    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [March 10, 2004]
    [Pages 346-354]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Forum in
    Cleveland, Ohio
    March 10, 2004

        Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate so very much the
    invitation to come today. I'm really glad to be back in the great city
    of Cleveland, Ohio. It's good to be in a room full of accomplished
    women. As the husband of Laura--[laughter]--and
    the son of Barbara, I feel right at home.
        I enjoy being in the company of entrepreneurs, risktakers, dreamers,
    and doers. You all share a lot of common experiences. You've met
    challenges of starting a business, and that's hard. It required more
    time than you had in a day, more money than you kept in your bank, and
    more energy than you thought you had. But you chose an interesting life.
    You chose to lead. You chose to follow your dreams. And I appreciate
    your spirit. You're making the country a better place by working as hard
    as you do.
        As the Governor said, nearly half of all small
    businesses are owned by women. That's powerful. That's a beautiful
    statement. Firms owned by women are being

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    started at more than twice the national rate. The entrepreneurial spirit
    is alive and well.
        This is a land of great wealth and it's a land of great opportunity,
    and you're seizing the opportunity. Through the hard work of our people,
    the innovation of our businesses, and the good policies now in place, we
    have put a recession behind us. Thanks in large part to your hard work,
    our economy is expanding. Productivity is strong. Unemployment has been
    falling. Incomes are rising, and we're going to stay on this path of
    growth and prosperity in this country.
        This economy has challenges, and we know how to meet them. We'll
    continue making the finest products and selling those products, not only
    here at home but across the world. We'll make sure that American workers
    have the education and the skills to succeed in the jobs of the future.
    And we'll remain the leading economy in the world, because America will
    remain the best place to do business in the world.
        I want to thank Jennette Bradley,
    the Lieutenant Governor, for her hospitality. And I want to thank the
    other officials from the State of Ohio who are with us.
        I appreciate Elaine Chao, a member of my
    Cabinet, for joining us today. Elaine is doing a great job for the
    United States. Es un placer to be here with Hector Barreto, the head of the SBA.
        I traveled today with Steve LaTourette, the Congressman from this area. Steve, I'm honored you're
    here. He's a progrowth guy. [Laughter] He knows the role of Government
    is not to try to create wealth but to create an environment in which the
    entrepreneurial spirit can flourish. I appreciate you being here. He's a
    great Congressman from this part of the world.
        I appreciate the sponsors. Thanks for putting up with me and the
    entourage. [Laughter] Most of all, thank you for being here.
        Today when I landed at the airport, I met Judi Firestone. Some of you may know Judi. She's owned her own computer
    business since 1986. She's an entrepreneur. She's a visionary. She works
    hard. As well she is the northeast Ohio chairman for the Race For The
    Cure, Komen Foundation Race For The Cure. She is a breast cancer
    survivor.
        The reason I bring her up is, the true
    strength of America is the hearts and souls of our citizens. The true
    strength of this country is the fact there are people like Judi
    Firestone who are willing to volunteer their time to make the community
    in which she lives a better place. It's really the strength, isn't it? I
    mean, the truth of the matter is we can change this country one heart
    and one soul at a time when citizens like Judi take time out of her
    life, her busy life, to help somebody who hurts.
        And so the reason I herald Judi Firestone
    is to really talk about the strength of the country. I know many of you
    here heard the call to love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved
    yourself. I want to thank you for what you do to make your community a
    loving place. I want to thank you for what you do to heal the souls that
    hurt. I want to thank you for what you do to be a part of the incredibly
    important fabric of America, that it saves lives not because of
    government but because people are volunteering their time. And if you're
    not volunteering, please do so. The country needs you. But Judi, thanks
    for coming.
        This economy of ours has faced challenges over the last 3 years.
    Think back about what we have been through. Not long before I took
    office in January of 2001, I invited business leaders from around our
    country to come to Austin. They told me that factories and workers were
    seeing the first signs of recession. That's what they said. They said
    that the economy was troubled, that things weren't feeling too good, and
    they were right. In fact, the manufacturing sector had started losing
    jobs in August of 2000. By January of 2001, orders for equipment and
    software were falling, the stock market had been declining for several
    months.

