    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 29, 2004]
    [Pages 152-158]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on the National Economy in Merrimack, New
    Hampshire
    January 29, 2004

        The President. Thank you, Dale.
    Appreciate it. Thank you all. Be seated, please. It's nice to be back. I
    understand there's been some activity in the State of New Hampshire
    recently. [Laughter] I appreciate your hospitality. It's great to be
    back at Fidelity. It's good to see Mr. Johnson, Ned Johnson, who is the founder of this fantastic company. And
    Abby, the president--Abby Johnson. There is
    nothing wrong with a child following in the father's footsteps.
    [Laughter]
        It is really good to be back here again. I really appreciate you
    coming. We're going to have an interesting discussion today about the
    economy. And before we get to there, I do want to say something about
    some of the elected officials that have joined us, starting with your
    two United States Senators. My buddy Judd Gregg
    does a fabulous job for the people of New Hampshire, and I'm really
    proud he's here. Thank you, Judd. And so is Sununu--John Sununu is doing a fine job as well.
        I am proud that Jeb Bradley, the Congressman
    from this district, traveled with me today. I appreciate Jeb's
    leadership and his friendship in the Congress. Thank you, Jeb. And of
    course, there's Charlie Bass, who is the
    other Congressman from this great State--good friend, fine Congressman.
    I appreciate you coming, Charlie.
        I know we got State officials here. The attorney general is here;
    the leader of the senate is here; the speaker of the house is here. I
    appreciate Bernie Streeter, the mayor of
    Nashua, being here. It's good to see you again, Bernie. I want to thank
    a lot of my buddies who are on the Executive Council for the great State
    of New Hampshire. It's good to see Ruthie Griffin and Ray and Dave
    Wheeler. I appreciate you all coming. I'm
    honored that you're here.
        Most of all, I want to thank you all for giving us a chance to talk
    about the economy. Before we do so, though, I do want to point out a
    citizen named Dan Hebert who is with us. Dan is a
    USA Freedom Corps volunteer. Two years ago, I started what's called the
    USA Freedom Corps. It was started to give people a chance to serve their
    communities. There's a lot of volunteering going on in this State, and
    you just witnessed an accolade for one.
        But so we in Washington started this web site for people to be able
    to tap into kind of modern technology to find out what was available in
    your area, if you wanted to follow your heart and serve your community.
    And Dan is one such person. He is a--he's using
    his 25 years in business to help youngsters understand the basics of the
    economy. In other words, he's mentoring a child.
        We talk about the great strengths of our country--oftentimes, people
    think about the military might of America. And by the way, it is a great
    strength, and we're going to keep it that way. They talk about the
    wealth of the country. But the truth of

