For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 8, 2002
President Reiterates Call for Corporate Responsibility
Remarks by the President Working for America - Corporate Responsibility
America II Electronics
St. Petersburg, Florida
Corporate Responsibility Portal Page Policy in Focus: Corporate Responsibility
11:32 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for that warm
welcome. I love to be introduced by my
brother. (Laughter.) I know I'm not supposed to
say this, but he's doing a great job as governor, he really
is. (Applause.) I'm really proud of him and it seems like a
lot in Florida, a lot of people here are proud of him, too. But it's good to see you,
Jeb. Thanks and I hope you're still listening to
Mother. (Laughter.)
For all of you out there who have got children, I want you to know
that you can tell them the President said, listen to their mothers.
(Laughter.) Because I'm still listening to
ours. (Laughter.) Whether I want to or
not. (Laughter.)
I'm so honored that we could come to America II. I was
impressed by what I read on the briefing paper before I arrived at the
company. I am doubly impressed, having talked to Mike and
the people who work here, about the incredible culture that exists in this fine company -- a
culture that recognizes the worth of the people who work for the
company. And, Mike, I want to thank you for letting us
come.
One of my jobs is to remind people the role of government is not to
create wealth, but an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit
can flourish. (Applause.) Here's a guy that
started off with five employees, and no
children. (Laughter.) Now has four children, and
500 employees. (Laughter.) And so I want to congratulate
you all, and thanks for your hospitality.
I also appreciate the members of the Florida congressional
delegation for flying down today. We had a, really a good
talk about issues that matter to our national security as well as
issues that matter to Florida. Congressmen Bilirakis, Davis, Miller,
Putnam and the chairman, Congressman Bill Young. Thank you
all for coming. (Applause.)
And I want to thank the Mayor. Mr. Mayor, you did a fine
job of getting America II prepared for just a little visit from the
President. (Laughter and applause.)
I want to spend a little time talking about the big challenges our
nation faces, starting with an unrelenting drive to defend our
freedom. (Applause.) We were attacked by a ruthless enemy,
who must not have understood America. They must have thought
we were soft and so incredibly materialistic and self-absorbed that we
would not find the will to fight and sacrifice for that which we hold
dear.
And they have made a huge miscalculation. (Applause.)
In the beginning, I told the American people we were in for a long,
difficult struggle; that I wasn't sure how long this was going to
take. But I really wasn't concerned about the calendar. I'm
concerned about our future. And I'm concerned about this
nation leading the world to rout out terror wherever it exists so our
children and grandchildren can live in freedom. That's our
concern. (Applause.)
I told the world that you're either with us or you're against us.
(Applause.) A lot of people are now with us. And
it's important that we remain strong and determined and focused; to
remind people that we're fighting for freedom, the right to worship
freely, the right to express your opinion in the political process, the
right for there to be a free press -- freedoms we hold dear.
And these freedoms are not just American freedoms, they're
universal freedoms. And we must stand strong. I
also said, if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you
hide a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the murderers who killed thousands in
America. (Applause.)
And the Taliban found out what I meant. The Taliban
found out about what we meant by justice. The Taliban found
out that we've got a fabulous
military. (Applause.) And they found out that our
military and our coalition were not conquerors, we're
liberators. We liberated the people from the clutches of one
of the most barbaric regimes in the history of mankind -- people who
refused to educate young girls, people who mistreated women.
No, this great country of ours not only defends our freedom, we
liberate people so they can enjoy their own freedoms. I'm
proud of the United States military. (Applause.)
Next Monday will mark the sixth month, the date of six months from
September the 11th. That's not a very long
time. It seems like a long time for a lot of people, I know,
but when we look back at history, six months is a pretty short period
of time in the war against terror. And we've accomplished a
lot. But there are still dangerous missions left ahead.
You see, the al Qaeda killers trained thousands of people who hate
America, who hate what we stand for, who resent our freedoms, who want
to harm us still; who want to make sure that our alliance is weak,
they're looking for soft spots to exploit. And we're not
going to let them.
We found a bunch of al Qaeda killers recently, bunched up in
Afghanistan. And our military went after them and we're
making good progress. (Applause.) It is a sign of
what's going to happen for a while.
And my fellow Americans must understand that -- that we'll be
relentless and determined to do what is right. And we will
take loss of life, and I'm sad for loss of life. And today we've got the mom and
dad of a brave soldier who lost his life, and a brother. God
bless you. (Applause.) Thank you all for
coming. (Applause.)
