Bush salutes workers

President George W. Bush saluted US Labour Day in his weekly radio address Saturday, touting domestic economic proposals two months before election day.
"America is home to the most dedicated, innovative and decent workers in the world. And thanks to their effort and enterprise, America's economy is strong and growing stronger," Bush said.
"We must make sure that America remains the best place in the world to do business," by encouraging investment, cutting government spending, regulation and taxation, Bush said.
He made the most of lukewarm job creation data from Friday, pointing to the 144,000 jobs created in August and the drop in the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent - its lowest since October 2001.
The address repeated parts of the president's speech from Thursday when he accepted the Republican Party's presidential nomination at the party convention in New York.
Bush was out campaigning in the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania Saturday, capitalising on the convention momentum and a sharp bounce in the polls that showed him opening an 11 point lead over his Democratic challenger.
Bush repeated pledges to simplify the tax code, increase funding for job training and make working hours more flexible to accommodate family demands.
He said he would reinvigorate regions that have lost manufacturing, textile and other jobs by providing tax relief and investment inventives and easing regulations to attract new businesses.
He touted his "ownership society" concept envisioning more Americans owning homes, health plans and "a piece of their retirement" through privatising the Social Security government retirement program.
"With all these proposals we'll provide American workers with apath to greater opportunity, more freedom and more control over their lives," Bush said.
Bush was campaigning feverishly as many American workers enjoyed a three day weekend, with a holiday for US Labour Day Monday.
KERRY SLAMS JOB LOSSES UNDER BUSH: Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Saturday took aim at President George W. Bush's jobs record aiming to position himself as the best alternative two months before election day.
"Yesterday morning, once again, we received disappointing news about job creation here in America. The newest numbers show that this past month, we simply havent created enough new jobs," Kerry said in a radio address.
"President Bush is now certain to be the first president since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression who didnt create a single new job," he added. "Over the past three years, we've lost 1.6 million jobs in the United States. And to make matters worse, the new jobs were creating pay an average of 9,000 dollars less than the ones we've lost," Kerry went on. "All across America, people who are working are working hard. They are working two jobs, three jobs, they're working weekends, just to get by."