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    the matter is, the strength of our country is the heart and soul of our
    citizens, people who are willing to volunteer time to serve in a cause
    greater than themselves, which is to help somebody who hurts or to lend
    a talent to help somebody achieve the American Dream.
        And I appreciate all of you who are volunteering. I love it when I
    hear a company like Fidelity is at 3,500 man-hours of volunteer time. It
    speaks to the--it speaks to the charitable nature of the executives of
    this company, and it speaks to the great hearts of the employees.
        Dan, I want to thank you for coming as well.
    I appreciate you coming out to the airport. I appreciate you setting an
    example. And if the people of New Hampshire are interested in serving
    your State, love your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved
    yourself. Volunteer of your time to help somebody who hurts, and New
    Hampshire will be a better place when you do so.
        We're here to talk about this economy. I want to remind you what our
    economy has been through. See, I'm really optimistic about the future. I
    think after you hear this discussion, I think you'll be optimistic--at
    least, if you pay attention to what you hear. [Laughter] But I'm
    optimistic because I know what we've been through, and I want you to
    think about what we've been through.
        First, we had a recession in America. The stock market started to
    decline in March of 2000. It was kind of a leading indicator of what was
    to come. And then the country went into a recession. The first three
    quarters of '01 were negative growth. When you have negative growth, it
    means people are not working. And times were tough. The people of New
    Hampshire know what I'm talking about. When that recession came, it was
    awfully hard for some people to be able to do their duty as a mom and a
    dad to put food on the table, because their work wasn't steady. And they
    were worried about employment, if they were working at all.
        And then things started to get pretty good; we started coming out of
    it. And then the enemy hit us. And make no mistake about it, that
    affected America. It affected our economy in a big way. It also affected
    our psychology. There was a day when we thought oceans could protect us
    from an enemy, that we were okay if there was a threat overseas because
    oceans served as protection for America. September the 11th changed that
    forever. It changed that point of view, and the war affected us.
        As an aside, I do want to thank the people of New Hampshire for
    understanding the stakes, that the world has changed, that in order to
    make America secure, we must stay on the offensive against those who
    would do us harm. And to that end, you've sent brave souls from the New
    Hampshire National Guard into harm's way. And I want to thank the moms
    and dads and husbands and wives of those troops who are making a great
    sacrifice for the country.
        I particularly want to pay tribute to Sergeant Randy
    Rosenberg of Berlin, New Hampshire, who
    paid the ultimate price for our security and freedom. Our prayers go to
    his loved ones, and we thank him for his service. I want his loved ones
    to know and the people of New Hampshire know that a free and peaceful
    Iraq is in this Nation's interests. A free and peaceful Iraq in the
    heart of the Middle East is in our Nation's long-term security
    interests. It will mean our children can grow up in a more secure and
    peaceful world.
        I also want you to know strongly that I believe that freedom is not
    America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty's gift to each
    person in this world. And where we see suffering and tyranny and
    starvation and brutalization, this Nation will act. We'll act for our
    own security; we'll act for the freedom of others. We've made some tough
    choices recently. But all these choices were aimed for one thing, to
    make America more

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    secure, the world more free, and the world more peaceful.
        And then when we got going after the attacks, we had some corporate
    scandals in America which affected the economy. It affected the economy
    because when CEOs act incredibly irresponsibly like they were, it
    creates doubt. In a system that requires trust, there was doubt. And we
    acted, though. We didn't sit around trying to figure out what to do. We
    passed tough laws to hold corporate criminals to account. The message is
    very clear now to people in corporate America: If you've got the
    responsibility to shareholders and employees, we expect you to tell the
    truth; we expect you to be above-board; we expect you to be honest; and
    if not, there will be consequences.
        And then, finally, we began a march to war for our security, and
    it's hard to be optimistic during a period when you're marching to war.
    March to war is not a positive thought. Now we're marching to peace. Now
    times have changed. We're beyond that period. We'll debate about the
    decision, and I look forward to those discussions with the American
    people. I'm absolutely convinced it was the right thing to do, and I
    look forward to explaining it clearly to the American people.
        But now we're secure in the peace. And we move--we've been through a
    lot, if you think about it, in 3 years. It's a lot for an economy to go
    through and a nation to go through. But this is a strong nation because
    we're entrepreneurial, we believe in our people. It's a strong nation,
    really, because the American people are strong, tough, resilient,
    compassionate people.
        Congress acted too--I had a little hand in it. [Laughter] It said,
    ``If we've got a slow economy, if we've got a lot of things we overcome,
    let us let people keep more of their own money.'' We believe that when
    people have more money to spend, to save, or invest, the economy will
    grow and people are more likely to find work. The tax relief we passed
    was essential to get the economy going. It's essential to let people
    have money.
        It's working. It's working. The economy is growing. People are
    finding work. There's an excitement in our economy. And the tax relief
    we passed made sense then; it makes sense now; and Congress needs to
    make this tax relief permanent. We need to make sure that people--
    [applause].
        Yesterday I gave a talk about how to continue economic vitality. One
    of them is to help--controlling costs of health care. There's ways to do
    that without nationalizing health care. I'm absolutely convinced, if the
    Federal Government tries to run the health care system, it will foul it
    up: People will get lousy care; the doctor-patient relationship will be
    destroyed; and the cost of medicine will go up. I believe in allowing
    small businesses to pool risk across association health plans in order
    to control costs. I believe in expanding health savings accounts for
    Americans, which will create cost savings in the system. I believe we
    need medical liability reform all across America to get rid of the junk
    lawsuits that raise the cost of medicine.
        Our housing market is strong. We intend to keep it that way. There's
    a homeownership gap in America, by the way, that we need to address.
    There's a minority homeownership gap. I want to thank the Congress for
    working with us to pass what we call a downpayment plan to help the
    poor--the poor make a downpayment on a home. We're simplifying the fine
    print, the rules in Washington.
        Listen, if you're a first-time homebuyer and you take a look at one
    of these mortgage application forms, you pass out over the amount of
    small words in the thing. [Laughter] It makes you nervous. So we're
    simplifying it. We're helping people understand what it means to buy a
    home. We're making good progress when it comes to closing the minority
    homeownership gap. Homeownership is high in America today, and that's
    good for the country. The more

