“An economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGpIT2bVZDw[/youtube]
Good morning.
Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.
But this isn’t about numbers. It’s about each of the families those numbers represent. It’s about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband’s job or your daughter’s job be the next one cut?
These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.
But we need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.
We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve – by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.
Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.
Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.
Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.
As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.
In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.
These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future. And that’s exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.
Thanks for listening.
Someone chided me for not posting this earlier when their GOP bullshit talking points gun went, “click, click, click…”
Anyway – Democrats to Save the Country….Again.
Film at 11:00.
” We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.”
No it won’t. Fewer replaced light bulbs means a reduced demand for light bulbs means fewer light bulbs manufactured means fewer jobs in the light bulb business. I think its a good idea, but don’t tell me it will create jobs.
“Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s.”
And you’ll do it by taxing millions of other jobs out of existence.
“If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.”
That reminds me a fair bit of No Child Left Behind. I believe you all had your reservations about that one.
“It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption.”
We have a right to broadband internet?
“In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet.”
Honest to God, I will be surprised if there is any school, library or hospital in this country that is not connected to the internet.
“Anyway – Democrats to Save the Country….Again.”
I am skeptical, to say the least.
What a great speech, and a great plan.
Might want to put a note up high that it’s an Obama speech. I started out thinking that Jason had written it. Then I didn’t see any spelling mistakes, and realized my error. 😉
I wonder who wrote it.
Not Biden’s speechwriters. Too short.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news yet. Four-star General (retired) Eric Shinseki to be VA Secretary. The same Gen. Shinseki who retired after saying that Iraq needed 500,000 troops. What a great choice!
Update on Jason’s quip.
After Years of Republican Malfeasance, Democrats to Save the Country . . . . Again. Film at 11.
Tom S. Lose jobs to the light bulb manufacturing business? That business is entirely automated, oh well I`m probably arguing with a 10 year old, as much sence as the rest of your post makes, go to bed.
“Tom S. Lose jobs to the light bulb manufacturing business? That business is entirely automated”
Are those machines not operated and serviced by workers? Are the materials they utilize not handled and packaged by workers? Are light bulbs not shipped by workers? Are light bulbs not installed by workers?
Just about every manufacturing sector is highly automated and yet we still have manufacturing jobs.
I don`t understand your basic tenet that light bulb manufacturing will be hurt since the same companies that make regular bulbs also make the energy efficiant bulbs, you seem to be just making up excuses to bash Obama.
Yes, Tom. They are staffed with workers. As are the fluorescent bulb manufacturers. We will also be changing every bulb in the government for the next 2 years. And once we get everyone back to work, our government can pay less for electricity.
I have been an advocate for solar panels on top of schools for years. In the summer, the school draws almost nothing since there are no students. Most are large buildings with lots of roof space and it would be an excellent way to start talking about energy in our classrooms.
2.5 milliona jobs isn’t going to be half of what we need
Nice talk. No time to really post. But I did get a chuckle out of “superhighway”. Is he a “Napolean Dynamite” fan?
Due to high costs, most light bulb manufacturing has been shipped overseas.