[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[March 18, 2002]
[Pages 423-428]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to Employees of Albers Manufacturing Company in O'Fallon
March 18, 2002
Thank you all. Gosh, thanks for that warm welcome. It's great to be
back in Missouri. And thank you for that hospitality.
I'm so glad that I'm with the Senator today. He is a champion of the small-business person. I
look forward to working with him on some good legislation that
understands the incredibly important role that the small-business person
plays in America. And here it is: On a practical sense, more new jobs
are created by small-business people than anybody else.
And I happen to think that the small business--the entrepreneur
represents one of the true strengths of our country. I mean, after all,
this is a country where if you've got a good idea and you're willing to
work hard and you're willing to take a little risk, you can own your own
business. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how you were
raised. It doesn't matter whether you were born in America. What matters
is, is that you're willing to dream and work for the dream.
And so one of my jobs is to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is
strong and alive in America, that it continues to flourish so that the
great American Dream of owning your own business is vibrant and alive
and well and--when we go into the 21st century. And I want to talk about
that today, a little bit.
Before I do, I want to thank Rolf and the
good folks here at Albers for their hospitality. It's not easy to
welcome the President and the entourage--[laughter]--just a mere 14
vehicles. [Laughter] But I do want to thank you for your hospitality,
and all the employees with whom I just had an interesting discussion
about how to--about what's on their mind, about what's it like to work
for a small business and how best--what the Government can do to perhaps
make the small business more vibrant and/or deal with some of the needs
that directly affect the employees.
Now, I want to thank the other small-business owners who are here. I
love what you do. Again, as I repeat, you're an incredibly important
part of the future of the country. Thanks for taking risks and for
working hard. I appreciate my friend Hector Barreto for coming. He was born here in Missouri, raised in
California, and is doing a fine job as the head of the Small Business
Administration in Washington,
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DC. I had the honor today as well of traveling with Jim Talent and four fine members of the Missouri congressional
delegation, Congressmen Akin and Blunt, Congressmen Hulshof and Jo
Ann Emerson. Thank you all for coming.
I also was met at the airport today by a guy named Derek Rapp. Where are you, Derek? There you are. Got a good seat, I
see. [Laughter] That's what you get for coming to the airport.
[Laughter] Here's Derek. Derek is the CEO of a small biotech firm. He is
an economic entrepreneur, but I'm heralding Derek today because he's
also a social entrepreneur. He's a person that understands that with
freedom comes the responsibility to love a neighbor like you'd like to
be loved yourself, and I appreciate that spirit, Derek. He started
what's called St. Louis Cares. It is a recruiting vehicle to help match
people with kind hearts with people who need kind hearts in their lives.
And the reason I want to talk about the Dereks of the world is
because in order to win the war against evil, this Nation must continue
to practice acts of decency and kindness and goodness; that there is no
question that the entrepreneurial spirit in America makes us unique, I
think, but one of our other strengths is the fact that our Nation is a
kind nation and a compassionate nation and a nation where neighbor
loving neighbor is having a profound impact on the quality of our
country's life. And so one of the things--and one of the reasons I like
to introduce a guy like Derek is because it helps
remind us all about really one of the great strengths of our country,
and that is our people.
You know, Government can't make people love one another. I would
sign the law. [Laughter] But people loving one another is essential to
having a bright future, so that everybody can experience the great
American Dream. And we've got pockets of persistent poverty in our
society, which I refuse to declare defeat--I mean, I refuse to allow
them to continue on. And so one of the things that I'm trying to do is
to encourage a faith-based initiative to spread its wings all across
America, to be able to capture this great compassionate spirit.
One of my hopes is, out of this evil that was done to our country,
is that people, young people understand that living in America is
wonderful but it also requires an effort to make the communities in
which they live a better place, that we've got to work to usher in an
era of personal responsibility. And part of that era of personal
responsibility is not only, you know, obviously taking advantage of the
material wealth available if you work hard and have got a good idea, but
that there's much greater promise and hope than materialism, itself--
materialism, itself, is a dead end--that the idea of trying to work to
help somebody in need is a powerful part of having a full and complete
life.
And therefore, I ask all of you and all the good folks in Missouri--
if you're already helping a neighbor in need, thank you, and continue
doing it. But if you're looking for a way to make your life more full,
more complete, mentor a child or help somebody who is shut in or go to a
church or synagogue and mosque and say, ``What can we do to feed
somebody who needs some food?'' I mean, there are all kinds of ways that
you can help. And by helping, you stand squarely in the face of the
evildoers that hit America.
One way to make sure America is strong is to rally the compassion.
Another way is to make sure that our economy is strong. I want to tell
you right upfront that I do not think the role of Government is to try
to create wealth. That's not the role of Government. The role of
Government is to create an environment in which people are willing to
take risk. And if they've got a good idea--[applause]--the role of
Government is to create an economic climate in which the Rolfs of the world say, ``Gosh, I've got a good idea. I want
to take a risk
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and, therefore, employ people.'' That's really what I view my job is: If
there's roadblocks, to eliminate them, and if there's ways to make the
environment better, do so.
