    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [February 1, 2008]
    [Pages 142-145]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Hallmark Cards, Inc., in Kansas City
    February 1, 2008

        Thank you all. Thank you for letting me come by to say hello. A
    couple of observations: One, you work for a fabulous company of caring
    people. I appreciate, Don, your
    hospitality. I am still trying to recover from the kindergarten
    experience. [Laughter] I mean, you talk about sapping a person's energy.
    [Laughter] But it was a fabulous experience.
        I got to see Hallmark cards being made, and the fella kindly made me
    one that said, ``For your daughters.'' It was sweet; it just didn't have any warning in
    there about how to conduct myself for the upcoming wedding. [Laughter]
        I'm here in Kansas City for a couple of reasons. One, I do want to
    spend a little time on the economy. I had breakfast this morning with
    entrepreneurs, small-business owners. I want to find out what's on their
    mind. I will tell you that there's a sense of optimism, I was pleased to
    hear. People are confident about the future--at least, these
    businessowners were--and they should be. Interest rates are low;
    inflation is low; productivity is high. But there are certainly some
    troubling signs. There's serious signs that the economy is weakening and
    that we got to do something about it.
        Today we got such a sign when after 52 consecutive months of job
    creation, we lost 17,000 jobs. The unemployment rate went down, but
    nevertheless, a serious matter is, is that for the first time in 52
    months that we didn't create jobs.
        And so the question is, what do we do about it? Does Government have
    a responsibility, and if so, what is it? I do think Government has a
    responsibility. I think Government can take decisive action to help us
    deal with this period of uncertainty.
        One such action is to help people stay in their homes. We got--some
    of our citizens purchased mortgages that they can't afford now.
    Hopefully, the reason--hopefully, they didn't get deceived, and if they
    did, the Government has a responsibility to take care of that. In other
    words, we don't want people buying a mortgage and

    [[Page 143]]

    the person who sold them the mortgage didn't fully disclose the reset
    inherent in a subprime note.
        But we can help people stay in their homes by connecting the
    borrower with the mortgage industry. Now, what makes it difficult in
    this day and age is that when I bought a home, I sat down with the
    savings and loan officer. And had I gotten in a financial bind, I would
    have gone back to that same officer and said, you own my note; help me
    refinance so I can stay in my home. Today, that financial institution
    probably doesn't own the note anymore; somebody else owns the note. And
    therefore, we're trying to make sure we connect the borrower with
    somebody in the mortgage industry that will help them refinance.
        And that's why we started what's called the HOPE NOW Alliance.
    Secretary Paulson and Secretary
    Jackson are bringing people together
    from the private sector, and they couple that with an information
    campaign, so that people who have a subprime loan know how to refinance
    and can find somebody to help them refinance. And it's been a
    complicated matter, but nevertheless, we're very much engaged in helping
    people sort through what is definitely a difficult period in their life.
        The Government can help. The Federal Housing Administration has got
    the capacity to help refinance homes, and they need to expand the
    authority of the FHA to do it. And Congress needs to get that bill
    passed. I mean, this will be a positive step toward helping people stay
    in homes. And that's what we want to do. See, you notice I'm not saying,
    we're going to bail out the lenders. We're going to help the individual
    person be able to keep their home. It's in the interest of the country
    we do that.
        Secondly, there's bonding authorities, tax-exempt bonding
    authorities, that are now used to help people buy new homes. States and
    local governments ought to be able to use that money to help people stay
    in the home they have. And that will be helpful as well. And so here are
    some constructive measures that we can take. There's a cyclicality when
    it comes to the housing interests--housing industry. But in the
    meantime, or during this down cycle, we want to help individual
    Americans.
        Secondly, a concern is whether or not our consumers will lose
    confidence in our economy. You don't want that to happen at Hallmark.
    You want the consumers to still buy your product on a regular basis. And
    one way to address that issue is to have a temporary, robust tax rebate.
    And that's what we're working on in Congress. You hear this discussion
    of a stimulus package. Well, a key component of that package is to get--
    give you some of your money back so you can spend it.
        And the House of Representatives passed a good package. The
    administration worked with the House--it may surprise you that
    Republicans and Democrats can actually get something done in a
    constructive fashion, but it happened in this case, for the good of the
    country. And now the Senate is debating the bill, and it's very
    important for the Senate to finish their work quickly cause the sooner
    we can get money into our consumers' hands, the more likely it is, is
    that this economy will get back--recover from this period of
    uncertainty.
        The fundamentals are strong. We're just in a rough patch, as
    witnessed by the employment figures today. And I'm confident we can get
    through this rough patch. And one way to do it is to--for Congress and
    the administration to work collaboratively and get this deal done.
        Now, a key component, as well, of a growth package is to encourage
    businesses to invest. And why would you do that? Well, if Hallmark buys
    a new piece of equipment, somebody has to make that equipment. In other
    words, job creation happens when people make investments. And if you,
    therefore, stimulate businesses, both large and small, to make
    investments this year, as quickly as possible, it means somebody is more
    likely to keep work and the economy will continue to be strong.

