I think that it is changing and reshaping our whole industrial pattern and our society for that matter. I know right now that because of an educational institution like this, industries are being attracted to your area because your graduates will be there as an available skilled force. I've seen this also happen in one of the cities in Texas, which has become quite a competitor with places like Silicon Valley in California. And because of the educational institutions in the area that have guaranteed that skilled playgrounders. In recent years, the Sun Belt has presented an attraction that has drawn people to where the Sun Belt is the fastest-growing population area in the United States. This was certainly not truly the time. So then when you add to the silvery's climate and the other advantages that have made people the best beside they'd like to live here, you add to that the opportunity for jobs and technical training. And so forth, down here, I think you're going to see a further population shift. And you're going to see maybe a change that we all do respect for some of the other, some of the attributes King cotton and so forth. I think you might find yourself with another attraction that changes the whole nature of your work, your opportunities, your industry. Thank you. I have one more question. That'll be from Mike Cirillo. Mr. President, I work for Amco Lycoming Greer Division. And my question to you is, due to religious convictions and my responsibility to provide the best education possible, I've placed my children in a private Christian elementary school, and their tuition amounts to about 15% of my gross yearly income. I'd like to know, will there be any legislation in the future that would give me a tax break on this tuition without it coming in the form of what the federal government would consider a subsidy thereby giving the government the right to regulate the school rules and school protocol? Well, looking at a representative of an administration that doesn't want the federal government being a senior partner, a little while ago in the briefing, we were talking about partnerships and participation. I almost wanted to add and say, yes, that's fine. We're very proud to be able to help this kind of, we don't want to be a senior partner. Now, that wasn't always true. There are other people that think government should be a senior partner. But I have to say with regard to what you were talking about, the tuition problem, I think the answer to that is very simple and it's very fair. We've tried to get it, we've been unable to get it through the Congress. And that is that parents' education is compulsory in our country. And parents are entitled to have a choice of whether they want to utilize the public school system or do what you're doing and use an independent school system for their education. But you have to pay your full share in taxes with support of public education without you using or benefiting from that education at all. And then in addition, you, for wanting to put them in another kind of school, you're paying a line and having to pay the double expense. I think we should have a program of tuition tax credits in which fairness is re-instituted for parents who choose not to utilize the public schools. It isn't going to hurt the public schools any. It is going to aid the independent schools because they are now more competitive. What's wrong with education being competitive? What's wrong with having school systems in which they have to shape up and turn out educated graduates or they're not going to get the support? So we're going to continue fighting for tuition tax credits for the people like yourselves. Thank you very much. Mr. President, your performance in the first debate, did it hurt Republican candidates around the country? I don't seem to say that. They still smile and shake hands with me. Reagan Bush Valley in Greenville, South Carolina, 15 October 1984, open press coverage. Dr. George Graham is with us. I'm going to say thank you for your body. I'm going to go to the former secretary and our president back in the United States. Antonson, thank you, we're delighted to have you all with us. I'm going to say it might be a job, but it's not going to rain. So don't worry about it. I know you've been hiding time and space. Maybe we'll just do the awful little thing. I was despairing in this country and now there is opportunity in this land. Years ago, the leaders of this country said that there was a malaise across the land. Today, I tell you, there's been an American renaissance. I think about him down here, but would you mind kind of letting him live in Washington for a couple of more years? We'd like that very much. And Dr. Thomas Barton, a Clemson Tiger. New technology and precision training. And as Americans, working together as never before, we are seeing to it that the United States will not come in second. Hey, equipment, we can out-produce, out-compete and out-sell the pants off anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. We need a policy of higher growth. With the, we have cut the rate of growth in federal spending by over 60%. When we came here, it was set that industry. It's insecure. During the last decade and during the previous administrations, our military strength was permitted to erode. Our profession is peace. We've begun rebuilding America's defenses, and as long as I'm president, I will never shortchange the national security needs of the... I can promise you this. Those brave people in our armed forces will never doubt our unending gratitude for the job that they're doing. Part of America still burns bright with those values that made this a blessed land of liberty, the greatest and freest nation in our history. And with all of us together, we're going to keep it that way. Today, the United States is the leader of the world in so many ways. A great cleric. First to tell you how much we appreciate this group being here. All of you beautiful people out there for coming. We thank you very much for coming. Thank you very much, Mr. President. We are honored again by your presence here today.