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        And as we started to come out of the recession and the economy,
    because of the entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that we got great
    workers, started to recover, the enemy hit us on September the 11th,
    2001. It was a day of terrible loss, deep mourning. It was also a
    serious blow to our economy. The attacks closed the New York Stock
    Exchange for nearly a week. Remember back to what it was like after
    September the 11th. U.S. airspace was entirely closed for the first
    time. In the 3 months after September the 11th, the economy lost nearly
    one million jobs.
        The enemy hurt us. But we're plenty tough and determined as a
    nation. And as a result of the American people's resolution and
    determination, we began to recover. And then we learned about fraud and
    wrongdoing in corporate America. And that hurt our economy as well.
    There were scandals that were in the--years in making, shook the energy
    industry. It affected the telecommunications industry. It hurt the
    accounting profession and other key sectors of our economy. A lot of
    innocent workers and investors lost their jobs and their savings.
        Those scandals hurt. But we acted, and we passed the strongest
    corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt held the office that I'm
    honored to hold. Federal prosecutors are holding corporate executives to
    account. We have made it clear, we will not tolerate dishonesty in the
    boardrooms of America.
        This economy of ours had been through recession, had been through
    emergency, had been through corporate scandals, and then I made the
    necessary decision to deal with Saddam Hussein. September the 11th taught a lesson I will never forget
    and our country must never forget. America must confront threats before
    they fully materialize. That's the lesson of that fateful day.
        In Iraq, this administration looked at the intelligence, and we saw
    a threat to the American people. The Congress looked at the same
    intelligence, and they saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council
    looked at the intelligence, and it saw a threat. And then the United
    Nations Security Council, in 2002, gave Saddam Hussein a final chance to comply with U.N. resolutions and
    disarm. We all saw a threat, and we put out, through resolutions, the
    demand that he disclose and disarm. And once again, he chose defiance.
    He made the choice. I had a choice as well: Either to trust the word of
    a madman or to defend the American people. Faced with that choice, I
    will defend America every time.
        And therefore, in 2002 and early 2003, the television screens across
    America had banners saying, ``March to War.'' And as business leaders,
    you understand that's not very conducive to investing capital. Marching
    to war is not a positive thought, but we overcame that challenge. Thanks
    to hard-working people and leaders, entrepreneurs, we overcame that
    challenge, and now we're marching to peace.
        This week, the Iraqi Governing Council approved the new fundamental
    law, which will be the basis for a free constitutional democracy in the
    heart of the Middle East. Because we acted, because we did the right
    thing, the world is becoming more peaceful, and America is more secure.
        My point is this: We faced challenge after challenge during the past
    3 years, and we're overcoming them all. Inflation is low. Interest rates
    are low. Manufacturing activity is up. Homeownership is at an alltime
    high. The unemployment rate today is lower than the average rate in the
    1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Thanks to our productive workers, thanks to
    business leaders such as yourself, the United States of America is the
    fastest growing major industrialized economy in the world.
        One of the main reasons the recession was one of the shortest in
    modern history is because we acted. The tax relief I signed left money
    in the pockets of families and job creators at just the right time. We
    cut the taxes on our families. We lowered tax rates on everybody who
    paid taxes. We

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    didn't play the old political game of winners and losers in the Tax
    Code. We increased the child credit, and we reduced the marriage
    penalty. This helped to lift after-tax incomes in America by 8.4 percent
    since 2001, and the spending and investing of Americans is driving this
    economy forward. That's what's happening.
        Most of the new jobs in America are created by small businesses. I
    understand that. And so that is why we focused a lot of our tax relief
    on small businesses. The majority of small businesses are either sole
    proprietorships or Subchapter S corporations, which means many of you
    pay business taxes at the individual rates. And so therefore, when you
    lower rates on individuals, you lower rates on small businesses. You
    allow small-business owners to keep more of their own money to invest
    and therefore create more jobs.
        As well to encourage investment, we increased the annual deduction
    for equipment purchases by small businesses from $25,000 to $100,000.