    [[Page 144]]

        So the two key components of this package are, one, enhance
    consumerism by giving consumers money--it's not like a great gift; after
    all, it's your own money; we're just giving it back to you--and
    encouraging businesses to invest. I believe we can get this package
    done. I know it has to be done quickly. I appreciate the fact that the
    Senate is trying to work through this as quickly as possible. I'm just
    urging them to get it done, because the sooner this package makes it to
    my desk, that actually focuses on ways to stimulate growth, the better
    off our economy is going to be.
        Finally, we need to be thinking about how to effect economic growth
    in the long term. In other words, we'll deal with the short-term issue,
    but as we do so, we also need to be wise about the policy so that we can
    continue this period of growth that we've had.
        A couple points I want to make to you on that. One is it's important
    for Hallmark to be able to sell your cards overseas. I mean, the more
    people that are exposed to the Hallmark product, the more likely it is
    that they'll buy. You just want a chance to compete. And so trade is an
    important aspect of--to making sure our economy remains strong. There
    are some folks who worry about trade. They want to protect America from
    products from overseas. I am concerned about protectionism, and so
    should you, because if we end up having trade wars, it's going to be
    less likely Hallmark products will be sold overseas.
        My attitude is, just give us a chance; let's level the playing
    field. We can compete with anybody, anytime. We've got to have
    confidence in our capacity to compete in the world. And trade is an
    important aspect for keeping economic vitality alive.
        Education is important. You've got some awfully smart people working
    here, but they need to be--the future of Hallmark depends upon having an
    educated workforce. And that's the way it is in most U.S. companies.
        And so I'm very much focused on making sure our education system
    gets it right in the beginning--``right in the beginning'' means
    teaching kids to read and write and add and subtract. I cannot stand a
    system that refuses to measure. I think it's an appropriate question to
    ask, can a child read, and if not, what do you intend to do about it?
        Accountability is an integral part of making sure this system
    doesn't leave people behind. I am passionate on the subject of measuring
    because I used to be a Governor of a State, and I knew who got shuffled
    through the schools: inner-city kids. I mean, ``These are people too
    hard to educate; let's just move them through''--or parents who--kids
    whose parents don't speak English as a first language. It's unacceptable
    to America not to insist that every child gets a good education. And so
    I'm going to work with Congress on this No Child Left Behind law, which
    is a very important part of making sure the workforce of the future is
    educated and ready to compete in a global economy.
        Finally, taxes--there is a--you know, I'm sure you've heard that,
    well, we need more money in Washington; therefore, we're going to raise
    your taxes. Of course, it's disguised by saying, we're only going to tax
    rich people, but that's not the way it works. Rich people tend to hire
    lawyers and accountants, and you get stuck with the bill. We don't need
    more money. We need to prioritize your money. We need to be wise about
    how we spend your money.
        Raising taxes in a time of economic uncertainty would be bad for the
    economy, and it would be bad for our people. I believe we ought to trust
    Americans to spend their money. I mean, the truth of the matter is, you
    can spend it more wisely than the Government can. And so in my State of
    the Union the other day, I called upon Congress to make the tax cuts
    permanent. I want to deal with this aspect of uncertainty. See, if you
    think your tax bill is

    [[Page 145]]

    fixing to go up--which it is, unless Congress acts; it will be going up
    in a couple of years--it could change your behavior. It could cause
    people to pull back and not be confident about the future.
        And I also called on them to stop this business about putting
    special projects in legislation without being voted on. That doesn't
    make any sense. I mean, our process is one where there should be
    transparency and--like, if a project is important enough for a Member of
    Congress to slip into what's called a conference report, that project
    ought to be important enough for there to be a full vote--Members of
    Congress get to look at it and see if it makes any sense.
        So I've got an agenda for Congress. I'm looking forward to working
    with them on how to stimulate the economy in the short term, but make
    sure we remain a strong economy in the long term. And I'm looking
    forward to working with them. I like the spirit I found up in the Halls
    of Congress. There's still a little politics in Washington, DC, but
    that's not to say we can't work for the common good.
        And I appreciate you all giving me a chance to come by and visit
    with you. I hope you can tell I'm optimistic about the future of the
    country, realistic about the issues we face, and have--got a plan to
    deal with them. God bless you. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:47 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    Donald J. Hall, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Hallmark
    Cards, Inc.