    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [March 4, 2004]
    [Pages 309-318]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on the National Economy in Bakersfield,
    California
    March 4, 2004

        The President. John, thanks. Thanks for
    having me. First, I want to thank your employees for putting up with my
    entourage. [Laughter] It's kind of grown since the last time I was here
    in Bakersfield. [Laughter]
        We are here to talk about the economy. I want to--I'm going to have
    some help here in talking about the economy, people on the frontlines of
    job creation, people on the frontline of raising their families. Before
    I do so, I do want to thank you,

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    John, and your family for kind of setting such a great example of what
    it means to be close family and heralding the entrepreneurial spirit.
    One of the things I love about America is the entrepreneurial spirit,
    the fact that people can own their own assets, can start their own
    business, can realize such a hopeful future, because they own something.
    We're here at what we call a family-owned business. It's an integral
    part of America.
        When I heard I was coming for Rain for Rent--[laughter]--I was
    thinking about my days in west Texas. [Laughter] We were always looking
    for a little rain and were willing to rent it. [Laughter] But I do want
    to thank your mom and dad, Jerry and Mary, for welcoming me here, and I want to thank your whole
    family for turning out.
        I've spent some quality time in Bakersfield--1949. I don't remember
    much about it. [Laughter] But I was talking to old Number 41--that would
    be my dad--2 nights ago, and I told him I
    was going out to Bakersfield. And he said, ``Tell the folks out there
    that Barbara and I have got fond memories of
    our days living here.'' Good, decent, honorable, hard-working people in
    Bakersfield--that's the way it was then, and that's the way it is today.
    And we're glad to be here.
        I want to thank Sharon Thomas, the wife of
    a guy I call the Chairman; that would be Congressman Bill
    Thomas. Sharon, thanks for coming today.
    Bill Thomas is doing a really good job for the people of California and
    Bakersfield. He's doing a great job for the country. He is a strong
    leader. We've done a lot working together, some of which I'm about to
    discuss with you.
        I want to thank the mayor, Harvey Hall.
    He met me at the airport. He drove over in the limousine. Harvey,
    thanks. He said, ``Have you got any advice?'' I said, ``Yes, fill the
    potholes.'' [Laughter]
        We've got members of the State senate. Roy Ashburn is with us. I've known Roy for a while. He's a good
    fellow. State assembly--Bill Maze is with us. I
    thank Bill for being here. I want to thank all the local officials and
    all the citizens who have taken time out of your day to come by and to
    listen to what I hope is an educational dialog.
        I want to thank a lady named Dana Karcher,
    who came out to the airport. I don't know if you know Dana or not; you
    probably don't. But she is a volunteer in your community. You know what
    she's done? She's decided--she's involved with Keep Bakersfield
    Beautiful. She understands that if you're interested in the quality of
    life in the community in which you live, it starts at the grassroots
    level, that people have got to take responsibility for the lives and, in
    this case, the beauty of a place you love and call home. She's a
    volunteer.
        A lot of times we talk about the strength of the country in terms of
    our military. Make no mistake about it, we're going to keep our military
    strong in order to keep the peace. And we're going to talk here today
    about people working and people being able to have savings and wealth.
    But the true strength of the country lies in the hearts and souls of our
    citizens. That's what makes America really strong, the fact that we've
    got loving and decent and honorable citizens willing to help out at the
    local level, willing to take responsibility, willing to love a neighbor
    just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
        If you're a member of the army of compassion here in Bakersfield,
    California, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you're
    interested in serving your community, find a way to make somebody's life
    better, make a neighbor's life more hopeful, and you'll be making a
    great contribution to our Nation. So Dana,
    thanks for coming. Appreciate the example you've set. Keep doing what
    you're doing.
        This economy of ours is strengthening, and that's positive. See, we
    want people working here in America. We not only want people working in
    America, we want people

