FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
October 26, 2004
JS-2059
The Honorable John W. Snow
Prepared Remarks: International Dairy Queen Headquarters
Minneapolis, MN
October 26, 2004
Good morning; it's great to be here in
It's a pleasure to be visiting International Dairy Queen Headquarters. I want to thank both Chuck Mooty, the CEO of Dairy Queen, and Brian Schnell, a member of the International Franchise Association board of directors, for hosting this event.
Owning and operating a franchise is a great way to be self-employed and to create jobs for the people in your community, so I want to commend all of the franchise owners here today.
As small-business owners, each one of you is the embodiment of America's economic strength and dynamism, and you are also the embodiment of something less tangible but even more important: the American Dream.
The work you do is critical to the health of your local and state economies. In part thanks to that work, the
I am often asked where the jobs of the future will come from – a month from now, a decade from now. That's a pretty tough question to answer. No one can predict what the next great technology or industry will be, but I know it's safe to say that most of America's jobs will always come from people like you and that by pursuing good economic policies, keeping our system open, flexible and dynamic, we will continue to create lots of good jobs in the future as our economic history shows so well.
Your businesses may be small. They may never show up on the New York Stock Exchange or the Fortune 500 list… but they create jobs for the people of your community, and that means everything. In fact, 2 out of 3 new jobs come from small businesses.
When our country goes through a rough patch, economically, small business has always been there to pull us out. You are part of the most powerful elements of our economy, which I see as a combination of: small-business owners and entrepreneurs, our outstanding workforce and the simple fact that we operate as a free market, which allows our economy to continuously adjust to changing circumstances. These elements add up to the most open, flexible, adaptive and resilient economy in the world today.
The President understands how important you are to our economy, and he's made you a priority in his economic policies.
He understands that, as small-business owners and operators, fairness and freedom are the two things that you really want from your government.
You seek the freedom to start up a new business venture, to run it and grow it, or – as the head of the National Federation of Independent Business told me recently – to close the door and go fishing for the afternoon if that's what you want to do!
You also want to be treated fairly, and you deserve nothing less.
In exchange for fairness and freedom, your unspoken promise to your country and our economy is: job creation and the fuel our economic engine runs on.
This is why the President reduced your taxes and has called on Capitol Hill to give you the option of Association Health Plans to reduce your health insurance costs. That's why he wants to make the tax code simpler, fairer, and more pro-growth. And it's why he wants to reduce that fear of baseless lawsuits that haunts you, costs you money, and ultimately acts as a tax on economic growth in this country.
With small business in the lead, our economy has come a long way.
When he took office, President Bush inherited an economy in steep decline. The stock market bubble had been pierced. We were then shocked by terrorist attacks and wounded by reprehensible behavior by corporate CEOs that hurt employees, investors and investor confidence.
Those key elements that I mentioned earlier – small business, outstanding workers, and a free-market system – proved to be the foundation, as they always have been, for our impressive economic recovery following this series of economic blows.
Sound monetary policy from the Federal Reserve Board helped to stimulate our recovery as well. Lower interest rates encouraged investment, which is critical for economic recovery and growth.
Finally, President Bush's tax cuts gave our economy the oxygen it needed to right itself, and continue on a path of growth and job creation.
Letting people keep more of their own money, and spend it how they see fit, has helped put our nation on the right track. Nationwide, over 1.9 million jobs have been created since last August – 13 straight months of job growth. More people than ever before own their own homes, and new homes are being purchased every day at near record rates. People are finding new jobs in industries across the board. They have more money in their pockets and can better afford things from cars to appliances to shoes for their children.
The President's tax relief is still working for the people of Minnesota, with more than 1.9 million taxpayers saving money on their income tax bills in 2004 and 480,000 business taxpayers like you able to use your 2004 tax savings to invest in business equipment and employee compensation.
Nationwide, in 2004, 25 million small business owners will receive tax relief totaling about $75 billion.
At this point, it is critical to make that tax relief permanent, and to continue lifting the barriers to growth in other areas as well – by making health care more affordable, abusive lawsuits less common, and energy costs more reasonable.
Thank you so much for having me here today in this great American city, and thank you for the work you do to keep our economy strong.
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