I know your heart aches, and we ache for you. But your
son and your brother died for a noble and just
cause. (Applause.) May God bless you. May God
bless you. (Applause.)
I hate it, to know that young soldiers are at risk. But
I want to assure you and all those loved ones whose sons and daughters
are at risk that not only is the cause just and important and noble,
but our United States government will provide the United States
military with whatever it needs to win this war against
terror. (Applause.)
And I want to thank Chairman Young, Chairman of the Appropriations
Committee, for joining and supporting the budget I submitted to the
United States Congress which sets this priority: the
national defense of our country is the number one priority in this
budget. (Applause.)
We will give our soldiers the best material, the best supplies, the
best training, another pay raise. (Applause). The
price of freedom is high, no doubt about it; but the price of freedom
is never too high, as far as I'm concerned. (Applause.) My job is to
protect the American people.
It's the job of the American military. And I take that
job really seriously.
We've got a homeland defense strategy that's making the borders
more secure, preparing for bioterrorism attack. A homeland
security strategy that will work with first-time responders, should we
need them. We're on it. And I want you to know
that our law enforcement officials are running down every possible
lead, every hint. I mean, if we get a whiff of somebody
fixing to do something to America, we're on them. We are
doing everything we can. The nation is on alert -- as it
should be, because there is still an enemy there.
But I want to remind my fellow citizens, the best way to secure the
homeland is to find the killers wherever they hide, wherever they try
to flee, wherever they think they can find safe sanctuary, we're after
them. We will not allow this nation to be threatened. We
will protect the homeland. We will defend freedom no matter
what the cost. (Applause.)
I'm proud of my fellow citizens. We're
united. We are determined and we are patient -- much to the chagrin of the enemy. And
I'm proud of my fellow citizens when it comes to enduring some hardship
at home, as well. I mean, not only were we attacked, but the attacks
of September the 11th hurt our economy. Now, you'll hear a
lot of number-crunching going on and people saying, well, you know,
this was the number, that was the number. Look, I don't care about the
numbers. I know the facts. And people's lives
were affected. People lost jobs. People were
worried about their future. People were deeply concerned
about what the terrorist attacks did to our economy.
And so long as somebody can't find work who wants to work, I'm
worried about it. And, therefore, I'm going to stay focused on
how best to create more jobs in America, what can you do to do to help people find
work. It's one thing to help people that are unemployed, and that's
fine, unemployment checks are good and important. But that's
not what folks want in America. They want a permanent paycheck, and that
ought to be the policy of this government. (Applause.)
And today the United States Senate passed a stimulus package, one
that the House passed yesterday. That is a good piece of news
for American workers and American entrepreneurs. I'm going
to sign it as soon as it gets to my desk. (Applause.)
The best kind of public policy is one where we don't play party
politics, but focus on what's right for the country. It's
kind of hard to get them thinking that way up there but, nevertheless,
we're making pretty good progress. And I think -- I think
America is beginning to see that by changing the tone and by focusing
on people and by heralding what we can do, as opposed to what we can't
do, we're making progress in Washington, D.C.
This is a good piece of work by the House of
Representatives. The Speaker of the House deserves a lot of
credit. The members of the House deserve a lot of credit for
staying with this initiative. And I'm pleased the Senate has
reacted and passed the bill and now I'm going to sign it. It is good
for America.
But I also want to remind you that we took some action ahead of
this.
This is going to help as we go down in the out
years. But when I traveled your state, I talked about the
need for tax relief. I said that it's really important for
our government to understand the dynamics of economic
growth. And when you let workers keep their own money, it
gives them something to spend. And when they spend it, it
encourages somebody to produce a product. And when somebody is encouraged to
produce a product, that means jobs.
We cut taxes at exactly the right time, and I can't tell you, I'm
going to mightily resist anybody who tries to undo the tax relief for
the American people. (Applause.)
Sometimes in Washington people get confused about whose money we're
dealing with. They think it's the government's
money. No, it's the people's money. And the more
you have of it in your pocket, the better off you will be and, therefore, our economy will be, as
well. (Applause.)
I'm pleased to hear Mike's firsthand report about sales beginning
to improve. I think that is good news. I'm
pleased to see, you know, the unemployment figures today got better and
that's good news. But as far as I'm concerned, the economy
is not strong enough. As far as I'm concerned, when people
are looking for work and can't find it, I'm going to keep focused on
jobs. I'm not going to let the numbers lull me to sleep.
(Applause.)