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    who are working to be comfortable that their job is going to be here
    tomorrow.
        I'm an optimistic fellow about our economy because I've seen what
    we've been through. And I want to remind you right quick what this
    country has been through and the challenges this economy had faced over
    the last 3 years. First, we went through a recession. That means we were
    going backwards. We weren't growing. That means there was a lot of
    uncertainty for planners and small-business people. That meant people
    were losing their jobs.
        And we started to come out of that recession, and the enemy hit us
    on September the 11th, 2001. And the attack hurt us. The attack hurt our
    economy. The attack also changed our psychology in a way. See, we used
    to think oceans could protect us from harm, but we learned a tough
    lesson that day, which means whoever has the honor of holding the Oval
    Office must take every threat seriously, must deal with threats before
    they become imminent, must be firm with our resolve to keep America
    secure, must never relent to the enemies that would harm us because of
    what we love. And we began to recover from the attacks on September the
    11th because we're a strong people, we're resilient, because there's an
    ownership society, a culture of ownership in America.
        And then we had to deal with another problem here in America, and
    that is, we had some of our fellow citizens forgot what it meant to be a
    responsible citizen. Corporate CEOs didn't tell the truth to their
    shareholders and their employees. And that began to affect the
    psychology of the country. People think--people who invest began to say,
    ``Well, I'm not so sure I believe these numbers,'' people who work
    beginning to wonder whether or not in big corporate America, that what
    they're being told is right. But we acted. We passed tough new laws.
    You're beginning to see the consequences of people making irresponsible
    decisions. They need to pay a price for their irresponsibility, and they
    will, in order to set a clear example. In America, we're not going to
    tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of our country.
        And then I made a tough decision to deal with Mr. Saddam
    Hussein. I saw--[applause]--I just want to,
    right quick, remind you that I looked at the intelligence and saw a
    threat. The Congress looked at the same intelligence, and they saw a
    threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at that intelligence,
    and it saw a threat.
        I took my message to the United Nations. I said, ``This is a world
    problem. Let's deal with it. You've given him resolution after
    resolution after resolution to disarm for a reason, because you saw a
    threat.'' And after September the 11th, it was time to disarm him so the
    threat wouldn't materialize. He said, ``Forget it.'' He chose defiance.
    Then I had a choice: Do I trust the word of a madman, or do I make the
    decision to defend America? I'll defend America every time.
        Laura reminded me one time about, on the TV
    screens, you started to see the banner ``March to War'' in the summer of
    2002. That's not very conducive for investing capital. If you're an
    employer, if you're a small-business owner and all of a sudden you're
    thinking about marching to war, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence
    in the economy. We overcame that. Now we're marching to peace, by the
    way. The world is more peaceful.
        But we've overcome all that. And the economy is getting stronger.
    Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. Manufacturing is up.
    Homeownership is strong. The entrepreneurial spirit in America is alive
    and well, and one of the reasons why I think we're doing so good here in
    America is because of the tax relief we passed. It's because people have
    more money in their pockets.
        See, if you're interested in somebody finding work, you've got to
    put forth policies that encourage economic expansion, progrowth
    policies, progrowth in the private

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    sector, not policies that grow the Federal Government but policies that
    grow the small-business sector of our economy. Most new jobs in America
    are created by small businesses.
        And so the plans that Chairman Thomas
    and I worked on all had in mind helping our individuals as well as
    helping small-business owners. See, we cut the taxes on everybody. We
    said, ``If you're going to have tax relief, everybody who pays taxes
    ought to get relief.'' We're not going to have people in Washington say,
    ``Okay, you get tax relief, and you don't.'' We had tax relief that was
    fair because everybody got it. And what's interesting about the tax
    relief, not only did it help families--and we're about to hear from some
    families who it helped--but it really helped small businesses. See, most
    small businesses are either sole proprietorships or Subchapter S
    corporations, which means they pay tax at the individual income-tax
    level. And so when you cut taxes on the individuals, in many cases
    you're cutting taxes on the small businesses as well. And we want our
    small businesses to be strong. We want them to have more money to
    invest. We want them to have more money to expand. And the tax relief we
    passed is working because it invigorated the small-business sector of
    America.
        A couple other things I want to tell you, and then we're going to
    hear from others. I'm not filibustering. [Laughter] It's a long
    Washington word, isn't it? [Laughter] We did some other positive things.
        If you're raising a family in America, it's hard to do, and so we
    increased the child credit to $1,000 per child. We doubled the child
    credit to help families.
        We reduced the marriage penalty. It seems like to me you want the
    Tax Code to encourage marriage and not penalize it.
        We reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. That's important
    for savers, particularly important for our seniors, many of whom rely
    upon income from their investment portfolio.
        We put the death tax on its way to extinction. Listen, the death tax
    is bad. It's bad for small businesses. It's bad for farmers. It is bad
    for ranchers. It makes no sense to tax a family's assets twice, once
    while you're making money and the next time after you die.
        So we've overcome a lot, and the policy we've passed is good policy.
    There's more to do. I want to share some thoughts with you right quick
    about what we need to do to make sure people can find a job or are
    comfortable about the job they have. We need an energy policy in
    America. We need to make sure our electricity systems are modern, and we
    need to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        We need to make sure we don't become isolated from the world. We
    don't need economic isolation. We need to have trade policy that treats
    America fairly. People can sell their products here. We want to be able
    to sell our products there. If you're good at something, you want to
    open up markets. Listen, we're really good at growing things. We want to
    sell our food overseas; we want to sell our beef overseas. We want to
    have a trade policy that is fair. We must fight off economic
    isolationism for the sake of American consumers, American entrepreneurs,
    and American workers.
        We need less regulation. These small-business owners will tell you,
    many times they fill out too much paperwork. They ought to be focused on
    helping people find work instead of spending hours on paperwork that
    probably is never read.
        We need tort reform in America. We need to make sure that--frivolous
    lawsuits make it hard for people to hire; they just do.
        Health care costs are rising. We need to do something about health
    care costs. We need what we call associated health care plans that allow
    small businesses to pool risk so their employees get reasonably priced
    health care. We need to expand health savings accounts, which is a
    fantastic

