George H.W. Bush: “The national figures on manufacturing are not all discouraging even in rough economic times. What I think we were…”

“The national figures on manufacturing are not all discouraging even in rough economic times. What I think we were talking about here probably would have the most stimulative effect, short and long run, if you add R&D and education into it, of manufacturing. But the concept that we need a strong manufacturing base is very, very important. And I hope I can emphasize that. You get into a political debate; you get into a political kind of pledging debate: Who is going to cut the taxes the most to get the most votes? I think I have to resist that. I have the responsibility now, accept the responsibility for good things and the bad things, and I have to propose what I think will create the most jobs and bring the economy back the quickest. And a strong manufacturing base is part of it. But again, let me make this pitch to you all because I do think of New Hampshire as resisting from the left or from the extreme right the siren's call of protection. We are in a global economy now. You can't separate it out. It is exports that have saved the national economy to the degree it's even been saved, and it hasn't been saved, but I mean, put it this way, it would be a lot worse if we weren't exporting to these foreign countries. And we can compete in a manufacturing way with these foreign countries if we get the proper access, fair access to markets, and if we protect our competitiveness through the kinds of taxing that we've heard here today that I think you probably favor. So, I'll try to keep that in focus as we go forward here. [At this point, remarks were made by a participant.]”