We have already taken major steps toward these goals by slashing our debt by more than $600 million in the fourth quarter. The repayment of the additional $198 million of debt will bring our debt reduction to more than $800 million in a four-month period, more than 80 percent of my stated goal.

We move into the second half of 1999 confident that we can meet our earnings goals for the year.

As they approach the new millennium, organizations are striving to realize new levels of competitiveness, productivity and customer service through the use of leading-edge information technologies.

We were not generating the volume needed to compete effectively and profitably in the PC business.

The ongoing task of debt management for the federal government will clearly be very different in the years ahead than it has been in the past, when debt was rapidly increasing, ... With $3.6 trillion in debt outstanding, even a 3 basis point (0.03 percentage point) reduction in federal borrowing costs will ultimately produce savings of more than $1 billion per year.

As world leaders gather in New York, we are still decades away from meeting the modest Millennium Development Goals to halve extreme poverty. A critical tool for achieving these goals is debt cancellation. A recent study by U.K. charities found that at least 62 low-income nations would require full debt cancellation -- in addition to more aid and trade justice -- as a first step towards achieving the goals.