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    opportunity, by the way, for small-business owners and employees to be
    able to have health care at affordable price--health insurance at
    affordable prices.
        We need national medical liability reform. Frivolous lawsuits drive
    up the cost of health care. The Congress passed a good bill. It is stuck
    in the Senate. The most powerful lobby in Washington, DC, in some
    estimates, are the trial lawyers. We need to make sure that doctors
    don't get run out of business and health care costs don't get run up
    because of these frivolous and junk lawsuits. Congress has got to pass
    medical liability reform.
        And finally, we need to make sure the tax cuts are permanent. See,
    the tax cuts are set to expire. That's what a lot of people don't
    understand. This is an important part of the dialog in Washington, DC,
    now, is how to make sure the economy continues to grow. These job
    creators need certainty in the Tax Code. You can't have taxes go down
    one year and up the next. They need certainty when it comes to planning.
    They need to be able to have certainty when it comes to their investment
    deductibility. That's what they need.
        And yet aspects of the Tax Code are set to expire. Interesting
    enough, in the year '05, the child credit is going to go back down
    unless Congress acts. That means a tax increase on these hard-working
    people. If Congress doesn't step up and act, the child credit is going
    to go down, which means these good folks are going to pay greater taxes
    next year. The marriage penalty relief, it goes up, which means if
    you're married, you're going to pay higher taxes in '05. The expansion
    of the 10-percent bracket no longer will exist. It's going to be
    changed, which means people are going to pay higher taxes.
        It doesn't make any sense to be paying higher taxes in 2005. This
    economy is strengthening. It will weaken our economy unless Congress
    acts. Members of Congress must hear this message loud and clear: We need
    tax permanency. At the very least, they must make permanent the tax--
    child credit, the tax relief from the marriage penalty, the tax relief
    from the expanded 10-percent bracket. For the sake of American families,
    for the sake of jobs, Congress must not raise the taxes on the hard-
    working people of America.
        And so we're here to talk about the economy. And I'm pretty well
    talked out--[laughter]--much to your pleasure. [Laughter] John, why don't you tell us what it's like to run a family-
    owned business. Obviously, it is capital-intensive. By ``capital-
    intensive,'' I mean it costs a lot to have one of those pumps there. He
    has to buy it, and then he goes out and rents it. And so it's a business
    that--obviously, you've got good, hard-working people you rely upon. But
    it's a business that requires, you know, some strong asset management.
    And so, why don't you tell us what it's like to run your own business.
    Somebody may be out there listening that wants to start their own
    business. And it's an opportunity for people to learn the great joy and
    the frustrations and the responsibility of being an entrepreneur here in
    America.
        John W. Lake. Well, I'll give it a shot.
        The President. I'm not worried about you. [Laughter]

    [At this point, Mr. Lake, president, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks.]