    You see, I understand you can't have a healthy economy without a healthy
    small-business sector, and the tax relief we passed is reinvigorating
    small businesses all across this country.
        We did something else that will help the entrepreneurial spirit in
    this country. We're phasing out the death tax. Small-business owners and
    ranchers and farmers shouldn't have their assets taxed twice. The death
    tax is unfair. You ought to be able to pass your assets on to whoever
    you want.
        Progrowth policies are working. They're helping this economy--the
    economic recovery to turn into lasting prosperity. That's what I want,
    and that's what's happening. Yet, the jobs report last week shows that
    while the economy is dynamic and growing, it's experiencing some
    fundamental change. Productivity has grown faster over the last 2 years
    than at any time in more than 50 years, in part because technology is
    changing the way we do things. You know what I'm talking about. You're
    more productive in your companies.
        In some fields, one person can do the work that used to be done by
    many. That's what being more productive means. At one semiconductor
    plant in New Mexico, new technology is allowing the same number of
    workers to produce 20 times as many computer chips as they used to.
        Higher productivity is a good thing. It's good for our workers. It
    is good for our economy. If you're more productive, you're better able
    to compete and survive and expand and grow. People think--when they
    think about productivity, you think of it this way: Operating heavy
    equipment every day is hard work, but operating a shovel every day is
    harder work. I don't think many people here want to trade in your laptop
    for one of those old hunt-and-peck typewriters. [Laughter]
        Advances in productivity lead to higher wages. That is a fact. The
    more productive a worker becomes, the better wages that person will
    receive. A more productive society means lower prices for consumers. A
    more productive society is one that generates greater national wealth.
    And small businesses are leading the way in this productivity
    revolution, and for that, I'm grateful.
        Higher productivity also presents us a challenge, and here's the
    challenge: Many companies fill new orders and expand operations without
    needing to hire new workers. Because we're a productive workforce, the
    economy can expand, and in some cases, they don't need to add additional
    workers to meet that expansion, to meet the additional demand.
    Manufacturing output, for instance, increased sixfold between 1950 and
    2000--a sixfold increase. Yet because of high productivity, all this
    manufacturing is done by about the same number of workers. And because
    of the new technologies throughout the economy, another challenge is the
    fact that we've got to make sure people have got the skills necessary to
    become productive workers.
        In Ohio, you know firsthand the effects of economic change.
    Manufacturers are

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    more productive, so they aren't creating as many jobs as they used to.
    Ohio's unemployment rate is higher than the national average.
    Manufacturing communities like Youngstown and Cleveland have been hit
    especially hard. I understand that. I know there are workers here
    concerned about their jobs going overseas. I share that concern. I know
    they're wondering whether they'll ever be able to find new skills
    necessary to fill the new jobs of the 21st century. I understand that.
    There are those with good jobs who worry about their health care and
    their retirement benefits. There are a lot of moms and dads who wonder
    whether or not their child will be able to find a job in the community
    in which they were raised. There are legitimate concerns amongst people
    here in Ohio and elsewhere around the country.
        And one reason why there's concern is because, as the economists
    say, ``This is a time of transition. It's a time of change.'' And if
    you're one going through transition, it's not an easy experience. But
    then we have a responsibility to help. We have a responsibility to help
    with more than just unemployment insurance. We have a responsibility in
    Government to create an environment that increases more jobs and helps
    people find the skills to fill those jobs. That's a responsibility that
    we must do in Government.
        Some politicians in Washington see this new challenge, and yet they
    want to respond in old ways. Their agenda is to increase Federal taxes,
    to build a wall around this country and to isolate America from the rest
    of the world. They never get around to explaining how higher taxes would
    help create a single job in America, except maybe at the IRS. They don't
    explain how closing off markets abroad would help the millions of
    Americans who produce goods for export or work for foreign companies
    right here in the United States.
        That old policy of tax and spend is the enemy of job creation. The
    old policy of economic isolationism is a recipe for economic disaster.
    America has moved beyond that tired, defeatist mindset, and we're not
    going back. There's a better way, and that's what I want to talk about
    today. To expand the creation of new jobs and to see our workers through
    our transition, Government must meet basic responsibilities.