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    people own something, the more they have a stake in the future of this
    country.
        You can tell I'm upbeat, and I've got reason to be. And I've got
    reason to be. Not only the numbers say things are looking pretty good;
    the American people are telling me they feel pretty good. The American
    people feel confident about the future.
        I'm here with Louise Hickey. She's a
    Fidelity employee, been here 5 years. She is--she saved $1,100 on tax
    relief last year. Now, that may not sound like a lot to some of the
    people who are rolling in cash--[laughter]--that's a lot. It made a
    difference.
        Welcome.

    [Louise Hickey, senior executive secretary, human resources/payroll
    department, Fidelity Investments, made brief remarks.]

        Ms. Hickey. My future is with Fidelity, I
    hope. I hope to retire from Fidelity.
        The President. It is now. [Laughter]
        Ms. Hickey. Well, the only thing that
    would keep me from that would be an offer from the White House that I
    couldn't refuse. [Laughter]
        The President. I don't know; I'm not so sure. [Laughter]

    [Ms. Hickey made further remarks.]

        The President. Louise talked about the
    marriage penalty relief. It doesn't make any sense to tax marriage. I
    mean, you're trying to encourage marriage in America, not discourage it.
    And the Tax Code ought to do so.
        By the way, part of the tax relief we passed, of course, was to
    raise the child credit from $600 to $1,000 a child. It means if you've
    got young kids, it helps. We're about to talk to somebody, Steve
    Marshall, who has got young kids. It helps a
    lot.
        I want to remind you about another aspect of the tax relief. We're
    reduced taxes on everybody, as opposed to trying to pick or choose
    winners in the political debate. Everybody got tax relief. It had a
    significant impact not only on individuals' lives--that is, rate
    reduction did--but it also affected small businesses.
        A lot of small businesses are what they call sole proprietorships or
    Subchapter S corps. They pay tax at the individual tax rate level. And
    by reducing all taxes, we benefited the small-business sector of
    America. And that's very important, for this reason: 70 percent of new
    jobs in America are created by small businesses. And if you're
    interested in job creation, it seems to make sense to stimulate growth
    in the small-business sector, which is precisely what we did.
        We're going to hear from some small-business owners in a minute. But
    I just wanted to remind you about some of those aspects of the Tax
    Code--by the way, all of which are set to expire. In order to get the
    bill out of the Congress, they said, ``Fine, we'll give you tax relief,
    but we're going to take it away pretty soon.'' So when you hear me talk
    about making it permanent, the reason I have to say that is that the law
    isn't permanent.
        And you're about to hear the story of a fellow who's got three young
    kids. Steve Marshall works at Fidelity, been
    here since '96. Steve, I appreciate you coming. Tell us about your
    family. Tell us about the tax savings, about $2,200. By the way--and
    that's per year. It's not just a year. This is permanent, so long as
    it's in existence. And one of the things we're going to keep talking to
    Congress about--I don't have any problem with these Congressmen and
    Senators but--[laughter]--is to make it permanent.
        Steve, welcome.

    [Steve Marshall, manager, Fidelity Investments, Nashua, NH, made brief
    remarks.]