I wanted to talk a little bit about that. High taxes is a roadblock.
High tax rates discourage investment, and when you discourage
investment, you discourage job creation. And therefore, working with
people in Congress, both the House and the Senate, we worked to reduce
the tax burden on working people in America. And it came at exactly the
right time. Tax relief was vital. It was vital for our economic future,
because when you give people more of their own money to spend, they
demand, and when they demand, somebody produces, and when somebody
produces, somebody gets to work.
But the other thing that was important about tax relief is that it
is--recognizes the importance of small business, because many small
businesses are unincorporated. Many small businesses are sole
proprietors or are limited partnerships. And by cutting the personal
rates, all personal rates, what we are in effect doing for the small-
business community was encouraging cashflow. And more cashflow on small-
business owners means more jobs.
And so one of the crucial things we've done to address the economic
recession and its slowdown and the effects it caused on working people
was to say, ``Let's give people their own money back.'' For a while they
were talking about taking away that tax relief--``they'' being some
people in Washington, DC. I couldn't imagine anybody saying, in the
midst of a recession, ``We're going to raise taxes.'' They were reading
the wrong textbook, Senator. [Laughter]
Anybody in their right mind knows that if you're interested in making
the economy more vital, you let people keep more of their own money. I
don't hear much of that talk anymore now that the plan looks like it's
working.
But even though the economic news has been positive, in my judgment,
we're not out of the woods yet. We've got to keep working for policies
in place that encourage more job creation. And one of the other things
we did that was interesting, and I think important to the formation of
small businesses, is that we dealt with an issue that discourages small
businesses, at least in this sense.
If you're Rolf, and you build up your
business and build up your assets through years of hard work, you ought
to have the--you ought to be able to make the decision of who gets to
own that business after you move on. And the death tax made it awfully
difficult for you to make that decision. You see, if you're a small-
business owner and you're not public, for example, if you're a privately
held company, the death tax would cause your heirs to have to liquidate
the assets that you built up over a lifetime. It was a terrible tax. We
put it on its way to extinction, but I call upon the Congress to make
the elimination of the death tax permanent in the Tax Code.
We decided to do more in Washington to deal with this attack on 9/
11, particularly from how it affected people's lives. One of my big
concerns has been and still continues to be the fact that some of our
American workers lost jobs as a result of the enemy attack. And my
attitude is, anybody who wants to work and can't find work is a problem
for me to have to deal with. And there's a lot of Americans who want to
work and can't find work, and so we decided to do something about it.
First of all, we decided to make sure that the people got an
unemployment check. If their benefits were about to run out, we extended
the amount of time for unemployment benefits, and that was the right
thing to do. But I understand people don't want an unemployment check;
they want a permanent paycheck. And therefore we asked Congress, and
worked with Members of Congress who understand capital,
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how best to create jobs? What can we do to make sure that the true part
of an economic stimulus package is jobs? The central core is how to
create more jobs.
We passed a bill that encourages investment in plant and equipment,
because we think that will be the best thing that will encourage job
creation. And we stayed with it and worked hard and got a good vote out
of the House and a good vote out of the Senate. And I was honored to be
able to sign that bill, which I think is going to be a good part of
encouraging investment in job creation.
I also want to take it a step farther. I'm giving a speech tomorrow
on--specifically on how best to deal with issues related to small
business. I want to talk to you about two issues real quick. One is
what's called Section 179 Expensing. Now, if you're not an accountant, I
guess it's kind of hard to understand, but see if I can explain it. You
know--okay, good. [Laughter] Okay, fine. [Laughter]
Here's what it means. It increases the maximum deductions small
businesses can take when they invest in new plant and equipment. Right
now the law lets small businesses immediately deduct the full cost of
the first $24,000 of investment when they invest less than $200,000 a
year. Okay. So what I think we ought to do in order to encourage small
business to make more investment, is to increase the limit from $200,000
to 325,000, and allow for the first-year deduction of $40,000.
Let me see if I can put this into English or Texan. [Laughter] I'm
trying to put in place something that will encourage Rolf to go buy a new piece of machinery which he says he
wants to buy, to provide proper incentive for Rolf to go buy a new
machine that will make his business more competitive and therefore more
likely to be able to hire somebody. That will help the manufacturer of
the machine employ somebody; that will have an effect throughout the
entire economy. And it seems like to me, if small businesses are vital
for the future of our country, if small businesses provide most of the
new work for people looking for work and we're worried about people
finding jobs, why don't we put something in place that encourages small-
business growth? And that's exactly what this does.
One of the things I heard from the good folks who work here is that
they're concerned about their health care costs. And if you're a small-
business owner or somebody who works for a small business, you're
concerned about health care costs, and I don't blame you. I heard what
Rolf is going through. I've heard what the
people are worried about. Here is one idea to help small businesses deal
with high premiums.
One of the reasons small-business owners have to pay high premiums
is because they cannot spread the risk of the health care across a lot
of folks. Large corporate America, because of the size of their
workforce, can spread risk throughout a big workforce and, therefore,
pay less cost for health care.
