[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 5 (Monday, February 2, 2004)]
[Pages 159-164]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 website for people to be able 
to tap into kind

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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 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 secure, the world more free, and the world more 
peaceful.

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    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 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.

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[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, 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

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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 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

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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 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.