Radio Address by the President to the Nation, 05-03-08

WhiteHouse.gov ^ | May 3, 2008 | George W. Bush

[jazusamo]

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 3, 2008

President's Radio Address

  President's Radio Address
  Audio
  En Español

      In Focus: Economy

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, the Commerce Department reported that GDP grew at an annual rate of six-tenths of a percent in the first quarter. This rate of growth is not nearly as high as we would like. And after a record 52 months of uninterrupted job growth, April was the fourth month in a row in which our economy lost jobs, although the unemployment rate dropped to five percent.

My Administration has been clear and candid on the state of the economy. We saw the economic slowdown coming, we were up front about these concerns with the American people, and we've been taking decisive action.

In February, I signed an economic growth package to put more than $150 billion back into the hands of millions of American families, workers, and businesses. This week, the main piece of that package began being implemented, as nearly 7.7 million Americans received their tax rebates electronically. Next week, the Treasury Department will begin mailing checks to millions more across the country. And by this summer, it expects to have sent rebates to more than 130 million American households. These rebates will deliver up to $600 per person, $1,200 per couple, and $300 per child.

This package will help American families increase their purchasing power and help offset the high prices that we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store. It will also provide tax incentives for American businesses to invest in their companies, which will help create jobs. Most economic experts predict that the stimulus will have a positive effect on the economy in this quarter and even a greater impact in the next. And Americans should have confidence in the long-term outlook for our economy.

While getting more money back in the hands of Americans is a good start, there are several additional steps that Congress needs to take to ease the burdens of an uncertain economy. Americans are concerned about energy prices. To increase our domestic energy supply, Congress needs to allow environmentally safe energy exploration in northern Alaska, expand America's refining capacity, and clear away obstacles to the use of clean, safe nuclear power.

Americans are concerned about rising food prices. Yet, despite this growing pressure on Americans' pocketbooks, Congress is considering a massive farm bill. Instead, they should pass a fiscally responsible bill.

Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeatedly requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow state housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance sub-prime loans.

Americans are concerned about their tax bills. With all the other pressures on their finances, American families should not have to worry about the Federal government taking a bigger bite out of their paychecks. So Congress should eliminate this uncertainty and make the tax relief we passed permanent.

America is now facing a tough economic period, but our long-term outlook remains strong. This week we saw evidence that our economy is continuing to grow in the face of challenges. This should come as no surprise. No temporary setbacks can hold back the most powerful force in our economy -- the ingenuity of the American people. Because of your hard work and dedication, I am confident that we will weather this rough period and emerge stronger than ever.

Thank you for listening.

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[jazusamo]

For your reading and listening pleasure as well as your comments!

[RightWhale]

our economy lost jobs, although the unemployment rate dropped to five percent.

Explain that. Seems kind of hazy on the concept horizon.

[jazusamo]

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[jazusamo]

Can’t explain, I noticed that too.

[9YearLurker]

Happens if people stop looking for jobs, for whatever reason.

I can see the price of gas making more marginal the contribution of part-time earners within families, for example. Such possible employees may also simply figure now is not the time when a worthwhile job that fits them is likely to be found.

[BloodOrFreedom]

Informative, but Bush can’t hold a flame to Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats”. Listening to FDR, you can picture him next to a warm fire in a log cabin...Pleasant.

[Just A Nobody]

So...did you just join FreeRepublic so you could exhibit your BDS for all to see?

Welcome...I guess we can always use another member with BDS on this forum, since they are in such short supply. /s

[BloodOrFreedom]

Thanks. I’ve got nothing against the man. He is certainly better than the alternatives. I just thought he could have been stronger and more proactive in his fight against the Libs

[logician2u]

Seasonally adjusted?

[Just A Nobody]

I just thought he could have been stronger and more proactive in his fight against the Libs

He could not do it alone! He worked hard to give the republicans the majority in both houses, many of them being swept in on his coattails in 2004, only to have them "share power" and conspire with the rats to stop him cold!

We should keep President Bush and send the other 535, well maybe only 500, "elected representatives" packing and replace them with those that will honor the will of the people instead of a handful of special interest groups.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Lovely speech. I just realised that Bush almost always says good things, but he never actually DOES anything about it. What’s the point. It’s almost like torture.

[CharlesWayneCT]

They are both pieces of information from derived sources. The President didn’t explain that, nor is he likely to, but in fact neither is an actual number.

The jobs number is based on a survey of companies who are thought of as the “employers”, and how many people they have employed. If you quit your job and formed your own business, you are a JOB LOSS. If you decided it would be fun to sell stuff on E-bay, you are a lost job. If you were fired from your job, and got a new job that starts in a week, and you are still being paid severance, you are still a lost job.

There is a separate number called the household survey. They rarely report it, but it’s how many people say they have jobs. It gives a different picture, and often is going UP while the other number goes down.

The unemployment number is closer to a real number, but in fact it’s based on the number of people collecting unemployment INSURANCE, not the total number of people who would like to work if they could find a job.

