[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 40 (Monday, October 13, 2008)]
[Pages 1309-1317]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the National Economy and a Question-and-Answer Session in 
Chantilly, Virginia

October 7, 2008

    The President. Thank you all. Thank you very much. David, thank you 
for the introduction, and thank you for the warm welcome. I'm pleased to 
be here at Guernsey Office Products. I want to thank all of you all for 
working hard to make this visit as comfortable as it is. It's not easy 
to host the President; I understand. [Laughter] But thank you very much, 
David, for being an entrepreneur, a dreamer, a doer, and for providing 
people stable work.
    It's interesting to know that Guernsey is a trusted name throughout 
the Washington area. You sell everything from office supplies to coffee 
products to furnishings. David's a good marketer; he said, ``Listen, I 
understand you're going to be retiring here pretty soon.'' [Laughter] 
``Do you need some furniture in your new digs in Texas?'' [Laughter]
    I met David at the White House earlier, and I--it was my honor to 
welcome him to the White House compound. And I appreciate you welcoming 
me here to your business.
    I know that small businesses like Guernsey around the Nation are 
feeling the impact of the financial crisis. And I appreciate you giving 
me a chance to come and visit with you about what the Government is 
going to do, how we're going to address the challenge, and how we're 
going to get this economy back on track.
    There's no doubt that people from all walks of life and all aspects 
understand that we're having serious times. Families are squeezed by the 
high price of gasoline, and feeling the pinch of food prices and monthly 
mortgage payments. Workers are anxious about whether their paychecks 
will stretch. Some workers are anxious about whether or not they're 
going to keep their jobs.

[[Page 1310]]

    We also know that we're the most dynamic economy in the world, that 
we have been through tough times before, and that we're going to come 
through this time again. Our entrepreneurial system has delivered 
unparalleled levels of productivity and growth and prosperity. During my 
Presidency, we have faced tough times after the terrorist attack of 9/
11, and we came through strongly. And we're going to come through this. 
No question the times are tough, but no question America will emerge. 
And yet, we got some work to do, and that's what I want to share with 
you.
    The immediate challenge facing the economy is a lack of credit. The 
problem became clear when the housing market declined, and complex 
financial assets related to home mortgages dropped in value. People put 
together securities based upon mortgages, and when the mortgages' value 
went down, so did those securities. And this led banks that owned the 
securities to suffer losses. And then they found themselves short on 
capital. Some banks have failed. And other banks, in reaction, have 
restricted lending to businesses and to each other. And that's the 
definition of a credit crunch: People just are not lending.
    Nations around the world, especially in Europe, are facing severe 
credit shortages of their own. So this isn't a problem just in the 
United States; it's a problem that is worldwide.
    To some people, the credit crunch might sound just simply like 
technical talk; it's a technical matter. But the people who work in 
Guernsey, you understand that credit is the fuel that drives economic 
expansion and job creation. And here's how: See, when credit runs dry in 
one part of our economy, there's a chain reaction. So you want to sell a 
desk to somebody. That person needs to borrow the money in the short 
term to buy the desk. And yet, because the credit has tightened, because 
of some banks aren't lending, a potential customer doesn't have the 
money to buy your desk, and that affects you. So a lot of the talk that 
you're hearing about credit crunches applies directly to your business 
here at Guernsey. It hurts your suppliers; it affects the entire 
economy.
    Similar stories play out not only in businesses like Guernsey, but 
all across the economy. And if the credit crunch were allowed to worsen, 
the outcome would become much worse, with widespread job losses, and 
this country could be in a--possibly a painful and deep recession.
    So I decided to do something about it. As you know, I'm a market-
oriented person. I believe markets ought to be allowed to work, until I 
was convinced that this time the Government needed to act, and needed to 
act boldly in the face of a significant problem. So I went to Congress 
and I asked Congress to pass a rescue package. And there were some tough 
moments in the negotiations, as you might remember. Nevertheless, 
Republicans and Democrats did come together to pass a good bill that 
will enable us to handle this challenge head on.
    Now, the plan will provide the Government a range of tools to help 
banks rebuild capital, for example, so they can help move credit that 
will enable people to buy your desks; that it will make it more likely 
people are going to have less job insecurity. When you're building desks 
and selling desks, you find work, and you keep work.
    The bill ensures that responsible, hard-working Americans are 
protected. I mean, one thing is for certain, we don't want your money to 
reward failed executives. There's oversight as the bill gets 
implemented. In other words, people in Washington will worry whether 
there's too much power in the Treasury; therefore, let's have reasonable 
oversight. And I agree, I think that makes a lot of sense.
    It temporarily expands Federal insurance; bank and credit union 
deposits of up to $250,000--that's important. In essence, it's a 
safeguard for a lot of small businesses and a lot of families. In other 
words, if you've got cash in a bank of up to $250,000, it's safe. The 
FDIC has never failed to make good on its promise, and it won't fail to 
make good on its promise.
    These are urgently needed steps. They will help bring stability to 
the volatile markets. They'll help protect 401(k)s and retirement 
accounts. And as the markets begin to stabilize, it will help markets 
overseas.