        The President. How much are you going to spend next year, do you
    think?
        Mr. Lake. About $30 million buying capital
    assets for rent.
        The President. Yes. See, when he says he's
    going to spend $30 million, that means somebody or a group of people are
    going to go out there and manufacture $30 million worth of products,
    which means somebody is going to find work. See, if we increase demand
    through tax policy--in other words, demand means I want an additional
    good or a service. In this case, he's saying he wants $30 million worth
    of goods. The way our economy works is that in response to that demand,
    somebody is going to

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    produce something. And when they produce it, it means somebody is going
    to work.
        So when you hear about economic policy and you hear about investment
    and you hear people say investment equals jobs, think about John. John is buying $30 million worth of equipment, which
    means somebody in Ardmore and Wichita Falls, Texas, is more likely to
    have a job. And that's how this economy works.
        And I appreciate that very much, you explaining that. Let me ask you
    something, are you going to hire anybody this year? [Laughter]
        Mr. Lake. Yes, sir. Right now we're looking
    for 46 more people. And actually, we've grown 24 percent since 9/11.
        The President. Well, that's fantastic. That's great.

    [Mr. Lake made further remarks.]

        The President. Let me tell you something about what we need to do to
    make sure people are employable, is to get people educated in the first
    place, make sure the Bakersfield school systems teach people how to read
    and write and add and subtract, make sure there is job training for the
    jobs which actually exist. We've got some really good people who want to
    work; they just need the skills. That's why the community college system
    here in California, all around the country, is an important part of job
    training, so that you can match desire to work with the skills necessary
    to work.
        And so John is looking for 34. There's a
    lot of Johns around this country who are looking for workers. See, 34
    workers here, 50 there, 2 or 3 here, and this job base is beginning to
    expand. The economy is strengthening because of the decisionmaking that
    is taking place. Part of those decisions that he made was the result of
    tax policy. He's what you call a Subchapter S corporation. When we cut
    the taxes on individuals, it helps this. You heard him say he didn't
    have dividends for a while. You know what he's doing? He's putting the
    money back in the company for the sake of the workers.
        That's one of the wonderful things about the entrepreneurial spirit
    here in America. These owners understand that they've got to have good
    workers and take care of their workers. And I suspect working here for
    this great company is a pleasure.
        All right. You did a good job. [Laughter]
        Mr. Lake. Thank you, sir.
        The President. Les, tell us about
    yourself. Victory Circle company.

    [Les DenHerder, president, Victory Circle, Inc., made brief remarks.]

        The President. You are a Subchapter S corporation.
        Mr. DenHerder. Yes, we're a Subchapter S.
        The President. Okay, if I can just remind everybody, that means he
    pays taxes at the individual income-tax rate at the corporate level. In
    other words--I shouldn't say ``the corporate level.'' The taxes paid at
    the corporate level flow through to the individual income tax--to the
    individual, so therefore individual income taxes affect his small
    business, a better way to put it.
        Mr. DenHerder. Absolutely. And not only
    that, with capital investment, we're able to make use of some of the tax
    credits there. This year we're planning on spending probably around
    $50,000 for additional equipment, and that will probably save us, like,
    7,000 because of the tax laws.
        The President. Yes. See, the new tax laws said if he invests, he
    saves $7,000. So it encourages people to invest. What are you going to
    buy? Do you know yet?
        Mr. DenHerder. Some more welders and pipe-
    bending equipment.
        The President. Yes, so somebody has got to make it. That's how the
    economy works. He makes a decision. It affects
    a lot of people, the decision you make. So when you hear ``tax relief,''
    I hope people connect tax relief with decisionmaking and decisionmaking
    to jobs. That's what we're talking

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    about. That's why the tax relief was important for job creation.
        Okay, I'm going to be looking for your product the next time I start
    a NASCAR race. [Laughter]
        Mr. DenHerder. That's good.
        The President. It was unbelievable. Thanks for coming. How many--any
    chances of hiring anybody this year?
        Mr. DenHerder. We're probably going to
    hire two to three people this year.
        The President. That's good, see. And you've got how many now?
        Mr. DenHerder. We've got 14 now.
        The President. There are a lot of companies, a lot in America, with
    20 or fewer employees. And when he says he's
    going to hire two more, that's really good news. A lot of people are
    feeling confident and optimistic about our future, so they can say,
    ``I'm going to hire two more.'' They can sit here and tell the President
    in front of all the cameras, ``I'm going to hire two more people.''
    [Laughter] That's confidence.
        All right, Chris, tell us your business.

    [Chris DiSalvo, president, GMC Roofing and Building Paper Products,
    Inc., made brief remarks, mentioning his wife, Wilma, and concluding as
    follows.]

        Mr. DiSalvo. So in February----
        The President. I got a good wife too.
    [Laughter]

    [Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks, mentioning his operations manager,
    Leo Martin, and concluding as follows.]

        Mr. DiSalvo. He's
    watching the plant.
        The President. He's working. [Laughter]
        Mr. DiSalvo. Exactly.
        The President. Leo is doing the right thing.

