Salina ? Former President George H.W. Bush told Kansas business leaders Tuesday the world is a safer place today than when he was president.

“Despite international terror, it is a safer world,” the elder Bush said. “There is no superpower staring out at us, across an ocean, armed to the teeth with missiles aimed at us. There is no Soviet empire. It doesn’t exist any more.”

The nation’s 41st president was the featured guest at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting. About 2,500 people came to hear Bush speak at the Bicentennial Center in Salina.

“After 78 years of living, I’ve seen how far we’ve come — from world divided to a world literally transformed,” Bush told them.

He advised young people worried about a war or a depression to get involved in their communities.

“I am an optimist. I used to talk about a new world order,” Bush said. “It is not perfected, but there are a lot more democracies today than when I started as president.”

Bush found a receptive audience in the local chamber of commerce, and he urged his audience not to judge the whole economy by the shortcomings of a few “greedy lawbreakers.”

Former President Bush speaks during the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting Tuesday at the Bicentennial Center in Salina.

“Things are changing, and I think they are changing for the better. … I am convinced the markets and businesses are going to emerge stronger than ever,” Bush said.

He told the crowd that markets are solid for investors, and he has no doubt the nation is in an economic recovery. He also said he supports efforts by his son, President George W. Bush, to stimulate that recovery.

“I am fundamentally bullish on the U.S. economy, and the certainty of its full recovery,” Bush said. “I know, the president is not content to let events take their natural course, he is pushing for several pieces of legislation to stimulate the economy.”

On a lighter note, Bush joked he was going through an identity crisis.

“I was George Bush, president of the United States of America,” he said. “Now I am George H.W. Bush, Barbara’s husband or the father of the president. While I am happy with both those descriptions, it is quite a come down.”