[[Page 1311]]

    I have been in close contact with European leaders--I was on the 
phone with them this morning--to ensure that our actions are closely 
coordinated. We live in a globalized world. We want to make sure that 
we're effective at what we do. Once we made the decision that there is a 
role for the Federal Government to move to stabilize the markets, we 
want to make sure that all of us move in the best coordinated way as 
possible.
    Interestingly enough, the finance ministers from the G-7 and other 
leading nations will be here in Washington this weekend to make sure 
that the response is coordinated.
    It's going to take time for these actions that I've described to you 
in the bill to have full effect. You want to make sure that when we 
move, we move effectively. You want to make sure that the plan is well 
thought-out and well delivered. Thawing the freeze in the financial 
system is not going to happen overnight, but it will be a process that 
unfolds over several stages. And, obviously, the first stage began last 
Friday, when I signed the rescue package into law.
    And so the Treasury Department is moving aggressively to implement 
the new authorities. In the meantime, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC 
will use their powers to help stabilize the markets. Just this morning, 
the Federal Reserve announced action to provide additional liquidity to 
credit markets. The Federal Government moved--Federal Reserve moved to 
try to free up liquidity so that this credit crisis begins to unwind.
    A few weeks from now, the main elements of the new legislation will 
begin to kick into gear. And as banks rebuild their capital, they'll be 
able to increase lending to each other and begin approving new loans for 
families and businesses. It's not going to happen all at once; it will 
be a gradual process, and it's going to take time to have its full 
effect.
    As the banking sector and the market for troubled assets recover, 
the Government will begin to recoup some of the taxpayers' funds 
invested in the recovery. In other words, some of these assets that were 
taken are at a depressed value. Homeownership--homeowners--home prices 
are down, the value of the assets are down. Eventually, we expect that 
much, if not all, of the tax dollars will be recouped.
    The financial troubles are the most urgent challenges facing our 
economy today, but they're not the only ones. And we'll spend a little 
time talking about them, and then I'll be glad to answer some questions, 
if you have any.
    One pressing concern is, obviously, the cost of energy. The cost of 
energy affects families, but it affects businesses as well, like 
Guernsey, which rely on energy to ship and make your products. High 
energy costs, obviously, are attributable to the high price of oil and 
natural gas. And that's why this administration, in working with 
Congress, has dramatically expanded funding for research into 
alternatives, including hybrid car batteries, fuels like ethanol and 
biodiesel, solar and wind power, and safe and nuclear power--safe and 
clean nuclear power.
    The rescue package I signed last week extended tax incentives to 
alternative energy sources. In other words, the rescue package was just 
not aimed at dealing with the financial issues; it was aimed at dealing 
with the energy issues too, to help encourage alternative energy so we 
become less dependent on foreign oil. However, in the meantime, we need 
to be drilling. I mean, I'd rather us drill here than send our money 
overseas. And we can do so in environmentally friendly ways. Congress 
responded to the will of the people by lifting the ban on offshore 
energy exploration, which is good. It's going to take a while to go 
through all the permitting and all the environmental regulations, but 
nevertheless, a step was--a positive step was taken to become less 
dependent on foreign oil.
    Another issue is home foreclosures, and there's a smart way to deal 
with that. The truth of the matter is, people--some people bought homes 
far beyond their means. Some people bought homes to simply speculate. 
But there's also a lot of sensible homeowners who can make mends--ends 
meet with just a little bit of help, and that's what we want. We want 
people--to help people stay in their homes. And so we've created what's 
called HOPE NOW, which brings together homeowners, lenders, mortgage 
servicers, and others to find ways to prevent foreclosures, to