    [Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks.]

        The President. How did the tax relief help you?

    [Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks.]

        The President. Isn't it a fabulous story? Forty-nine, were you?
        Mr. DiSalvo. Yes, sir.
        The President. Forty-nine, yes, really young-sounding. [Laughter]
    He starts his own business. He has a desire to
    own something. The job of Government is to create an environment that
    encourages and enhances the entrepreneurial spirit. The job of
    Government is not to create jobs but to create an environment in which
    people feel comfortable about taking risk to realize their dreams.
        I love the stories about your granddad working his way through the
    Depression and feeling confident enough to start this business and that
    you and your dad have had the great privilege of growing it and
    modernizing it and diversifying it to meet the new challenges of our
    economy.
        I love the idea of a guy buying his company and turning it into
    something. And I love the idea of somebody saying, ``I want to own my
    own company. I want to start it.'' It's such an important part of our
    American story. And I intend to keep the entrepreneurial spirit as
    strong as possible because I understand that when the small-business
    sector of our economy is vibrant and confident and optimistic, people
    are more likely to find a job. Now--good job, guys, really good job.
        Okay, Ismael Diaz is with us. He is a
    manager. Ismael, tell us about yourself.
        Ismael Diaz. Well, I'm--technically, I just
    work in the engineering department. [Laughter] I'll let my boss know I
    got a promotion.
        The President. Well, I just made you a manager. Yes.
    Congratulations, you got a promotion. [Laughter]
        Mr. Lake. Congratulations, Ismael.
    [Laughter]
        The President. Yes.

    [Mr. Diaz, engineer/project manager, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks.]

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        The President. How many of your--how many in your family had ever
    been to college prior to you?
        Mr. Diaz. None.
        The President. Yes.
        Mr. Diaz. So we're the first generation to
    go.

    [Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Mr. Diaz. I never particularly paid
    attention to taxes until I had kids, was married, had a mortgage
    payment.
        The President. 'Til you started to pay some.
        Mr. Diaz. Exactly. [Laughter]

    [Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Mr. Diaz. I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-
    old with my wife, America, who is out in the audience. And--she's out
    there.
        The President. Can you imagine if my name were America? [Laughter]
        Mr. Diaz. It makes for some interesting
    conversation.
        The President. That's right, yes.
        Mr. Diaz. It's an icebreaker.
        The President. It is. [Laughter]

    [Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Mr. Diaz. When you go in one year paying a
    thousand bucks to the next year getting a $3,000 refund, that's a pretty
    quick flip-flop from one year to the next.
        The President. Yes.
        Mr. Diaz. And what it allowed us to do was
    have my wife start working full-time. She's a schoolteacher, and I
    understand you're fond of schoolteachers.
        The President. Thank you. Appreciate you doing that.

    [Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Mr. Diaz. And we'd take the refund money,
    invest it in college funds for our two little kids.
        The President. Fantastic.
        Mr. Diaz. If we have any more, we'll do the
    same for them.
        The President. That's good.
        Mr. Diaz. It's up to her. [Laughter]
        The President. I don't think we want to go there, Ismael. [Laughter]
        Mr. Diaz. So I know it's--if taxes do go up,
    we'll feel that impact immediately.
        The President. Yes. Listen, here's--what he's saying is--and it's a fundamental argument about
    taxes--obviously, we got to meet priorities. We got a war to win. We got
    things to do in Washington. But I always felt that with the economy
    slowing down, we want the Ismaels of the world to have more money to
    make their life easier, to increase demand. And I would argue with
    people that this good man can spend his money far more wisely than the
    Federal Government can spend his money.
        He said he had $3,150 in tax savings. That's
    a lot of money for a young family. That's a lot of security. Notice what
    he said, he said, ``We're beginning to set money aside for our kids.'' I
    oftentimes say it's important for us to have a culture of personal
    responsibility, and it starts with moms and dads loving their children
    with all their heart and all their soul. And that's what Ismael has
    signaled to us.
        If Congress doesn't act, his taxes go up by $2,000. It's a $2,000
    tax increase. Congress must listen to the voices of people like Ismael.
    Two thousand less dollars in his pocket is going to make a difference to
    his family. So when you hear, ``Oh, I don't want to make the tax cuts
    permanent,'' you translate to that, ``We're to raise Ismael's taxes.'' That's what they're saying.
        Now, we got with us as well Theresa--oh,
    let me say something about Ismael's dad. Where is his dad? Is he here?
    There he is. Thanks for coming, sir. He came here and worked hard, and
    he stood in line and became a citizen. And that's what needs to happen
    with immigration policy. Look, we need to--we don't need blanket amnesty
    here in America. What we need

