[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 27, 1992]
[Pages 1442-1445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1442]]


Remarks to Findlay Machine and Tool Employees in Findlay, Ohio
August 27, 1992

    The President. Thank you very, very much. Thank you, Mike. If we had 
more Congressmen like Mike Oxley and had Mike DeWine in the Senate, 
everybody wouldn't be yelling at me, ``Clean House!'' everyplace I go.
    And thanks to all of you especially for that warm welcome. I salute 
our Lieutenant Governor, Mike DeWine. Thanks to the Mayor, Mayor Keith 
Romick. And let me also thank our hosts, Joe Kirk--[applause]--you 
better clap for Joe Kirk. [Laughter] Now, as well as the local 
celebrities providing the music; band was fantastic, that Findlay High 
School Band over there. I'm also pleased that two men with whom I served 
in Congress, who no longer are there--Del Latta is here and Jack Betts, 
both outstanding Members of the United States Congress.
    And as Mike Oxley said, this is a return engagement. It's great to 
be here in Findlay, Flag City, U.S.A. I couldn't count every one of the 
319 flags that I'm told you fly around here, but let me assure Jim 
Woodward, every flag I did see looked great to me.
    It is a time of great pride for our flag and for the freedoms that 
it represents. And yes, the cold war is over, and freedom finished 
first. Now, the defining challenge of the nineties is to win the 
competition of the new global economy. Our goal is simple; it is 
straightforward: In the 21st century, America must be not only a 
military superpower but an economic superpower and particularly an 
export superpower.
    In this election, you'll hear two versions of how to do this. My 
opponent's answer is to look inward, to pretend we can protect what we 
already have. And ours is to look forward, to open new markets, prepare 
our people to compete, restore the social fabric, to save and invest so 
that we can win for everybody in the United States of America.
    You know, already Findlay is rising to the challenge. When I was 
here 4 years ago, this spot where we're standing was a forest. Today, 
Tall Timbers is a testament to the transforming power of the 
international economy, a living, working blueprint for how America can 
compete. And you are showing the rest of our country, you're showing the 
rest of America, that in the new global economy America can earn a gold 
medal. And that's exactly what we're doing right here in Findlay today.
    What do the economists say about this new economy? Well, I realize 
that economists are not always the most admired profession. My own 
economic advisers tell the story about a business leader who traveled to 
New York City for a conference. In the Grand Central Station, he was 
confronted by a bum in tattered clothes. And the bum said, ``Hey, can 
you give me 10 bucks for a cup of coffee?'' The businessman said, ``Ten 
bucks! That sounds a little steep.'' And the bum replied, ``Haven't you 
heard? The dollar is weakening. The M1 money supply has been loosened 
too quickly, and that could set off an inflationary spiral, driving up 
the cost of consumer goods.'' The businessman looked at this guy, and he 
said, ``You're pretty smart. Why aren't you an economist?'' And the bum 
glared back, ``Buddy, I still have some pride.'' [Laughter]
    Someone will probably tell me that the shop next door is the 
American Economics Association. But nevertheless, I know that economists 
can be confusing sometimes. But when it comes to the value of foreign 
trade, they all agree: Foreign trade creates American jobs. Right now, 
one out of every seven Ohio manufacturing jobs is tied to foreign trade. 
Whether it's toothpaste from Procter and Gamble or the M-1A2 tank built 
in Lima for sale to Saudi Arabia, exports equal paychecks for the people 
of Ohio.
    That's why I want to talk today about a dangerous idea embraced by 
my opponent, a new tax increase that he's taken to heart. And I'm not 
talking about the $150 billion tax increase that he wants in new income 
taxes. I'm not talking about the new payroll tax that he will need to 
pay for a Government takeover of health care or the training tax he 
wants to chain to our economy or

[[Page 1443]]

the carbon tax he wants to put on your cars. I'm talking about a new 
idea, a tax on foreign companies doing business in the United States.
    Some might say, ``What's wrong with that? At least the one tax that 
American workers won't have to pay.'' Well, you should care, and here's 
why. You'll feel the effect up and down these loading docks, starting 
with the seven companies right here in Tall Timbers. Because these 
companies may be foreign owned, but the jobs are American jobs. I know 
that our economy is struggling right now, and a lot of people are 
hurting in this country. The economy's struggling to accelerate right 
now. And I don't want to see anyone take these jobs away from you, the 
American worker.
    Look at this one, look at FMT, an American-owned company, selling 
what it makes here in the U.S. But Joe here, Joe Kirk, tells me FMT 
sells to a number of companies that are American based but foreign 
owned, sells to those. And if my opponent had his way and your customers 
get hit by his tax, when they start to cut back, when they cancel 
orders, you'll get hurt. We need to do better by the American worker. We 
need a policy that creates jobs, not a tax machine that spits out pink 
slips.
    Now, here's what I have to offer: a coherent plan, one that sees 
that in today's world foreign policy, domestic policy, and economic 
policy are three sides of a single issue; a strategy that reaches out to 
the world in a way that makes a difference right here in Findlay, in 
your neighborhoods and in your lives. We must build on the fundamentals 
of lower tax rates, limits on Government spending, less redtape and 
regulation, and more trade, more competition to generate the growth that 
means more opportunity and thus more jobs.
    It begins with an aggressive strategy to open new markets, so that 
``Made in America'' is understood in any language from Lima, Ohio, to 
Lima, Peru, and beyond. Some will say that the American worker isn't up 
to it. And I say: Look, give our workers a level playing field, and they 
will outperform any worker in the world, anyplace, anywhere, anytime.
    I learned this myself. Thank God I spent some time in the private 
sector. Half my adult life was in the private sector, and half in public 
service. But I learned this part in a very personal way 35 years ago 
when I started and headed a small drilling company, service company, a 
tiny company. But we sold our services in Japan, in Brunei, in the South 
Pacific, sold them over in the Middle East, sold them in Venezuela and 
Trinidad. And I learned something from all that. I learned you don't 
have to be a big company to export. I learned that our crews, our 
workers could compete, hold their own with workers, do better than 
workers anywhere in the rest of the world. And I learned that when we 
export, we really help the American economy. That is firsthand 
experience that a young businessman learned, and as President I feel 
even more strongly about it. We cannot go to protection and higher 
taxes. We must go to more exports and more competition.
    I also believe in a very simple philosophy: The Government is too 
big, and it spends too much of your money. So far, this gridlocked 
Congress has resisted many of my attempts to cut the budget deficit. So 
last week I unveiled at Houston there a new idea: Why not give you, the 
taxpayer, the right to earmark up to 10 percent of your tax return and 
have it go for one purpose alone, to reduce the budget deficit? Let's 
get the deficit down and lift the burden of debt from the children's 
shoulders around here. Lift that burden of debt by getting the deficit 
down.
    Once we have runaway spending under control, we need to cut taxes 
across the board to give businesses incentives to grow and create new 
jobs for America. I've been accused of being one of those who thinks 
every day is the Fourth of July. Well, that's a lot better than my 
opponent. He thinks every day is April 15th. That's going to be the big 
issue in this campaign. That's going to be the big issue. It's time to 
take the bull's-eye off the back of the American taxpayer.
    I have a small concern about small business, a special concern about 
that. They create two-thirds of the new jobs in our economy, small 
businesses. And I have a plan to give small businesses relief from 
taxation, regulation, and litigation.

