    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [October 20, 2008]
    [Pages 1325-1327]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Business Leaders in Alexandria,
    Louisiana
    October 20, 2008

        I am honored to be with you all. Thank you very much for hosting
    this meeting here--and the good folks from Alexandria and Pineville,
    Louisiana.

    [[Page 1326]]

        I have come to talk about the economic situation in the country. A
    lot of the people down here and other parts of the country are wondering
    why a free market-oriented President made the decisions to--necessary,
    well, to get the Government buying stocks in banks, for example. Why
    would you do that?
        The answer is, because I was deeply concerned about a financial
    crisis becoming so profound and so acute that it hurt the people and
    small-business owners here in Alexandria and Pineville--that's why. If I
    felt that the crisis could be contained in Wall Street, then I'd have
    taken a different course of action. But the crisis that was gripping
    this country, and still has a grip on this country, affects the people
    around this table. And that's why I made the decision I made.
        Part of that decision is to make sure that the people who end up
    with hard-working taxpayers' money don't enrich themselves as a result
    of that kind of money. As I was talking to Rodney Alexander--he's a fine Congressman from this part of
    the world--he said, ``One thing people want to make sure of, Mr.
    President, is that when you invest that they're not able to take that
    Government investment and use it to their own advantage, personally.''
    In other words, golden parachutes or something like that.
        Secondly, I believe--and I can say this with confidence to the
    people out here--that I think we're going to get--be able to get most of
    your money back. And the reason I say that is because the Government is
    really making investments and obviously making investments in a
    difficult period for our economy. And we're big enough and patient
    enough to be able to hold these investments. Plus, the investments are
    structured to encourage, for example, big banks, when they get back on
    their feet and get doing better to be--to buy back the shares or get
    somebody else to buy back the shares.
        One of the things that I have heard around the table--and I'm not
    surprised--is that the regional banks and the community banks, which
    provide such an important part of many communities--or are such an
    important part of many communities and provide such stability for the
    country's financial system, they're worried about being labeled with the
    same brush as some of the big banks that have had economic difficulties.
    And I think the people in Alexandria need to know that community banks
    are strong, and they got good capital ratios, and they're healthy. And
    that's good. It's going to be very important for the small-business
    sector.
        I am deeply concerned about the small-business sector. Seventy
    percent of new jobs in America are created by small-business owners. And
    we've got small-business owners with us today, and one of the problems
    facing small-business owners is that they were very worried that their
    noninterest-bearing accounts in banks were not insured. And so the FDIC
    took action to insure those accounts so that small-business owners can
    be comfortable that their money they got in place for inventories are in
    good shape.
        And then the question I've asked here is, what are the attitudes
    like? And I have heard that people's attitudes are beginning to change
    from a period of intense concerns--and I would call it near panic--to
    being more relaxed and beginning to see the effects of changes in the
    liquidity that is being pumped in the system. Now, we got a long way to
    go. As I said Friday, this thaw--took a while to thaw; it's going to
    take a while to unthaw. But it's--but the attitude here is a little
    different than it might have been a week ago.
        And so I want to thank you all very much for giving me a chance to
    come visit with you. I'm very fond of this part of the country. It's not
    that far away from my home State. And so appreciate your time.
    Appreciate the good folks in this part of the world. I do want to thank
    all those who

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    have said prayers for me and Laura during our
    Presidency. It's meant an awful lot. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:32 p.m. at the Central Louisiana Chamber
    of Commerce.