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    is, we need to help people find work in a legal way.
        Your dad did it the legal way. He came and worked because he wanted
    to be a good dad, and he earned a living. And he stood in line in a
    legal way and then became a citizen of this country. I put forth a
    plan--we were talking to these employers; they don't know whether
    they're hiring somebody here who's legally or not. We need a temporary-
    worker plan. That is not an amnesty plan; it's a worker plan to make
    sure the employers here in America are able to find the laborers that
    other Americans won't do, in a legal way. We need to make sure we treat
    people humanely in this country. And I want to thank you for the
    example. Think about that, how American is that: The guy works all his
    life so his son can go to college.
        Theresa is with us. Theresa Avila is the
    sales representative.
        Theresa Avila. Yes.
        The President. Is that an accurate assessment?
        Ms. Avila. That's correct, Mr. President.
        The President. Would you like to--would you like a promotion?
    [Laughter]
        Ms. Avila. Yes, sir, I would.
        The President. The tax cuts weren't big enough for all--[laughter].
    Thank you, Theresa. Please.

    [Ms. Avila, sales representative, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks,
    concluding as follows.]

        Ms. Avila. My daughter Amanda, she's 16.
    She goes to Liberty High School.
        The President. Does she have her driver's
    license?
        Ms. Avila. Almost. She's begging for it.
        The President. Yes. [Laughter] I've been through that before.
    [Laughter]
        Ms. Avila. And my daughter Alexandra, who
    is 9, she's a fourth grader. She's over there. She's in----
        The President. I see her. Hi, Alexandra.
        Ms. Avila. ----elementary.
        The President. She's a beautiful girl.
        Ms. Avila. Thank you.
        The President. She has a great smile.
        Ms. Avila. Thank you.

    [Ms. Avila made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Ms. Avila. And I hope that with your help
    and your continued support, that we will be a successful family, a
    successful American family.
        The President. Yes, well, you are successful already. And I can tell
    that, listening to you.
        Ms. Avila. Thank you.
        The President. You're really successful, successful because you love
    your kids more than anything else, successful because you--you set
    education as priority for your family. This good family saved about
    $3,400 because of the tax relief. If Congress doesn't go up--act, their
    taxes are going up by $3,100, see?
        What's happening, by the way, is that people all of a sudden are
    going to be thrust into the alternative minimum tax bracket. Those are
    long words, but just trust me, it means you got a tax increase coming
    unless Congress acts. They need to make the child credit permanent. They
    need to make the marriage penalty relief permanent. They need to make
    sure the 10-percent bracket stays permanent. And they need to deal with
    the alternative minimum tax so these good, hard-working people don't pay
    more taxes in the year 2005.
        Is there anything else you want to say? Okay, well, listen, thank
    you all for coming. I hope this has been helpful in understanding how
    the economy works, how people make decisions, how families make
    decisions.
        You just heard Theresa say they helped--
    they did some work on their home. Well, somebody had to come and do it.
    When she took the tax relief, she had to go get somebody to come and do
    it. And the person who came to do it had to buy more supplies in order
    to make sure

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    the house got fixed. That's how the economy works. There's a lot of
    decisionmaking that goes on. It's the millions of decisions by consumers
    and producers to meet the demand of those consumers that really makes a
    marketplace economy function. And Government can have a good role in
    encouraging the vitality of economy. And that's what the tax relief plan
    did. And that's why we've got to make sure that the benefits of tax
    relief don't go away. That's why we got to make sure that we're not
    raising the taxes on the people of this country.
        I'm optimistic about America because I understand the character of
    our people. We're people who work hard, dream big dreams, people who are
    responsible for the decisions we make, people who love our families.
    It's a fabulous country. We've overcome a lot, and the reason we have is
    because of the character of the American people.
        It's my honor to be here in the great city of Bakersfield,
    California. Thank you all for coming. May God bless you all. May God
    continue to bless our country.
        Good job, John.
        Mr. Lake. Thank you.
        The President. Good job.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:40 a.m. at Rain for Rent. In his remarks,
    he referred to Mayor Harvey L. Hall of Bakersfield, CA; Roy Ashburn,
    California State senator; Bill Maze, California State assemblyman; and
    former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.