I want you all to know that out of this evil is going to come some
good. It may be hard to realize it right
now. It's got to be. But out of evil will come good in America.
I believe when we stay strong -- you know, so long as I'm the
President, we're going to be after them, without
blinking. (Applause.) If we remain steadfast and steady and determined and strong, the world
will be a more peaceful place. Out of the evil will come
some good. And at home, out of evil is coming some good.
People are beginning to say -- take a new look at their life, take
an assessment of what's important in life. There is a period
of responsibility beginning to take hold here, and that begins --
that's twofold: One personal responsibility, and one
corporate responsibility.
I'm here because this is a company led by a man who understands
corporate responsibility. They lose 40 percent of their
sales, and didn't lay off one citizen. (Applause.)
Mike built a culture of respect. I felt it when I was
talking to the employees. People respect each
other. They love the idea that he's aligned authority and
responsibility. He is a good corporate citizen, because he
understands the responsibility that comes with leadership.
All people involved in our capitalistic system must assume
responsibility for leadership. In the publicly held
corporations, the world of publicly held corporations, there are laws
and regulations which hold people accountable. They need to
be clear and they need to be tough when people misuse the public
trust.
We've got thousands of citizens who own shares of publicly held
companies, many in pension plans, mutual funds, a lot of them direct
ownership. And this country must hold corporate CEOs -- CEOs
of publicly held companies, to the highest of high standards.
I talked yesterday -- I want to review with you right quick what I
believe we ought to do. First of all, any time a chief
executive officer of a publicly held company signs a financial
statement, he is personally vouching -- he's personally saying the
numbers are correct and accurate. And if one were to receive a bonus,
any corporate officer receive a bonus and the numbers are misleading as
a result of misconduct, the bonus needs to go back to the Treasury on
behalf of the shareholders. These guys should not be allowed
to keep their bonuses. (Applause.)
And if they get caught doing it, they ought never to be an officer
of a publicly held corporation or a board member of a publicly held
corporation again. They ought to be -- any time an officer
of a publicly held company sells stock, we ought to know within two
days. We ought to know -- we, being shareholders and
employees.
There needs to be openness and transparency for the good of the
capitalist system. And the auditors, those who analyze the
numbers for publicly held companies, ought to be held to high standards
as well. And they ought to make sure that we can have
confidence in their numbers by making sure there are no conflicts of
interest involved. (Applause.)
In order to usher in a period of problem in America, a culture of
responsibility, corporate America must be responsible, must make sure
that there are no shenanigans or sleight of hands, must make sure there
is an openness and disclosure about true liabilities and true assets,
and if they don't, they must be held to account. (Applause.)
And I believe Americans, as a result of taking an assessment of
what's important in life, are ushering in a period of personal
responsibility as well. I think -- I believe we're feeling a
cultural shift, one from the days when it said, if it feels good, just
go ahead and do it, to a period when each of us understands we're
responsible for the decisions we make in life, that we're responsible
for loving our children with all our heart and all our soul, and we are responsible for loving our neighbor just
like we'd like to be loved ourself.
Today, we've got one such person with us. You know, I
like to define America's compassionate citizens as soldiers in the
armies of compassion. And we've got one such soldier here that I can
recognize. I'm sure there are many soldiers in the armies of
compassion here with us. And her name is Roxanne
Hunt. She works for the City of Pinellas Park
Police. Roxanne, do you mind standing up real quick? (Applause.)
Thank you, Roxanne.
Without being asked or told, Roxanne has adopted a family for
Christmas. Roxanne has fed the homeless. Roxanne
has been involved in environmental cleanup activities
here. Roxanne sponsored a bike rodeo, saved a little guy's
life, who was choking on a hot dog -- at least it wasn't a
pretzel. (Applause.)
Roxanne is a soldier in the armies of compassion, armies which
exist in every community across America. People say to me,
what can I do to help, what can I do to fight in the war against
terror? And my answer is, do some good.
You see, for every act of kindness, people are doing something to
fight evil. If you're good to a neighbor in need, you stand
firm in the face of evil. It's the gathering momentum of
millions of acts of kindness and compassion and decency which define
the true face of America.
They hit us. They thought we had quit. We're
not going to quit. We're strong and we're steady. They hit
us and out of this evil can come incredible good, as Americans show the
world their compassion by loving a neighbor, by caring for somebody in
need, by focusing on the values that matter, faith and family.
I'm so proud to be the President of a country of such decent and
caring and strong and people willing to sacrifice for a greater
good. May God bless you all. May God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 12:00 P.M. EST
|