That actually cuts both ways. Some people, for example spouses of a working spouse, might want to take time off - but they will keep looking for work until the unemployment benefits run out, so they look “unemployed”. On the other hand, some people really can’t find work, and they just give up, and don’t count as looking.

As the number of two-income families grow, these two numbers have had a tendency to move independently, mostly because the 2nd job isn’t as critical to a family as the first job.

BTW, it was generally believed that you had to add 150,000 jobs a month to keep even, because the number of newly available workers went up by that much.

I don’t believe that is true anymore, partly because of the recent downturn in the economy plus many places cracking down on illegal immigrants have chased a good number of people out of the job market. Also, more people are retiring relative to the number turning 18 or 21.

I think we are entering a time where, if we don’t increase legal immigration, our employment numbers will stagnate, and it won’t be a problem.

[jazusamo]

What you say is partially true I guess. Though I’m not trying to defend him I have noticed we’re still in Iraq and making headway and the Rats haven’t cut off the funding while Reid and Pelosi are now trying to avoid another showdown in an election year over the new bill. That may be something.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’m glad about that. And I know he put a little time into fighting to save social security, before he gave up when he couldn’t get anybody to go along. He worked harder on illegal immigration, unfortunately.

But other than occasional speeches, he’s never really pushed drilling in ANWR, or building new nuclear facilities, or even offshore drilling.

[jazusamo]

I agree, he should be working a lot harder right now on shoving ANWR, nuclear plants and offshore drilling down the throats of the Rats with the energy crisis we’re experiencing because of them blocking every bill that’s come along.

[Lauren BaRecall]

My $600.00 + $200.00 more will pay for *1* tank of home heating oil, which has gone up more than 100% from last year.

More than taxes or anything else, this is starting to scare me. Something MUST be done to open up the domestic oil supply.

[DrDeb]

The President hasn’t DONE anything?! Where have you been?

Perhaps you need a little historical perspective:

GLAD BUSH IS STILL AROUND
By Paul Johnson (eminent British historian and author)

I don’t regard George W. Bush as a lame-duck president. Between now and next January all sorts of challenging and unexpected events may take place. We can rely on President Bush to react promptly and decisively to them.

We saw this on Sept. 11. The President was as surprised as everyone else, as we grasped from the dramatic photograph of him taken as he was given the dreadful news at an elementary school. But he buckled down quickly to this unprecedented attack on America, determined that such a treacherous outrage should never occur again.

Nor has it. It is worth inquiring why. There is no doubt that attacking the American homeland remains the prime objective of Muslim fundamentalist leaders. Yet they have not done so. One reason for this is the success of Mr. Bush’s team in learning the lessons of Sept. 11 and building a security system of impressive strength and sensitivity. It has yet to be breached. Also, the suicide bombers fear being sent to Guantánamo more than they fear death itself. It is right that the prime defender of democracy and freedom should strike terror into the hearts of terrorists.

You can read the entire commentary here:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0505/027_print.html
-

AND a little economic perspective:

BUSH’S ‘R’ IS FOR ‘RIGHT’
By Lawrence Kudlow

President George W. Bush may turn out to be the top economic forecaster in the country.

About a month ago he told reporters, “We’re not in a recession, we’re in a slowdown.” At a White House news conference a few weeks later, despite the fact that reporters pressed him to use the “R” word, Mr. Bush refused. And on Friday, after the most recent jobs report — which produced a much-smaller-than-expected decline in corporate payrolls, a huge 362,000 increase in the more entrepreneurial household survey (the best gain in five months), and a historically low 5 percent unemployment rate (4.95 percent, to be precise) — the president told reporters: “This economy is going to come on. I’m confident it will.”

You can read the entire editorial here:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/bushs_r_is_for_right.html

[jazusamo]

Thanks for those, DrDeb. I couldn’t agree more and perhaps I should have put a sarc tag on my previous post.

[CharlesWayneCT]

It’s not what he’s done, it’s what he has NOT done.

Correctly saying we aren’t in a recession isn’t really doing something.

Except for the war on terror, Bush has been a pretty passive President the last few years.

I used to find it quaint that he would slog on, ignoring the lies people told about him.

But now it just seems so passive and unproductive.

The only thing other than the war he REALLY fought for the last two years was amnesty — and even there he gave up.

I believe the conversative principles we stand for can win majority support, because people will understand they are correct.

But only if someone champions them, and it starts from the top.

The sad thing is that I expect President McCain to do a much better job fighting for what HE believes in, but his beliefs aren’t as in tune with mine as President Bush.

If Bush had continued to make the case for drilling in ANWR, instead of giving up when he lost, he could not be pointing to that consistant push and the democrat’s blocking it as the reason we don’t have enough oil.

But because he gave it up, even if he fought it now it would look like political opportunism.

[RightWhale]

Two different data sources and analyses makes sense for an economy report. Wouldn’t go over well in physics.