[[Page 1312]]

help people work through the current mortgage issues.
    I told you that mortgages were bundled up into securities that banks 
bought, and as those securities went down in value, it affected the 
banks' balance sheets. Well, interestingly enough, when you securitize 
mortgages and sell them, it means that the people who originated your 
mortgage is--no longer owns the paper. And so a lot of people say, ``Who 
can I talk to to help me refinance my home? Where do I go?'' And so the 
HOPE NOW allowance--Alliance is an opportunity to say to folks, here's 
how you can find the ways to renegotiate your paper--renegotiate your 
note. And it's working.
    And by the way, we got another initiative out of the Federal Housing 
Administration, and all these programs have so far helped more than 2 
million Americans stay in their homes. In other words, there's an 
ongoing attempt to help people who need just a little help to be able to 
pay off their mortgages. And by the way, most people are paying off 
their mortgages, which ultimately means these mortgage-backed 
securities, the value that we may end up owning, will be recouped. And 
that's why I say there's a good chance the taxpayers will get their 
money back.
    Every American knows the burden of taxes during the tough economic 
time, that burden that falls especially hard. A lot of people are 
wondering whether or not their taxes are going to go up. One of the 
interesting things about the package I signed is that it does prevent 
the Alternative Minimum Tax from kicking in, which would have cost 26 
million Americans $2,200 apiece. During this economic uncertainty, we 
don't need to be raising taxes.
    And so the bill was more than just the rescue plan. The bill helped 
deal with Alternative Minimum Tax that would have kicked in, that would 
have affected a lot of you in this room. And the truth of the matter is, 
I think Congress ought to send a signal when they come back next year, 
and say, look, we're going to make all the tax relief we passed 
permanent, so there's not any doubt in anybody's mind.
    Finally, we need to deal with exports. A bright spot in the economy 
has been that we've exported a lot of goods overseas. People are buying 
our products. They should; we make great products, and we got great 
workers. Last year, about half of our growth was attributable to 
exports, and so it makes sense for Congress to continue to open up 
markets in places like Colombia or Panama or South Korea. Take Colombia, 
for example. Most of their goods come into our economy duty free, and 
yet our goods are taxed in Colombia. I can't understand why Congress 
wouldn't want to at least level the playing field for our workers, to 
simply send them a message: Treat us the way we treat you. That's all we 
want. Give us a fair chance so we can export our goods.
    Exports are a very important part of our economy, and Congress ought 
to work hard to expand markets. We'll work through this. We're taking 
aggressive steps. And it's not an easy problem. No question about it, 
it's tough times. But I am confident in the long term for this country. 
I'm confident that the steps we've taken are bold and necessary. And 
more importantly, I'm confident in the resiliency and the spirit of the 
American people and the workers.
    This isn't the first time the American economy has faced challenges. 
And it's not going to be the first time that we have in a recovery come 
out better, either. You got a motto here at Guernsey that says, ``No 
matter what your clients need, your answer is the same: We can do 
that.'' That ought to be a good motto for the United States right now. 
We can do it.
    Let me--I'll answer some questions. So, like--it's hard to ask the 
President questions, I know. [Laughter]
    Yes, David.

National Economy/Small Businesses

    Q. Mr. President, your words are certainly very reassuring. Every 
time we open up a newspaper or we turn on the TV today, and see all this 
impending financial doom--and I think it's enough to make people want to 
dig a foxhole and hide under. What would be your advice to the small-
business community, in terms of the actions going forward, to dovetail 
with what you're trying to accomplish here?

[[Page 1313]]

