Secretary Paulson and I want to thank FedEx for inviting us here today to have a discussion about our economy and about entrepreneurship. We just met with a handful of small-business owners, business creators, people who had an innovative idea, followed up on their idea, and have now built healthy little businesses that are growing and employing people.
I don't necessarily want to speak for the Secretary, but I will tell you that it does my spirits good to be able to talk to risk takers and dreamers and doers. And one of the jobs of government is to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong by creating an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, which means low taxes, less regulation, rational spending at the Government level, opening markets overseas so that the entrepreneur can trade but is treated fairly, and making sure that foreign countries don't steal products; that's called intellectual property rights. It's to really say to the good folks in America that Government will help you as opposed to impede your ability to expand your company. And the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America. Our economy is strong.
I say that because today we got more good news. The national unemployment rate is down to 4.6 percent. We have added 6.6 million new jobs since August of 2003. The wages are going up; energy prices are falling, which means people are going to have more money in their pocket to save, invest, or spend. And the fundamental question is, how do we make sure we sustain the economic growth? And one way to do so is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent. One sure way to hurt this economy is to take money out of the pockets of consumers or small-business owners and send it to Washington, DC.
And so I'm pleased with the economic progress we're making. The Secretary of the Treasury and I will continue to work as hard as we can to encourage entrepreneurial—entrepreneurship and small-business growth.
And so, again, I want to thank the people of FedEx. This is a great example of what is possible in America. A fellow I knew long years ago, named Fred Smith, had a dream about how to better distribute mail and product. And he and a lot of other good folks built this into a great American company.
So I want to thank the folks here for letting us come by to say hello.
NOTE: The President spoke at 11:27 a.m. at the FedEx Express DCA Facility. In his remarks, he referred to Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, FedEx Corp.
George W. Bush, Remarks on the National Economy Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/269102
