For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 12, 2002
President to Host Economic Forum
President Bush believes that economic freedom is the foundation
for individual success and prosperity. Because of the
resiliency and determination of the American people, our Nation is on
track for sustained economic growth. However, the President will not
be satisfied until every American who wants a job can find a job,
and all Americans have economic security. The President's economic
agenda invests in people by creating jobs, expanding opportunities
to save and invest, providing a good education, and helping each
American own part of the American dream.
On August 13 the President will host the President's Economic Forum
at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The meeting will bring together
government policy makers, small investors, small business owners,
industry experts, teachers, workers, business ethicists, union members,
corporate executives, economists, business students, academics,
researchers and others to discuss the fundamentals of the economy and
the President's agenda to increase economic growth for the future. The
President's Economic Forum will feature breakout and discussion
sessions on key economic issues. Each session will involve
approximately 30 participants with diverse points of view, panels will
be chaired by a senior government official, and each panel will include
guest speakers with special expertise in the panel's subject matter.
The President's Economic Security Agenda
Our Nation is on track for sustained economic growth
because of the resiliency and determination of the American
people. However, the President won't be satisfied until every
American who wants a job can find a job, and all Americans have
economic security.
President Bush believes that economic freedom is the
foundation for individual success and prosperity. The President's
economic agenda invests in individuals by:
- Creating jobs;
- Expanding opportunities to save and invest;
- Providing a good education; and
- Helping each American own part of the American dream.
Creating Jobs
America has the most creative, productive, and resilient
workforce in the world, and the President wants to make sure that
everyone who wants a job can find a job. The President's agenda:
- Increases trade to create better jobs and open vast new
markets to American products and services;
- Makes tax cuts
permanent to spur the business investment that creates new jobs;
- Removes the barriers to job creation for small businesses that hire the
majority of new workers in America;
- Reduces unnecessary government
spending and regulation to return to budget surpluses and increase
private investment;
- Insists on corporate responsibility to bolster
consumer and investor confidence and protect workers' jobs, pensions
and retirement;
- Puts in place terrorism insurance provisions that
will allow major job-creating construction projects to go forward;
- Implements a comprehensive national energy policy that will create
thousands of new American jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign
oil; and
- Makes health care more affordable for all Americans.
Expanding Opportunities to Save and Invest
Saving is the path to independence for Americans in all phases of
life, and the President wants to help create the conditions that
encourage more Americans to take that path.
Permanent Tax Relief. The tax cuts are critical to our future
economic growth and Washington should not take them away. Congress
needs to make these cuts permanent. The tax cuts will create 800,000
more jobs this year and help Americans save and invest by:
- Cutting taxes for all taxpayers in all tax rates;
- Doubling the child tax credit to $1,000 to help parents with the high
costs of raising children;
- Expanding the earned income credit and
making the child credit refundable to put money in the hands of
millions of low-income families with children;
- Helping Americans
save more for their retirement by raising IRA and 401(k) contribution
limits;
- Helping families save for their children's education;
- Repealing the death tax;
- Providing relief from the marriage
penalty; and
- Accelerating depreciation so businesses can invest
more and hire more.
Pension Protections & Retirement Security. The President signed
into law tough new corporate accountability standards that tell
workers that what's fair on the top floor should be fair on the shop
floor. Under the new law, workers will now be given advance notice
before any blackout period begins and company officers will not be
allowed to sell their own company stock when workers cannot. The
President has proposed additional reforms to help Americans get more
timely investment information, have greater access to professional
investment advice, and protect and grow their retirement savings
by ensuring that front line workers have greater freedom to
diversify their retirement portfolios. The President is also
committed to ensuring that Social Security benefits are protected for
all seniors, and allowing younger workers the option of
investing in safe personal retirement accounts.
Confidence. A critical component of saving and investing is
confidence. The President wants to return ethics, integrity, and
accountability to corporate America so that investors can be
confident they have the facts they need to make informed decisions.
The President's agenda exposes acts of corporate corruption by
increasing coordination with a new Corporate Fraud Task Force. The
President's agenda moves corporate accounting out of the shadows by
creating a new independent accounting oversight board to police the
accounting profession. And the President's agenda protects small
investors and pension holders by giving workers the same rights as
corporate executives. This Administration will investigate, arrest
and prosecute corporate executives who break the law.
Providing a Good Education
Education is the ticket to personal prosperity. Without a good
education, the workers of tomorrow simply won't be able to
compete in the modern global economy. And the workers of today need
access to new skills and new opportunities through continuing
education and training. The President's agenda:
- Raises standards and requires results in the classroom;
- Gives parents more control over their children's education;
- Gives
local schools more control while holding them more accountable; and
- Invests in today's workers by providing education and training
opportunities to learn new skills.
Owning Part of the American Dream
Increasing Homeownership. Owning your own home is the
cornerstone of stability and long term financial security. But
for many Americans, homeownership is out of reach. The
President wants to tear down the barriers to homeownership for all
Americans, and increase the number of minority homeowners by 5.5
million by:
- Providing downpayment assistance through the American Dream
Downpayment Fund;
- Increasing the supply of affordable homes
through housing tax credits;
- Tripling funds for organizations like
Habitat for Humanity that help families get their first home; and
- Simplifying the home buying process.
Innovation, Opportunity and Entrepreneurship. Small businesses
are the heart of the American economy because they drive innovation
and create new jobs. The strength of our Nation is built on the
strength of our ideas. The President wants to reward this
creativity and innovation and create thousands of new small businesses,
including women and minority-owned small businesses, by:
- Tearing down regulatory barriers that prevent the creation of
new small businesses and jobs;
- Making lower taxes permanent.
- Making it easier for small business owners to provide health care for
their workers;
- Giving tax incentives to small businesses to help
them expand, buy more equipment, and hire new workers.
Today's Economy
Despite the recent recession and the terrorist attacks:
- Inflation and interest rates are low;
- Auto and retail
sales are strong;
- New home sales are setting records;
- Wages
are rising faster than inflation;
- Consumer spending remains
strong; and
- Industrial production is increasing.
One reason the recession was one of the shortest and shallowest in
history was because the tax cuts were well timed. The tax cuts will
create 800,000 new jobs this year and they pumped $40 billion back
into the pockets of consumers just when they needed it most.
As the President continues to pursue his agenda to create jobs;
open foreign markets to American goods; help Americans save, invest and
keep more of their money; and foster a new ethic of corporate
responsibility; our economy will continue to grow.
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