        First, instead of building barriers to trade, we must break down
    those barriers so that good products, American products, are welcomed
    and sold on every continent. Look at it this way: America has got 5
    percent of the world's population. That means 95 percent of potential
    customers are in other countries. We cannot expect to sell our goods and
    services and create jobs if America and our partners, trading partners,
    start raising barriers and closing off markets.
        Millions of American jobs are supported by exports. That's a fact.
    One in five factory jobs in this country directly depends on trade. The
    surest way to threaten those jobs is a policy of economic isolation. The
    surest way to add more jobs is a confident policy, a confident economic
    policy that trades with the world.
        The economic isolationists have a pessimistic outlook. They don't
    show much faith in the American worker or the American entrepreneur.
    They don't think we can compete. But here in Ohio, you're proving them
    wrong. People all over the world are buying products from Ohio, cars and
    tires and batteries and jet engines and ball bearings and electronics
    and crops from your farms. Since 1996, under NAFTA, Ohio's exports to
    Mexico have tripled and last year came to more than $2 billion. Two
    billion dollars of exports means it's more likely somebody will have a
    job in the State of Ohio. Since the end of 2000, Ohio's exports have
    increased more than any State in the country. And why is that? Because
    this State has got great entrepreneurs who are making high-quality
    products that the world wants to buy. And another reason why is because
    you've got great workers, who, if

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    given a level playing field, can out-produce any worker, anywhere on the
    Earth.
        Foreign companies recognize the quality of American workers, and
    that is one of the reasons why so many have chosen to locate plants in
    our country. More than 900 foreign facilities employ people here in the
    State of Ohio, including major companies like Honda. Ten percent of
    Honda's international workforce lives in this State. About 16,000
    Ohioans work for Honda, with good, high-paying jobs. That's a lot of
    your fellow citizens employed by a company that has chosen to do
    business in America. And that's not counting the people who work at 165
    different Ohio companies that supply Honda with parts and material.
        When politicians in Washington attack trade for political reasons,
    they don't mention these workers or the 6.4 million other Americans who
    draw their paychecks from foreign companies. Economic isolationism would
    lead to retaliation from abroad and put many of those jobs at risk.
    Those who play on fear and criticize trade are not serving the interests
    of our workers. Across America, from Marysville, Ohio, to Seattle,
    Washington, workers are better off--better off--because this country is
    an optimistic, successful trading nation.
        My administration is committed to creating the jobs that trade
    brings. It's a commitment of my administration. Remember this:
    Presidents of both parties since World War II have made the decision to
    open up our markets for the good of American workers and for the good of
    American consumers. If we're opening up our markets, it makes sense to
    get others to open up theirs, and so we're dedicated to making sure that
    other nations treat us fairly. That's why I pressed for free trade
    agreements with Singapore and Chile. We want them to open up their
    markets to America's goods and services. We've recently completed
    negotiations with Morocco and Central America.
        I just completed a negotiation with Australia. I want you to
    understand this important aspect of the trade agreement. Almost all
    manufacturing exports to that country will be duty-free immediately.
    That means this could help America's manufacturers sell another $2
    billion worth of goods to Australia every year. If we're going to let
    people sell here, we ought to be encouraging them to let--open up their
    markets as well. That's good for jobs, and it's good for America.
        I want the world to ``Buy America.'' The best products are those--
    listen, the best product on any shelf anywhere in the world says, ``Made
    in the USA.''
        To create more jobs, Government must meet a second basic
    responsibility. If we want to continue to outperform the world, if we
    want to be able to compete, America must remain the best place in the
    world to do business. If we want to be competitive with other places,
    we've got to be a good place for people to invest capital. We've got to
    make sure that people who invest capital are not penalized by lousy
    Government policy. Tax cuts were vital to creating the environment for
    growth and innovation, and there are more steps that need to be done.
