Good morning; it's great to be home in Ohio!

I'm proud to have grown up west of here in Toledo, and it's always great to come home to the Buckeye state.

The opportunity to visit Corporate College means a lot to me because your program is such a good example of what the future of worker training in this country needs to look like. Your curriculum corresponds directly to the needs of local employers; this concept is critical for efficient and successful worker training and placement.

The first thing I'd like to mention today, especially since we're talking about the importance of life-long learning, is the launch of a new website and toll-free hotline that are going "live" today... and this new program is something that I think a lot of Americans are going to find very helpful. It offers tips, advice and information about personal finances. The program offers guidance that will help Americans choose and use credit cards, get out of debt, protect their credit records, understand their Social Security benefits, insure their bank deposits, and start a savings and investment plan.

This new educational program is called "MyMoney" and the website address is http://www.mymoney.gov/. The phone number you can call to request a My Money Tool Kit is 1-888-mymoney. The service is available, both online and on the phone, in English and Spanish.

The launch of mymoney.gov is an outstanding contribution to the public and private efforts to improve financial literacy in America because gaining a better understanding of your money, and how to manage it, is critical to raising your quality of life.  The MyMoney service is going to help millions of people across America improve their lives through a better understanding of their own finances.

Anyone who spends money is managing money, and learning more about money management is an awfully important step in improving our lives. Financial education and literacy is a terrific example of the life-enhancing benefits of continued learning, throughout our lives and careers.

We're gathered here today to talk about a lifetime of learning, and I'm so pleased to do so in this college that is changing people's lives through education and training.

The primary goal of continuing education is to prepare a person for a job – whether it's their first job, a better job than they had before, or a new job after being laid off. And if the education they receive cannot be applied to a local industry or business looking for workers, the additional training doesn't deliver the goods.

Colleges like yours offer great hope to workers and employers alike, especially in a changing economy. In this part of the country, manufacturing jobs are often being replaced with new and different kinds of work, often high tech jobs – little comfort to the manufacturing worker who doesn't have high-tech skills. And that's where a school like Corporate College comes in.

This is why the President is committed to finding new ways for Americans to improve their lives through local community colleges. He's encouraging partnerships between community colleges and employers, so that the colleges can design training programs that meet the local employment needs. His Jobs for the 21st Century program would make it possible for more people to get good, relevant training and education at institutions like Corporate College.

Matching employer needs with worker skills results in higher employment, and that's what Ohio needs. I commend you for this important work.

Hard economic times hit Ohio hard. Buckeyes have lost jobs. Getting them back to work is a top priority for President Bush, and for me. As the President has often said we will not be satisfied until everyone looking for work can find a job.

We have work to do, and critical economic goals to reach. That said, 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.

We are fortunate that our economy is the most open, flexible, adaptive and resilient in the world. Our powerful core elements – small-business owners and entrepreneurs, an outstanding workforce, and the simple fact that we operate as a free market – have enabled us to recover from those very difficult economic times.

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.

Here in Ohio, the President's tax cuts allowed small-business owners to keep more of your business income, and encouraged them to invest in the growth of their companies. For example, nearly 860,000 business taxpayers here in Ohio will save money on their 2004 taxes.

Similarly, the tax cuts have allowed individuals to keep more of their income. More than 4.4 million Ohio taxpayers will have lower income tax bills in 2004 thanks to the tax relief.   

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, good jobs. They have more money in their pockets and can better afford things from cars to appliances to shoes for their children. National income and national wealth have never been higher.

That said, we are not satisfied. New jobs cannot come soon enough for the people who have lost theirs. The question is: where will those jobs come from?

An important, ongoing truth of the American economy is this: the government won't and shouldn't choose what jobs are created; entrepreneurs and innovators will. Government's responsibility is to make sure they have the freedom to do so.

That's why entrepreneurs and small-business owners are at the heart of President George W. Bush's economic policies. The President understands that creating an environment in which they can flourish is the essential ingredient in any recipe for economic growth. Often it is best if government simply gets out the way.

Free and fair trade is an important element in this. Ninety-seven percent of all identified exporters are small businesses. Free trade helps them, and it helps to create more higher-paying jobs for American workers by opening new markets for American products and services, bringing lower prices and more choices to American consumers, and attracting foreign companies to invest and hire in the United States. America is economically stronger when we participate fully in the worldwide economy. When 95% of the potential customers for American products live outside the U.S., America must reject policies that would result in economic isolationism. Here in Ohio thousands of workers' jobs depend on trade agreements that enable Ohio-made products to compete in markets around the world. Since the enactment of NAFTA in 1994, Ohio's exports to Mexico have tripled, and last year exports totaled more than two billion dollars. Since the end of 2000, Ohio's exports increased more than any state in the country. Exports are clearly vital to our Nation's economic strength. At the same time, it is critically important that our trade partners play by the rules. America's markets are the most open anywhere and trade has to be a two-way street. That is why we are pressing the Chinese and others to open their markets and live up to their commitments to the WTO. That is one reason why we are pressing the Chinese so hard to stop pegging their currency and allow it to move freely like other currencies. Currency is a critical factor in global trade and we have pressed the Chinese hard on this point and they have heard us. The Chinese are now committed to moving to a flexible exchange rate and we are going to continue to monitor their progress closely.

How to help our economy right itself when it is in distress is a lesson in American history. We know from long experience that our economy responds best to the very thing that created it: freedom.

Free trade. Freedom from excessive taxation. Freedom from abusive, frivolous lawsuits and of course freedom from terrorist assaults.

When freedom, fairness and American entrepreneurs are combined, the end product is jobs and growth. Add relevant worker training to that equation, and you have high employment-and that's the path we're on.

We have plenty of work to do – in Ohio and across America. But if we continue on the path of freedom and making sure individuals, entrepreneurs and family businesses have an open and fair environment in which they can work and grow, our best economic days will remain ahead of us and I am optimistic about our future.

Thank you so much for having me here today.