FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
June 3, 2004
JS-1709
The Honorable John W. Snow
Secretary of the Treasury
Prepared Opening Remarks
Roundtable with Small Business Leaders at Copy Systems, Inc
Little Rock, Arkansas
June 3, 2004
It’s great to be here in
I hope that all of your businesses are doing better today than a year ago; I know our economy overall certainly is, and that we have your hard work to thank for that.
Each of you are one of nearly 200,000 business taxpayers here in Arkansas who can use your tax savings from the President’s tax cuts to invest in new equipment, hire additional workers, and increase pay.
There is a reason why the President’s tax cuts focused on helping your businesses – because we understand that its businesses like yours that create jobs, and that is the President’s top economic priority.
The President and I share a passion for small business – we know that it’s what makes our economy so dynamic, innovative and productive. We appreciate how important the entrepreneurial spirit is to this great country.
We’re also keenly aware of the challenges you face. I imagine that today we’ll talk about the cost of health care, taxes, regulations and abusive lawsuits. These are all a drag on your business, and a disincentive for growth and job creation.
It’s clear that only with great freedom can the entrepreneurial spirit thrive. That’s why the President and I are so strongly in favor of tax cuts. We know we’ve got to lift the burden of taxes, regulations, health care costs and abusive lawsuits from your shoulders whenever possible – because what’s good for you and your business is good for our economy.
We’ve seen it work with the President’s tax cuts – when the burden was lightened, our economy began to soar.
Just a few weeks ago, I had a discussion with my counterpart from the UK, Chancellor Gordon Brown, and a group of British and American business owners on the subject of entrepreneurship. We asked them: what makes entrepreneurship work and what can government do to ensure it is welcomed and encouraged?
The conclusion we came to will not be a surprise to you: the best thing government can do for small business and entrepreneurship is to get out of the way! We took some taxes out of your way, and I’m delighted to say that it worked; our economy is firing on all cylinders right now. We’re experiencing very strong growth – the best in 20 years – and 1.1 million jobs have been created over the past eight months.
Here in Arkansas, jobs having been coming back for one year now, since last June. Your unemployment rate has been trending downward, but we’re not satisfied. Arkansans need jobs; we need to lower that rate even further.
Manufacturing jobs are very important to this state, and those jobs were hardest hit during our time of economic recession. We’ve seen modest gains in that area on a national basis since we’ve been in economic recovery, with 21,000 new manufacturing jobs created in April – the third straight month of job creation. While we still are not satisfied with the rate of recovery in the manufacturing industry, the signs are pointing in a positive direction.
I remain optimistic for Arkansans who are looking for work today. There is no doubt that our economy is doing very well, and job creation does follow economic growth. It’s never fast enough for any of us, but it does come.
In addition to the strong GDP growth that I mentioned earlier, we also see indications that business spending has rebounded. Business and consumer confidence are up, and there are signs that labor market is also beginning to create better-paying jobs. Our housing industry is extremely strong, with homeownership at an all-time high, and this is something to be very proud of, as a nation.
It’s clear that American families and small businesses like yours have benefited from the lowered burden of taxation brought about by President Bush’s tax cuts. The natural strength and resilience of our free-market economy has proven itself once again. The President's tax cuts provided the relief and the stimulus that American consumers and job-creators needed.
As a result, people are finding jobs and seeing their paychecks increase, and that kind of security is the President's top economic priority
When we lift the weights that hold it down, our economy soars. That’s why the most important thing we can do going forward is to keep it unencumbered by making the President’s tax cuts permanent.
We can’t stop our progress now – the working people of Arkansas need this growth to continue, because we need the jobs it will create.
Thank you for having me here today and thank you for the work you do to make our economy the strongest in the world. I look forward to hearing from you.