[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 6, 2006]
[Pages 1789-1790]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the National Economy
October 6, 2006

    Secretary Paulson and I want to 
thank FedEx for inviting us here today to have a discussion about our 
economy and about entrepreneurship. We just met with a handful of small-
business owners, business creators, people who had an innovative idea, 
followed up on their idea, and have now built healthy little businesses 
that are growing and employing people.
    I don't necessarily want to speak for the Secretary, but I will tell you that it does my spirits good to 
be able to talk to risk takers and dreamers and doers. And one of the 
jobs of government is to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong 
by creating an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, which means 
low taxes, less regulation, rational spending at the Government level, 
opening markets overseas so that the entrepreneur can trade but is 
treated fairly, and making sure that foreign countries don't steal 
products; that's called intellectual property rights. It's to really say 
to the good folks in America that Government will help you as opposed to 
impede your ability to expand your company. And the entrepreneurial 
spirit is strong in America. Our economy is strong.
    I say that because today we got more good news. The national 
unemployment rate is down to 4.6 percent. We have added 6.6 million new 
jobs since August of 2003. The wages are going up; energy prices are 
falling, which means people are going to have more money in their pocket 
to save, invest, or spend. And the fundamental question is, how do we 
make sure we sustain the economic growth? And one way to do so is to 
make the tax cuts we passed permanent. One sure way to hurt this economy 
is to take money out of the pockets of consumers or small-business 
owners and send it to Washington, DC.
    And so I'm pleased with the economic progress we're making. The 
Secretary of the Treasury and I will 
continue to work

[[Page 1790]]

as hard as we can to encourage entrepreneurial--entrepreneurship and 
small-business growth.
    And so, again, I want to thank the people of FedEx. This is a great 
example of what is possible in America. A fellow I knew long years ago, 
named Fred Smith, had a dream about how 
to better distribute mail and product. And he and a lot of other good 
folks built this into a great American company.
    So I want to thank the folks here for letting us come by to say 
hello.

Note: The President spoke at 11:27 a.m. at the FedEx Express DCA 
Facility. In his remarks, he referred to Frederick W. Smith, chairman, 
president, and chief executive officer, FedEx Corp.