        The President. One of the things that he mentioned, he said, he
    spent the money to renew his--to remodel his house. Well, somebody had
    to come and remodel the house. Somebody had to buy the equipment. The
    way this economy works is,

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    when you put money in circulation, you increase demand for goods and
    services, and that's important when times are slow. So Steve goes out and demands an additional good and a service.
    He demanded the service of somebody remodeling his house. The good was
    the toilet or whatever he put in the bathroom. [Laughter]
        Mr. Marshall. Toilet and shower. It's
    beautiful.
        The President. Shower, yes, the shower. [Laughter] I'd suggest a
    toilet as well. [Laughter] But any rate, it puts money in circulation.
    That's how the economy works. So when you hear people say, ``Tax relief
    didn't affect the economy,'' think about Steve and the fact that he had additional money that not only
    could he set aside for savings, but he had additional money to go spend.
    And it's that spending on the margin that got things moving throughout
    the economy, because there's millions of decisions being made daily with
    people who have got extra money.
        The other thing you've got to know is that if the tax relief isn't
    made permanent, just next year alone he will have a $1,000 tax increase.
    In other words, the child credit goes away in 2005. That means the
    benefits of the tax relief start getting sucked out of the economy at
    the exact wrong time. We need to keep this money in the hands of the
    people of America.
        Listen, Government has got plenty of money, and it needs to stay
    focused and principled. We need to be wise with the taxpayers' money.
    But it turns out, when you're trying to keep your economy going, the
    best way to do so is not through Government spending, but it's through
    the spending of thousands of individuals across our economic spectrum.
        And this is exactly why I've asked Steve
    to come today, so he can help explain how you increase demand and what
    it means for a family's security. He's got three young kids. He's now
    got a little extra money in his pocket to save or to spend, and all of a
    sudden, life looks better. He's more optimistic, and that's important
    for this Nation, for people to feel that way.
        So thanks for coming. Your baby is beautiful, by the way. I see her
    back there.
        Amy Meaney is with us. Amy is an employee of
    Fidelity as well. She's ready to go.

    [Amy Meaney, health, welfare, and payroll benefits associate, Fidelity
    Investments, Goffstown, NH, made brief remarks.]

        Ms. Meaney. And I do have a question for you
    on behalf of New England. We need to know, are you rooting for the Pats
    this weekend? [Laughter]
        The President. Did you notice who was in the box with Mrs.
    Bush at the State of the Union? Tom Brady.
        Let me change the subject here. [Laughter] See, if you're a young
    family--[laughter]--no kidding, think about this. [Laughter] Think about
    a young family worried about their future, worried about jobs, worried
    about the economy, worried about what we've been through, and all of a
    sudden, there's $2,000 additional a year to spend. It makes a huge
    difference. It makes a huge difference.
        Sometimes in Washington we forget the effects of policy on people,
    the positive effects. And this $2,000 means a lot to the Meaney family. By the way, if Congress doesn't act to make the
    child credit permanent, they lose $715. It's like a tax increase. When
    you're coming out of economic slow times, you don't want to tax people.
    It will slow this economy down. We're making progress. The third quarter
    growth of last year was the highest in nearly 20 years. Things are
    positive.
        And Congress has got to know that when they say, ``Oh, we must let
    the tax cuts expire,'' it affects the Meaneys. It
    affects them to the tune of $715 per year. And with two little kids,
    that matters.
        I appreciate you coming. Quit putting me on the spot. [Laughter]
        So we've got employees of Fidelity here, citizens who are trying to
    get ahead. And

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    I appreciate you sharing the stories. We've also got some entrepreneurs,
    some business owners, some dreamers, some people who are willing to take
    risk in order to produce good product or good services and, at the same
    time, employ people.
        Michael Barrett is with us. He's the CEO
    of AeroSat Corporation. Michael, how long you been in business? Give us
    a little feel for what you're doing. Let her go. [Laughter]
        Michael Barrett. Thank you, Mr.
    President. Thank you for having us here. AeroSat Corporation was
    inspired by your father in 1991. At that time----
        The President. I'll tell him. [Laughter]
        Mr. Barrett. Thank you.

    [Mr. Barrett made brief remarks.]