    The President. Well, first of all, I would--I think it's, first, 
important to recognize what the problem is. And if a small-business 
owner is worried about getting credit to be able to roll over inventory, 
or to make payroll, my first question as a small-business owner is: 
``What are you going to do about it, President Bush?'' And the answer 
is, one, recognize the problem and start freeing up some capital--some 
credit into the economy to start unsticking it.
    And it's going to take a while. And the truth of the matter is, 
until you see that credit begin to get easier, you're going to have 
doubts as to whether or not the Government has got an effective plan. 
But I believe the steps we're taking will free up the credit. It took a 
while to get it frozen; it's going to take a while to get it unstuck. 
And the Fed took a big step today.
    And my--the other thing is, David, is that, obviously, there's 
something resilient in your spirit; otherwise, you wouldn't have started 
this business in the first place. And as you will--can testify, running 
a small business is full of all kinds of challenges. And it hasn't been 
an easy path to success. You've met challenges before, and a successful 
businessperson will meet them again. And I know you'll adjust your 
business according to the circumstances. In the meantime, have faith 
that this economy is going to recover over time. And when it does, 
you're going to be in a good position to take advantage of an expanding 
economy.
    I wish I could snap my fingers and make what happened stop. But 
that's not the way it works. And I told you, I made a decision that is 
really opposite of my philosophy. I basically believe if people make bad 
decisions in the marketplace, they ought to fail. The problem is, in 
this case, failure would have cost you. What appeared to be something 
that might have been isolated in New York, would have cost you the job. 
And that was unacceptable to me.
    And that's why I made the decision I made. And believe me, I fully 
understand a lot of small-business owners saying, ``Wait a minute, I met 
the payroll''--or people such as yourself--``I pay my mortgage, I pay my 
bills--what are you doing?'' And what I'm doing is, I'm taking the 
action necessary to make sure that this financial system doesn't 
collapse, so you don't get hurt.
    And, listen, I understand America's frustrations, better than you 
can possibly know. I went home out there to west Texas where I was 
raised. Some old guy said, you know, ``Hey, man, what are you doing?'' 
[Laughter] And I said, I'm recognizing reality, that this is a serious 
economic situation that requires strong government action. And that's 
what we've taken.
    And so the answer to your question is, let's give this time--give 
this plan time to get these credit markets eased up so that normal 
business can begin. And it's--you know, there's a lot of uncertainty and 
a lot of worry, and I understand that. It's one of the reasons I came 
here to talk about the deal.
    Yes, ma'am.

National Economy

    Q. Mr. President, thanks for being here. And thank you for being on-
the-spot for questions; this is a wonderful opportunity. I am Georgia 
Graves, the president of Bridgman Communications. We're a small-business 
telephone company installing phone systems in the region. But just as 
importantly, I'm chairman of the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce. 
We're a chamber made up of small- and medium-sized businesses. We're 
located here in the Dulles corridor. We know that this is one of the key 
places in the country to locate your business. We are very proud that 
last week we hit the 1,000 mark with members, meaning we're the largest 
chamber in Fairfax County.
    What our board of directors would like to ask you today--on their 
behalf, today I'd like to know, what would you recommend and give us as 
advice that we can do to help our members sustain the next period of 
time in this economic climate? What would you advise us to do as a 
chamber of commerce?
    The President. I would advise you--a week ago I would have advised 
you to write your Congressman and tell him to vote for the plan. 
[Laughter] Now I would advise the president to make sure that which you 
do--that which the--the powers inherent in the bill, when we do 
something, they're effective.
    It's interesting, I met with some of the local business folks today. 
And a man wisely

[[Page 1314]]

said, ``Okay, now that you've got the plan, where's the action?'' And as 
I said in my remarks, that we're--we want to make sure that when we 
move, we move effectively and--so that the consequences are positive. 
And so what I would do is, I would tell your president to not be hasty 
and have a good team of people put together a strategy that will address 
the root cause of the problem.
    In the meantime, I would remind people that we have been through 
tough times before. You know, one of the things I'm concerned about is 
the psychology of people. They're basically saying, ``Oh, this is just 
too tough.'' The good news is in America we generally don't do that. The 
good news in America is we say, we're going to deal with the 
circumstances, and we're going to deal with them in a resolute fashion.
    But, you know, we're just going to have to work our way through 
this. And it's--and I'm confident we'll succeed. I really am. It's not 
going to be easy, because all this--everybody got kind of interwoven. 
And it's hard to explain to people how this happened. The truth of the 
matter is, the Government in good conscience tried to encourage people 
to buy homes. But the problem is that the financial institutions in 
Washington, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, just were basically unregulated 
to the point where they wrote a lot of product that was untrustworthy 
over time.
    And, you know, the tendency in politics is to try to blame somebody 
else--and I'm certainly not doing this at this point in time--but we did 
try to pass regulation that basically said to Fannie and Freddie: Stay 
in your lane and focused on your core mission. But that's not what 
happened, and now we have to deal with the consequences. And a lot of 
people own this paper that devalued in value, which is causing financial 
institutions to recoup.
    There's very little that you can advise your members of until this 
credit crisis eases, because your members are going to be asking you, 
``What did he tell you about easing the credit?'' Because until credit 
eases, it's going to be hard for businesses to feel confident to move. 
And that's--the whole purpose of coming today was to tell you, one, we 
recognize the credit problem; and two, we're taking bold action to deal 
with it.
    Yes, ma'am. You got a follow--that's what we call a follow up. 
[Laughter]
    Q. Well, I think it's also important that as members that we learn 
to work together, and that we re-look at everything that we buy and look 
within our membership, and that all of us in America become partners 
with each other to help each other's business, because we're all in it 
together.
    The President. Yes. You answered your own question very well. 
[Laughter] No wonder you're the head of the chamber of commerce. 
[Laughter]
    Yes, sir.

