Transcript: President Obama’s Speech on the Economy, Excerpts
April 14, 2009
A future where prosperity is fueled not by excessive debt, reckless speculation, and fleeing profit, but is instead built by skilled, productive workers; by sound investments that will spread opportunity at home and allow this nation to lead the world in the technologies, innovations, and discoveries that will shape the 21st century.
The first step was to fight a severe shortage of demand in the economy. The Federal Reserve did this by dramatically lowering interest rates last year in order to boost investment.
In addition to the program to provide capital to the banks, we have launched a plan that will pair government resources with private investment.
New investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive; new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and industries; new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses; and new savings in our federal budget that will bring down the debt for future generations.
The first step we will take to build this foundation is to reform the outdated rules and regulations that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place. Rules that protect typical American families when they buy a home, get a credit card or invest in a 401k.
We are investing in innovative programs that have proven to help schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps.
If businesses and entrepreneurs know today that we are closing this carbon pollution loophole, they will start investing in clean energy now. And pretty soon, we’ll see more companies constructing solar panels, and workers building wind turbines, and car companies manufacturing fuel-efficient cars. Investors will put some money into a new energy technology, and a small business will open to start selling it.
That’s why our Recovery Act will invest in electronic health records with strict privacy standards that will save money and lives. We’ve also made the largest investment ever in preventive care,
Each policy we pursue is driven by a larger vision of
Whether we like it or not, history has repeatedly shown that when nations do not take early and aggressive action to get credit flowing again, they have crises that last years and years instead of months and months – years of low growth, low job creation, and low investment that cost those nations far more than a course of bold, upfront action.
The truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in eight or ten dollars of loans to families and businesses, a multiplier effect that can ultimately lead to a faster pace of economic growth.
We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity – a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.
It’s a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century.
In the 20th century, the GI Bill sent a generation to college, and for decades, we led the world in education and economic growth.
We are putting Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions on our energy bills and grow our economy at the same time.
That’s how we can grow this economy, enhance our security, and protect our planet at the same time.
And many Americans are simply wondering how all of our different programs and policies fit together in a single, overarching strategy that will move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity.
Recessions are not uncommon. Markets and economies naturally ebb and flow, as we have seen many times in our history. But this recession is different. This recession was not caused by a normal downturn in the business cycle.
Because the infected securities were being traded worldwide and other nations also had weak regulations, this recession soon became global.
And to cushion the blow of this recession, we also provided extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
To begin with, economists on both the left and right agree that the last thing a government should do in the middle of a recession is to cut back on spending. You see, when this recession began, many families sat around their kitchen table and tried to figure out where they could cut back.
To coordinate a global response to this global recession, I went to the meeting of the G20 nations in
The severity of this recession will cause more job loss, more foreclosures, and more pain before it ends.
And even after we emerge from the current recession, these challenges will still represent major obstacles that stand in the way of our success in the 21st century.