        The President. The role of Government is not to create wealth; it is
    to create an environment in which people like Michael feel free and
    comfortable about taking risk. Listen, we can't make Michael have good ideas. We can't make him develop a good
    business plan. We can't make people be good business people, but we can
    say, ``If you're willing to invest, here's some more money. Here's some
    incentive to do so.''
        He invests $1.4 million. That means he's
    buying equipment from somebody. Somebody has to manufacture it. Somebody
    is now working to manufacture that product. There is more vibrancy in
    the economy. Just like when an individual makes a decision to purchase
    something, when a business does, the same thing happens; the effect
    throughout the economy is so positive and so strong. He said, ``You
    know, well, we hired 11 people last year.'' That doesn't sound like a
    lot to some of these mega-corporations. It's a lot to a small business,
    and it's a lot to America, when you think about the number of Michaels
    there are all over the country hiring an additional 11 people on an
    annual basis.
        Most new jobs in America are created by people like
    Michael, small-business owners, 70 percent
    of the new jobs. And therefore, any good policy says, we must recognize
    the worth of the small businesses, provide incentive for small
    businesses, and when we do so, make those incentives permanent.
        So I appreciate you, Michael, for
    coming.
        Are you ready, Gerardine? We've got Gerardine Ferlins is with us. Gerardine is the president of
    Cirtronics. Gerardine is running a big company, and we're honored you're
    here. Thanks for coming. We look forward to hearing your story.

    [Gerardine Ferlins made brief remarks.]

        The President. I appreciate it. I knew our generation would amount
    to something. [Laughter] Listen, one of the things that really is so
    wonderful about our country is the entrepreneurial spirit. You've just--
    you've heard it. You've heard people talk about the joy of creating job
    opportunities for fellow citizens and the joy of beating all odds and
    succeeding and then the recognition of the responsibility that comes
    with success. And I appreciate that a lot. It's really a good example
    for people to see.
        By the way, if there's any young women here in New Hampshire
    wondering whether or not they can go into the business world, just take
    a look at Gerardine. Realize what is
    absolutely possible if you've got a good idea and the heart to work hard
    and the ability to dream big----
        Ms. Ferlins. We're 65 percent women.
    That's the good and bad news for the men in the organization. [Laughter]
        The President. All right, big Joe. Joe Landers is with us. He's the president and CEO of Customized
    Structures, Inc. He's in the housing industry, not a bad place to be
    these days, I suspect. Tell us about your company. Tell us about
    whatever you want to tell us. You've got the floor.

    [Joseph Landers made brief remarks.]

        Mr. Landers. If I might add, just as a
    side note, I don't know if you're aware of it, but your father's
    compound in

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    Kennebunkport actually has a modular home on it that was put there for
    the Secret Service when he was President.
        The President. Oh, yes, that's good. [Laughter] Well, I'll tell
    him to buy a new one here--[laughter]--from
    you. [Laughter]
        Listen, I started off by telling everybody I felt optimistic about
    the future of this country. And they've made my case. I hope--if you
    listen to the stories of what's happening in America, you get this sense
    of optimism and the can-do spirit and the willingness of people to
    invest and save, because they're confident about this country. And I am
    too. And I'll tell you, I'm going to repeat one reason why: I love the
    people of this country. I love the spirit of America. I love the
    entrepreneurial spirit, the spirit of love, the deep compassion, the
    love of family. The values of this country are strong, which makes
    America strong, which makes me grateful to be the President of the
    greatest country on the face of the Earth.
        Thank you all for coming, and God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:37 p.m. at Fidelity Investments. In his
    remarks, he referred to Dale Gilpin, vice president and general manager,
    Merrimack Regional Site, Fidelity Investments; Edward C. ``Ned'' Johnson
    3d, chairman and chief executive officer, Fidelity Investments; Abigail
    Johnson, president, Fidelity Management and Research Co.; Bernie
    Streeter, mayor, Nashua, NH: Ruth L. Griffin, Raymond J. Wieczorek, and
    David K. Wheeler, members, New Hampshire Executive Council; and Tom
    Brady, quarterback, New England Patriots.