Stock Market/Retirement Plans

    Q. Mr. President, what do you think is going to happen to my 401(k) 
and other people's retirement plan?
    The President. I think in the long run they're going to be fine, 
because the stock markets will reflect real value. In the short term, 
they're going to take a hit.
    And so the question is, how fast can we get credit in the economy to 
get this economy moving again? And there's a lot of aspects of the 
economy that are suffering right now--housing market, for example. A lot 
of people wonder what happened. Well, what happened was, they 
overbuilt--or we overbuilt--built too many homes relative to the number 
of buyers. And until that overhang gets worked off, the housing market 
is going to remain soft. The positive news is, long-term mortgage rates 
are dropping. In other words, money is becoming cheaper to buy a 
mortgage. And over time, the housing market will begin to recover. 
That'll help the economy recover. Easing the credit will help the 
economy recover, and the values in the stock market will recover as 
well.
    But no question in the short term, if you're--the value of your 
401(k), if you're in stocks, is going to go down. Question is, how fast 
can we recover this economy? I believe we got--I know we've had a very 
powerful economy. After all, we grew 52 uninterrupted months of job 
growth. And when we recover, we're going to have a powerful recovery--
economy again. We're a productive country. We're an entrepreneurial 
country. The small-business sector is strong. And right

[[Page 1315]]

now we're in a tough, tough times, no question about it. But you can't 
convince me that in the long run, that we're not going to get back on 
our feet again. And if anybody ever says that, they don't understand the 
American spirit.
    Yes, sir.

Credit Situation

    Q. Mr. President, and I've followed your whole tenure in office 
pretty closely, and I was pretty surprised that you signed the bill. But 
you just made a very strong argument as to why you signed it, and you 
laid out the different----
    The President. You sound like the guys I grew up with in west Texas, 
you know. [Laughter]
    Q. You really did a great job, because I was--I really wasn't 
convinced until I just heard you speak.
    The President. Well, thank you.
    Q. Does anything in the bill or anything that you're working with 
right now have--to simplify the understanding of the general public, in 
terms of the Fair Credit Act, passed in 1970, and the amendment passed 
in 2003, as to how people can understand credit? Because it's very 
difficult to understand credit unless you do your homework.
    The President. Yes, I'm telling you, it's really hard to understand 
credit----
    Q. I mean, yes, it's just very difficult, and, I mean, unless, you 
know, unless you know how to use the Internet very well, unless you have 
the--you know, unless you have the ambition to do so, you're not really 
going to take the initiative. And then that's how you can get in a 
credit crunch, because you might have something on your credit report or 
something that reflects negatively, and the CRAs, the credit reporting 
agencies, they're not going to do anything about it.
    The President. Yes. No, that's an interesting question. I'm sure 
Congress will revisit the 2003 law. One of the things we pressed is 
financial literacy, so that people understand what they're dealing with 
in the first place. And I really suspect that when we dig into the 
mortgage issue, that people were buying mortgages that they had no idea 
they're going to reset. In other words, somebody went out there and 
said, ``Here, you got yourself low interest rates,'' but they forgot to 
tell them, in 2 or 3 years time that interest rate was going to bump up, 
and it caught people by surprise.
    And we need to have a full analysis of the credit rules and--on how 
people are dealt with, as well as transparency in the mortgage industry. 
But a lot of it has to do with financial literacy. People just aren't 
sure what the language is that they're dealing with.
    I appreciate your comments on the rescue package. I really meant 
what I said, that I'm a firm believer that if people make mistakes in 
the business world, that--if you make bad decisions, that they ought to 
suffer the economic consequences. But the problem was, in this case, you 
would suffer them.
    My pals say, and I understand this, I fully believe this, that, 
``How can you possibly stand there and let Wall Street do what they 
did?'' Listen, people are angry about the fact that people look like 
they're dragging out money when there's failure. I understand that. I 
don't mind rewarding success. It's when people make money on failure. 
And I think there's going to be a--there needs to be a reassessment of 
these packages. There needs to be a reassessment of how interconnected 
people get--people became; how they made promises that they were not in 
a capital position to fix.
    Step one is to fix the immediate, solve this thing. And step two is 
to make sure we don't get tomorrow where we are today, without creating 
a regulatory regime that inhabits--inhibits small-business growth. And I 
think it's going to be--it's a real challenge.
    But my immediate concern is solving today, is to make sure the 
plan--first of all, last week was getting the plan passed, which 
happened last Friday--it may seem like a month ago, but it's--
[laughter]--last Friday--and getting it implemented, and working with 
our partners overseas to make sure the effort is as coordinated as 
possible so we can be effective.
    And the definition of ``effective'' from a small-business 
perspective is when you begin to see credit ease. And we understand 
that. And we're trying to move as quickly as we can to get credit moving 
in a way that people say, ``Okay, now I see what they're trying to do.''