        There needs to be fewer regulations on businessowners in America. I
    bet you spend a lot of time filling out paperwork. [Laughter] I bet not
    much of your paperwork is ever read. [Laughter] The Government needs to
    let you focus on your business, on developing goods and services. It
    needs to let you focus on hiring people, rather than spending hours
    filling out paperwork. In order for us to keep jobs here at home and
    expand the job base, we need better regulatory policy at the Federal,
    State, and local level.
        In order to make sure that we're able to create jobs here at home
    and to prevent jobs from going overseas, this country must have tort
    reform. Frivolous lawsuits or the threat of a frivolous lawsuit create
    an environment that is not conducive to job creation and job expansion.
    There's a role at the Federal level for tort reform. The trial

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    lawyers are tough up there, though. [Laughter] Members of the Senate
    need to hear from you. The House has passed good tort legislation, but
    the Senate has got to hear from you. Tort reform will help make it
    easier to keep jobs here at home.
        We need to do something about the high cost of health care as well.
    I'm a strong proponent of association health plans to allow small
    businesses to pool risk so you can better afford health care plans for
    your employees. We've introduced a new concept called health savings
    accounts, which will make a big difference for small-business owners and
    employees as well. And the market has taken hold. We ought to--listen,
    frivolous lawsuits are running up the cost of health care in America.
    Frivolous lawsuits against docs and hospitals are making it harder for
    you to be able to afford health care. We need medical liability reform
    at the Federal level--now.
        We're interested in making sure our jobs don't go overseas and that
    there's jobs available for citizens all across our country. We need
    affordable and reliable supplies of energy. Here in Ohio, you know what
    I'm talking about. [Laughter] You've experienced the disruption and high
    cost when factories and cities lose power. It's time for our Nation to
    modernize the electricity systems. We need to promote clean coal
    technology so we've got abundant supplies of energy. We need to explore
    for more natural gas. We need to promote conservation. There's a lot of
    things we need to do. One thing is for certain: In order to expand our
    job base, we need to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        Finally, to make sure this economy grows, to make sure the
    entrepreneurial spirit is strong, we must have certainty in the Tax
    Code. It's important for elected officials to understand that if you're
    a business leader, if you're the CEO of a corporation, and you're
    uncertain about your taxes from year to year, because of--because the
    tax policy is haphazard, it's hard for you to plan. It's hard for you to
    think ahead. It's hard for you to be confident in your investment
    strategy.
        Part of the issues we face here in the future of this country is the
    fact that the tax relief we passed is going to expire. The marriage
    penalty will go back up. By the way, it doesn't make any sense to have a
    marriage penalty in the Tax Code when you're trying to encourage
    marriage in the country. The child credit will go back down if Congress
    doesn't act. The death tax will eventually come back to life. Imagine
    what it's going to be like in 2011, when it's supposed to come back to
    life. There's going to be a lot of people maybe trying to die a little
    earlier to avoid the--[laughter]--it's unbelievable, when you think
    about it. Think about public policy that says your taxes are going to be
    down this year but not. We may have increased expensing allowances or
    not. Uncertainty in the Tax Code makes it hard for the job base to
    continue to expand. For the sake of job creation, Congress needs to make
    the tax cuts permanent.
        The third basic responsibility is to make sure American workers are
    prepared for successful careers in the new economy. Some sectors are
    producing fewer jobs, but in other areas, jobs are growing. They're
    multiplying. There's a lot of opportunity in a changing economy. Here in
    Ohio, there's a shortage of nurses and pharmacists and other skilled
    professionals. And so any viable economic strategy, progrowth strategy,
    must be to help people find new skills, to gain new skills, to be able
    to fill the new jobs of the 21st century. If you're in a period of
    transition, you must help people make that transition.
        All skills start with education. I'm a strong proponent of the
    legislation we passed in Washington called the No Child Left Behind Act.
    This is a good piece of legislation which is challenging the soft
    bigotry of low expectations. We've raised the bar. See, we believe every
    child can learn to read and write and add and subtract.

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    That's what we believe. And therefore, we expect every child to achieve
    those skills. And therefore, we're expecting, in return for Federal
    money, the school districts to measure, because if you don't measure,
    how do you know. We've just got to stop this practice of shuffling kids
    through the school as if they don't matter. What matters is every child
    gets a basic education. And if you can't read, you're not going to be
    able to take advantage of the new jobs of the 21st century. And that's
    why we're focused on secondary schools, and that's why we've got plans
    to help high school students who've fallen behind in reading and math to
    gain the skills necessary to be able to work in this new economy.
