Politics & Power Quote by George W. Bush

A neat bit of ideological jujitsu is happening here: Bush frames “wealth” as something government can only obstruct, then reassigns the state a narrower, almost backstage role - setting the scene so private actors can do the real work. It’s a line built to feel like common sense, not policy. By insisting government “does not create” wealth, he strips public spending, regulation, and social programs of any productive legitimacy and recasts them as, at best, neutral; at worst, parasitic. The verb choice matters. “Create” is a godlike power. Denying it to government doesn’t just argue against certain programs; it questions the very idea of an activist state.

The second sentence offers the permission structure: government is acceptable when it lubricates risk. “Environment” is deliberately vague, a word that can smuggle in tax cuts, deregulation, trade policy, liability reform, and business-friendly monetary choices without naming winners and losers. “People take risks” romanticizes entrepreneurs and investors while quietly shifting the burden of economic outcomes onto individual courage rather than systemic design. Even “expand the job rate” (an awkward phrase that dodges wages, security, or job quality) keeps the focus on a single headline metric.

In context, this sits squarely in the post-2000 Republican gospel of ownership, markets, and growth - a response to anxieties about globalization, manufacturing decline, and the political need to justify pro-business policy as pro-worker. The subtext is a moral hierarchy: the private sector produces; the public sector merely “creates an environment.” It’s less an economic claim than a cultural one, defining who deserves credit when things go right.