[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.