More than 5 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps, and we're getting Americans off of welfare and back into the workforce. That's a great thing. (Applause.) Great thing. That's a great thing. I mean, you think of that: Five million people off of food stamps. You know what that costs? First of all, it's a tragedy. But you know what that costs? So they're off and now they're working. So they're actually paying taxes instead of - really, it's costing a lot of money. Food stamps is very expensive.
And very importantly, women filled more than 60 percent of all of the new jobs created over the past year. Sixty. (Applause.) So I think the men should sue the women for discrimination. (Laughter.) They should sue. Get a great lawyer. (Laughter.)
And after years of stagnation, wages are rising fast, with the quickest growth for blue-collar workers. The best statistic of all - and people don't know. Everyone is doing great. The rich are doing great. The not-so-rich are doing great. The middle income is doing the best. But the best of all: The blue-collar worker has the biggest percentage increase of anybody. And that's beautiful. (Applause.)
And these things didn't just happen by accident. They happened because we are taking out this power out of Washington - these bad people - and returning it to the American people, where it belongs. Just think about Comey and these characters. Think about Comey and the gang. (Applause.) Drain the swamp. Drain the swamp.
Comey, Brennan, Clapper - we're draining the swamp, folks. (Applause.) And you think it's easy? It's not easy. It's not easy, but we're doing it. We're getting rid of a lot bad ones.
At the heart of America's revival are the massive tax cuts that I signed into law a year ago. And they are like rocket fuel for America's economy.
The typical family of four earning $75,000 is now saving more than $2,000 on their income taxes - money they can put toward anything they want to put it, including save it.
Many small business owners are here today. And you can now deduct up to 20 percent of their business income, one of the most significant small business tax cuts in American history. (Applause.) Thank you.
It's so good that you see that because a lot of people - you know, they're all getting these tremendous tax cuts, and a lot of people don't know they are getting them and sometimes they're taken out by the business. So, you know, they're getting checks and they notice they're a little bit bigger but they don't really notice.
You people - many of you have your own businesses and you see the kind of money that you're making. Much more money. And you're investing much more money. But it's great that when you see it, you know, you're very entrepreneurial people; real estate people are. If you're not, you're in deep trouble. (Laughter.) If you're not, you don't want to be in this room very long because you won't last.
But it's pretty amazing. And the other thing that's amazing is one-year expensing. How about that? I mean, one-year expensing, I think, is one of the biggest things. And nobody talks about it, really, but it's a tremendous - (applause) - you write it off in one year. And nobody thought we'd ever see the day when you get that. But it spurs growth, and it's been fantastic.
And we've also done something that, for this room, and for farmers, and for ranchers, and for, you know, small businesses - fairly big businesses, actually - we've virtually eliminated the very unfair estate tax, also known as the death tax. So - - (applause) - so, if you want to leave your real estate company to your child or your children - they like real estate, they have an aptitude, and you love them, and they love you; otherwise don't do it. To hell with them. (Laughter.)
I've seen parents that are so badly treated by their kids. And the parent comes to me,
"Oh, I love my child." And I'm saying to myself,
"Man, that child treats them badly." So I would tell him,
"You know, your child is not a good child. Don't leave him anything." (Laughter.)
But for those of you in the room, and I would say that includes probably 90 percent - I'd say there's 10 percent - who does not love your child or children? Anybody want to raise your hand? (Laughter.) No, I can't believe that guy raised his hand. (Laughter.) I'm not going to ask your name. I'm not going to get you. (Laughter.)
But what we have now is you don't have to pay any estate taxes. You know what that is? That's a big deal. Because a lot of times - and it happened with the farmers, where in some cases, they're land rich, but not income rich, but the farm has been in the family for 150 years, and they love it, and they do well, and that's what they do, and they love it. They wouldn't want to do anything else. And they die and it would taxed on the value of the land, and all sorts of things happened. Then they go to the banks and they borrow money. And then they have a little down spell and they end up losing the farm, losing the business. You have no tax to pay anymore. And nobody talks about it, but to me that's a big thing. That's a big thing. (Applause.)