[[Page 1444]]

    You may have read the story, and this is true, about the fellow up 
in New York who threw himself in front of a subway train and then sued 
for damages, and he was awarded $650,000. Doctors are afraid to practice 
medicine; some moms and dads won't coach Little League. And my opponent 
and the trial lawyers of America eye each other with ``goo-goo eyes'' 
like Boris and Natasha in those old Bullwinkle cartoons. And I want to 
stand up to the trial bar and reform our legal system. As a nation, here 
it is, we ought to sue each other less, and we ought to care for each 
other more. And we've got to do something about these lawsuits.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Time and again, I have sent proposals up to that 
gridlocked Congress to do something to put some caps on these lawsuits. 
And time and again, the gridlocked Congress has said no because they are 
in the pocket of the trial lawyers association. Give me new Members of 
Congress, and let us change that for the American people.
    I have other priorities, and they're your priorities: To control 
health care costs, we've got to do something about health care in this 
country, but control the costs without a backdoor Government takeover. 
We need more job training for workers caught in the transition of our 
economy. And I have a plan, a good one, to create new schools for a new 
century--we call it America 2000--and with new ideas like using 
competition to make schools more accountable to you, the taxpayers and 
the parents. Give the parents a choice as to whether to send this kid to 
private, public, or religious school.
    If you agree with these ideas, then I ask you a favor. Help me make 
this reform agenda a reality. Come November 3d, send me a Congress I can 
work with, and give the existing Democratic leadership a pink slip to 
get on home and go about their business.
    Congress today has become a gridlocked Congress, the only 
institution that has not changed in 38 years. Presidents come and go; 
Senators come and go. The Senate has changed control. The House of 
Representatives has not changed control in 38 years, and they spend 
their time debating, incredibly, important issues like Vanna White and 
the ``Wheel of Fortune''--[laughter]--while neglecting the business of 
the Nation.
    Now, next year, there are going to be an estimated 150 new Members 
of Congress, at least, and they're going to come to Washington. We then 
have a real opportunity to break the gridlock. As you look at the 
various candidates, ask them the tough questions: Are you for free and 
fair trade? Are you against the kind of business tax that will cost 
American jobs? Do you want to get the deficit down and the economy 
moving? And send me a Congress that will do what's right for America. I 
want to see the line-item veto. I want a balanced budget amendment for 
this Constitution.
    Don't you believe for one minute what the opponents say when they 
say we are a nation in decline, we are a nation not respected around the 
world. I've been to many places around the world, and if one thing is 
clear, it is we are the undisputed, respected leader not just of the 
free world but of other countries that are striving for the freedom and 
democracy we sometimes take for granted.
    Since this is Flag City, let me close with a flag story. During the 
Gulf war, I received a letter from the Mayor of Stantonsburg, North 
Carolina. He told me about watching two little girls about 10 years old 
walking across the school yard. One day, they went across. He was 
watching, and they were pulling their mom's laundry on a wagon. As the 
girls passed the pole in front of the town hall, they looked up and saw 
the United States flag flapping in the wind. Unaware that anyone was 
watching, these two little girls stopped, placed their hands over their 
hearts, and pledged allegiance to the flag. One little girl said simply, 
``It's important to do this, you know, because of the war and all.''
    Well, this election, like all elections, is about that little girl, 
and all the kids in Findlay, in Lima, and all the kids in America. If we 
do what is right today, we can take advantage of the opportunity of our 
global victory. We can build a land where they will be safe and strong 
and secure, where they can climb the flagpole of oppor-

[[Page 1445]]

tunity and put their hands over their hearts with pride, knowing that in 
their land the sun is always just peeking out over the horizon.
    I'm delighted to have been back in Findlay. Thank you once again for 
this warm welcome, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank 
you very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 5:15 p.m. at Findlay 
                        Machine and Tool, Inc., in Tall Timbers 
                        Industrial Park. In his remarks, he referred to 
                        Joe Kirk, company president, and Jim Woodward, 
                        chairman, Adopt a Flag Committee in Findlay, OH.