[[Page 1316]]

    Yes, sir.

Credit Situation

    Q. First of all, I want to just say thank you very much for 
understanding the importance of credit. My name is Mike Gray. We're next 
door. The company's called Exhibit Edge. My wife is the owner, Bev Gray, 
of the company.
    The President. That's a smart move. [Laughter] She just doesn't want 
to talk in front of all the cameras, so you're her spokesperson.
    Q. Yes, sir. I just want you to emphasize how important freeing up 
credit is.
    The President. Yes, thank you.
    Q. I mean, just to give you some quick numbers. We're a $3.5 million 
company, and we rely on a $500,000 home credit line to support our 
business, which means we have to roll this money over six, seven times a 
year. That's how much we need this credit. And now the--we've got a 
notice or a letter from a bank--or from the bank that runs our credit 
line--that says home values are going down a little bit, and if you pay 
down your principle a little, we're not going to give you quite as much 
back. And so our strategy is don't pay it down, to keep it maxed out all 
the time.
    And so we're comfortable now, and we're able to take care of our 
business by doing this. But it's so important for you to emphasize the 
need that small businesses have for the use of that credit. And I thank 
you so much. You're really working hard----
    The President. Thanks for hanging in there.
    Q. Absolutely. You, too.
    The President. It's also important for, obviously, consumers to be 
able to borrow money to buy a car. It's just--credit is what makes our 
system go. And when credit freezes, it creates a standstill. And when 
people stand still, it just begins to shut down the economy. And that's 
why we're moving as hard as we're moving. And somebody asked me: ``Is it 
going to work?'' This is the best shot we've got. And it's a big, bold 
move. And it's--I listened to a lot of smart people about what to do. 
And it was a--hard for Congress to swallow, because I understand there's 
a lot of skepticism about the Government making a big, bold move. But 
you're the kind of guy that was represented by the yes votes when they 
said, I'm worried about credit freezing; what are you going to do about 
it?
    And so, what I'm trying to describe to you today--I hope I'm getting 
through to the people listening, as well--is that we're trying to 
address this guy's problem, and trying to address small businesspeople's 
problem all around the country with something that will be effective 
when it comes to freezing up credit.
    All right, you know what--yes, sir. About to say I enjoyed it, but--
[laughter].

Insured Bank Deposits

    Q. Mr. President, is my bank account safe?
    The President. Yes, it is, up to $250,000. We went from 100,000 to 
250. That is a very good question. You know, a lot of Americans are 
hearing these stories and they're wondering whether or not their money 
is safe. And you're insured up to $250,000. We raised it from 100 to 
250. And it's just essential that the American people know that the FDIC 
has never failed on meeting that obligation, and it's darn sure not 
going to fail now.
    It's--these are tough times, no question about it. I know a lot of 
folks around the country have got questions. And part of addressing 
these tough times is to, you know, is to focus on the core problem. And 
the core problem, as this good man talked about, was getting credit 
moving so consumers and businesses have got the capability of realizing 
their--in the case of a small business, their plans and their ability to 
grow and to meet demand. And that's what we're--that's what we're 
addressing.
    I thank you for giving me a chance to come by and visit with you. I 
love coming to places where we're on the frontlines of economic 
progress. The truth of the matter is, the small-business owner and the 
small-business sector really provide the backbone of the American 
system. You've been asked a lot during these times, but I've got great 
faith in the small-business sector. And when government gives you that--
helps you get that capital you need, the small-business sector is going 
to help us lead out--help lead us out of the situation we're in today.

[[Page 1317]]

    I know that the days are dim right now for a lot of folks, but I 
firmly believe tomorrow is going to be brighter. And I thank you for 
having that resiliency and that drive to hang in there and help this 
economy grow and recover.

    God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. at Guernsey Office Products, Inc. In 
his remarks, he referred to David Guernsey, president and chief 
executive officer, Guernsey Office Products, Inc., who introduced the 
President.