If one of the cost drivers is the need to have more people to spread
risk, why don't we try to figure out a way to allow Rolf to pool his risk with other small businesses? And so one
of the good ideas--Jim sponsored this bill;
I know that Kit is for it--is to allow
for what we call associated health plans, which says that if you're a
member of the NFIB, for example, the National Federation of Independent
Businesses, that they can pool a multitude of small businesses together,
thereby driving down the cost of health care.
It makes sense. It is good for small businesses. It is very good for
the people who work for small businesses. And it is beyond me why
Congress can't figure out why this doesn't--shouldn't work. And so I'm
calling on them to give this plan a hard look and get it passed for the
good of the American economy.
So today I wanted to talk to you about how we fight evil with acts
of decency and kindness at home, how we make sure we've got economic
security for all Americans. But I also want to mention to you pretty
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quickly that I also understand that my most important job is to defend
America, is to make sure that we--is to secure the homeland, is to
prevent the enemy from hitting us again.
I want you to know, at home we're working overtime to do everything
we can to make sure that doesn't happen. We're running down every lead,
every hint. Every possible threat we take seriously in America, because
I still believe--I still know there are people out there that hate our
freedoms. They can't stand the idea of a society which welcomes a good
idea, and if you've got a good idea, you can succeed. They don't like
freedom. They don't like freedom of religion. They don't like freedom of
speech. They don't like freedom of politics. They just hate freedom. And
therefore--and since we're the beacon of freedom, they want to attack
us, and we're doing everything we can to make sure they don't.
But the best way to defend the homeland is to find them where they
are and bring them to justice. And that's precisely what we're going to
do.
We've got a big task ahead of us. And the good news is, the American
people understand the size of the task. After all, when you defend
freedom--freedom, itself--it may take a while, and the people know that.
I've traveled the country enough to be able to report to you all that
the Nation is united and patient.
We've made some pretty good progress in a little over 6 months. It
wasn't all that long ago that the enemy miscalculated and attacked
America, thinking that maybe we were such a materialistic society, we
wouldn't defend that which we hold dear to our heart. I said early on, I
said, ``If you harbor a terrorist or you hide one, you're just as guilty
as the murderers.'' And the Taliban found out what we meant, thanks to a
mighty United States military and thanks to a vast coalition of nations
that love freedom. We have run out of town, run out of their offices,
run out of power a Government that is one of the most repressive
Governments history has ever seen.
One of the things that makes me most proud is that we didn't seek
revenge; we sought justice. And we went into Afghanistan not as
conquerors but as liberators. I want you to know that later on this week
schools reopen in Afghanistan, and this is hard for Americans to
believe, but for the first time, young girls get to go to school, thanks
to America.
And so the first phase of the war, which was to hold people
accountable for harboring terrorists, is over with. That's not to say
some may decide to harbor them in the future, in which case they now
know the lessons that will--they know I mean what I say, let me put it
to you that way.
The second phase is to deny these killers sanctuary; it's to not let
them ever settle down and light anywhere; it's to treat them like what
they are, international terrorists, and keep them on the run. And that's
what we're doing. And I mean just that--I mean just that: get them on
the run and keep them on the run. And if that means months and hunting
them down, that's exactly what this country is going to do. Listen, we
caught a bunch of them bunched up the other day--[laughter]--and they're
not bunched up any more.
I have submitted a significant increase in the budget to the
Congress. I expect them to pass it. I know the Senators are with me. I
know the Members of the Congress are with me. We need to make sure our
troops are well trained, have got the best equipment, get a pay raise.
And I don't want Congress messing with the budget. They have the right
to debate; I understand that. And I can understand--they get the right
to spend. I propose; they dispose. I know that. [Laughter] But now is
not the time to be playing politics with the military budget. They need
to get it to my desk early. Generally, the defense
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budget is the last one--or the defense appropriation is the last one to
the President's desk. It ought to be the first one this year.
I want you to know that history has called us into action. History
has placed a great responsibility at our doorstep, and I will not miss
this opportunity. It is a chance to defend freedom. It is a chance to
make sure that our children and grandchildren grow up in a peaceful
world. Out of this evil will come some good. America will be stronger at
home. We'll be more compassionate and more decent. Out of this evil will
come, I believe, a period of personal responsibility, a new culture as
reflected in Flight 93, when people drove an airplane into the ground to
sacrifice for something greater than themselves. And if we're tough and
resolved and determined, like I know we're going to be, out of this evil
will come a more peaceful world for generations to come.
As you can tell, I hope, I'm optimistic. And you'd be optimistic,
too, if you got to see what I see. See, I get to travel the greatest
land on the face of the Earth. I am optimistic because of the values
that make America strong, and I am optimistic because of the people who
make her great.
God bless you all.
Note: The President spoke at 2:48 p.m. in the factory at Albers
Manufacturing Co. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Christopher S.
``Kit'' Bond of Missouri; Rolf Albers, chairman and chief executive
officer, Albers Manufacturing Co.; and Derek Rapp, chief executive
officer, Divergence.