        We've got programs to help workers who've been displaced by the
    effects of trade by giving them assistance in job training and health
    care and relocation. I proposed what's called personal reemployment
    accounts for people who need extra help so they can pay for child care
    and transportation and other costs of finding work. In other words,
    we're trying to help people.
        But we've got a plan as well. It's an important plan that's going to
    make a big difference, and that is to help the community colleges train
    workers for jobs which actually exist. Community colleges need to listen
    to the business community and the community in which they live. They
    need to ask the question, what do we need to do to train workers? What
    are you looking for? What kind of skill set is necessary for you to hire
    this person? They need to be flexible. The curriculums must be willing
    to change. The community college system has got a fantastic opportunity
    to make sure workers gain the skills necessary to become employable in
    this changing economy.
        I was in Toledo recently and talked with a guy named Mike
    Potter. He lost a manufacturing job. He went
    back to the community college to get retrained. He got help. The
    Government paid. And he got retrained, and he found a new job because he
    was willing to go back to school and the community college listened to
    the employers in the community in which he lived.
        I was in Northern Virginia and went to a community college system. I
    met Connie Mitchell. She heard there was
    jobs available in the health industry. And by the way, there's a lot of
    jobs being created in the health industry. And so she went to the
    community college, and they gave her the skills necessary to become a
    nurse. And now she's employed.
        In Mesa, Arizona, I met Stacey Leedom,
    who's a single mom--which, by the way, is the hardest job in America,
    being a single mom. She was a graphic artist. She had worked for a
    company, I think, for 12 or 13 years. She got help to go back to Mesa
    Community College. She learned a new skill in the computer industry. And
    in her first year of a new job, she made more than she did after 12
    years as a graphic artist.
        You see, if you become a more productive citizen, you'll make more
    money. Better productivity, better skills means higher pay. And our
    country must focus our education system on helping workers learn the new
    skills of the 21st century so we can increase the job base of this
    country.
        You know, it wasn't all that long ago that some people said that
    America was not up to global competition. I don't know if you remember
    back in the seventies and eighties--that's what we heard, though, wasn't
    it, that we couldn't compete with the Japanese, that they were too good
    at being automobile makers, that foreign companies would soon overtake
    our own, that we just weren't up to it. That's what a lot of people said
    in that period. We were told that American companies weren't flexible
    enough, American workers were not disciplined enough, and American
    products weren't good enough.
        Well, the pessimists were wrong. American companies remade
    themselves to beat the competition. Great ideas for improvement came
    from our workforce, workers who are on the line. And the leaders of

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    those companies listened. The entrepreneurial spirit was strong in
    America, and it was the American entrepreneur that invented new
    technologies, technologies that have made this country the most
    productive in the world. Our economy performed like never before, and
    today, no one doubts what nation's economy leads this world.
        Our Nation in 2004 is vibrant. As opposed to retreating like the
    pessimists thought, we're selling computer chips to Japan. We're
    producing BMWs in Greer, South Carolina, for export to Germany. We're
    even exporting California wine to France.
        There are people who doubt our ability to compete. There are
    economic isolationists who surrender and wall us off. It's bad for the
    country, bad for consumers. It's bad for workers. We'll prove the
    pessimists wrong again. We'll continue to open up untapped markets for
    American workers and businesses. We'll keep this Government on the side
    of growth and job creation, so American businesses can compete and
    prosper. We'll focus on job training and education, so Americans can
    improve their skills and improve their lives. We'll get the policies
    right, and the American people will do the rest. You will show, once
    again, that this Nation has the energy and the confidence and the
    creativity to meet every challenge.
        I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for
    your spirit. I want to thank you for working hard to realize the
    American Dream and own your own business. I want to thank you for
    employing people. I want to thank you for the faith of your country.
        May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. at the Cleveland Convention
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley of
    Ohio; and former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.