And thanks to the Opportunity Zones - where Ben Carson has been working so hard - (applause) - right? - made possible by tax reform, we're making enormous investments in distressed communities. Tremendous.
I will tell you this - and, Ben, I think you can agree with me. He has to agree. (Laughter.) By the way, if he doesn't, he will tell me. I guarantee. He'll stand up and say,
"Sir, I disagree with you there."
It's amazing the way it's worked out. Do you agree? I had no idea. Tim Scott was very much involved. And we did it. And, you know, I've been hearing about these things for 40 years.
"Oh, we're going to do this; we're going to do that." Nothing works. These things have become tremendously successful. Tremendously successful in areas where money was never invested.
Very, very big, powerful, rich people are spending tremendous amounts of money. They have certain tax advantages, but we've got them to open their wallets, and the jobs that are being created in neighborhoods where people wouldn't go before.
The Opportunity Zones - and it's starting to be seen, and it's starting to be written about - it's a great achievement for Tim Scott. It's a great achievement for Ben Carson. It's really a - some of the people that those - the early people, Ben, that worked. Who else would you say, Ben? Four or five people that really were in the front - the forefront. But you two, I'd say, in particular. I'm going to get myself in trouble with the other three, but I'm not going to bother because you people don't care who the hell they are. (Laughter.)
But they know they did a good job. Right, Ben? (Laughter.) They know they did a good job. (Applause.)
So we're honored to be joined today by one of the patriots leading the charge on Opportunity Zone development. A fantastic man. A fantastic football player, by the way, for those of you that remember. He's still young. A longtime member of the Association, Bob Turner. Bob, come on up. Let us know. Come on, Bob. (Applause.) Let us have a little information, please. How are you, Bob?
MR. TURNER: Thank you, Mr. President. What an honor to be here today.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah, Bob!
MR. TURNER: (Laughs.) Thanks. Thank you so much for this great economy. When you were elected, in Memphis, the cloud lifted off of Memphis and the economy took off. It really did. (Applause.) And the Opportunity Zones are creating so many opportunities for everybody across this country. And you came to Millington, Tennessee, a couple of years ago.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
MR. TURNER: About a mile from where you landed, we own 47 acres that are in the Opportunity Zone. We're developing 247 units of apartments, and we're building 71 single-family home lots on this 47 acres. We will create about $40 million of economic development in Millington, Tennessee. (Applause.)
Millington has not seen any new developments for over 10 years. No new apartments, very few houses, and it's home of the naval air station - naval base - with your fine patriots. And it's going to make a change in that town.
We're also developing a large development in Memphis. It's 1,500 apartments, a hotel, and about 3,500 square-foot of retail space that will create about $400 million in economic development. It's not in an Opportunity Zone, but it's creating a tremendous amount of jobs in Memphis. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Great. Great place.
MR. TURNER: Yep. So, as realtors across this country, we've been talking about this all this week, and I've told them they are the catalyst for this Opportunity Zone with Mr. Carson and President Trump. And without it, we would not be able to revitalize these communities that need help.
I had the opportunity to come to the White House and represent our realtors in your economic summit for the Opportunity Zone, and I thought it was all about real estate. But it's about workforce, it's about housing, it's about every kind of economic development you can do in these zones. And it's really going to make a difference.
As you said, the money is flowing. The day that you all released those rules, the faucet turned on. There is hundreds of millions of dollars looking for a place to invest in your communities. And this group here, Mr. President, is in the center of it. (Applause.)
Our realtors are going to create this situation in every city and town across the country and be the catalyst for building these Opportunity Zones out to put people to work and put people in homes, and revitalize our nation. And we - on behalf of the realtors, we want to thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
MR. TURNER: And I want to say one more thing. (Applause.) Thank you, Mr. President, for making America great again. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bob. Wow. That's from the heart. No notes, no nothing. That's from the heart.
And I have to tell you, a man who just - well, I introduced him, but I'm going to ask him to take a little bit of a stand - your President - because, John Smaby, you really wanted Trump. And look how you turned out. (Laughter and applause.) Right? Stand up, John. Will you, please? (Applause.) He wanted - he wanted Trump. (Applause.) He wanted Trump. Thank you. Thank you, John. Great job, John.
So as our economy booms like never before, we're lifting millions of our citizens from welfare to work, dependence to independence, and poverty to prosperity.
But as everyone in this business knows, nothing kills economic growth faster than government bureaucrats, regulation. With all that power and not enough common sense, lots of bad things can happen quickly. And that's why we're waging a historic deregulation campaign that especially affects the real estate business. And that's liberating our citizens from bureaucracy and freeing our economy to soar higher than ever. And it can continue to go up.
To see the disastrous results of over-regulation, you take a look at what's going on in California. Housing costs are among the highest in the country. Development restrictions make it sometimes impossible to build. What they do - I mean, years and years of turmoil. I have one job, it's called the Coastal Commission. Oh, they're fun to deal with. (Laughter.) If you're really good, you'll have your permits within 20 years, or not have them within 20 years.
"We vote no." "Wait a minute, we've been looking at these things for 20 years." "We vote no." How about that?
How about when you're looking at a permit, you've devoted millions and millions of dollars, and you go into that hearing, after years, and you have no idea if they're going to vote yes or no? And oftentimes, they vote no. So we're trying to end that.
State and local regulations can easily add $200,000 to the price of a single home. And it's no surprise that in California - and I don't want to single them out, but they have a train going up now - you know, this fast train? You heard about this disaster? (Laughter and applause.) I mean, you people know how to build on time, on budget - preferably ahead of time and under budget, right? This is a train that's not working out so well. It's a fast train, but not a bullet train. So it's not that fast. (Laughter.) And it was going to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles. And then, a thing called cost overruns happened. And many of you know about it - well, it's in the thing today because I said,
"We're not paying any more money for it. California has lost control."
And it's an incredible thing. It's got to be a straight run. And they build a section, and then they build another section way away, and then another section. And then they want to hook it up; it doesn't work. (Laughter.)
"You can't hook it up." (Laughter and applause.)
"You can't. Doesn't hook. It's a little crooked." (Laughter.)
"The train doesn't go good that way." (Laughter.) So they say,
"Let's rip the sucker down; we'll start all over again." This is like a catastrophe. It'll - like hundreds of millions over budget. Totally out of control. And we told them we're not going to do it. I mean, we're not going to - it's been under construction forever. (Applause.)
So think of this - think of this: It was going from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Now, the price had to be very, very high - much more expensive than Southwest Airlines, which goes in one-third the time. (Laughter.) So I said,
"What a minute, what are they doing? You got an airline that goes from San Francisco to Los Angeles much faster, and it's less money. So how does this work?"
And again, it's not that really fast train; it's just a fast train. (Laughter.) Meaning, it's slow. (Laughter.) Meaning - meaning, it's obsolete, right? You know, it's obsolete before - if you're going to do it, you do the bullet train. You do the really fast deal. So it's obsolete before they start.
But they had a way of doing it. They were going to show me - the Governor - a nice guy. A nice, young guy. (Laughter.) Talking about forests - clean up your forests; you won't have forest fires. Clean them up. He blames it on global warming. I said,
"No, try cleaning the floor of the forest a little bit so you don't have four feet of leaves and broken trees that have sit there for 25 years." (Applause.)
"Try cleaning the floor of the forest. You won't have forest fires." (Applause.) And I got killed for that. It's called
"forest management." I got killed for that. And then, about three weeks later, they announced I was right. (Laughter.) Because I was out there last year and what I saw was so horrific with some of the fires - so many people killed. The fire was - you talk about bullets, the fire was like a bullet.
