Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2015

President Obama's Weekly Address 4/25/15: Fighting for Trade Deals that Put American Workers First

WASHINGTON, DC -- In this week’s address, the President laid out why new, high-standards trade agreements are important for our economy, our businesses, our workers, and our values. These new trade deals are vital to middle-class economics -- the idea that this country does best when everybody gets their fair shot, everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same set of rules. The President has been clear -- any deal he signs will be the most progressive trade agreement in our history with strong provisions for both workers and the environment. It would also level the playing field -- and when the playing field is level, American workers always win.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

President Obama's Weekly Address 5/12/12: Congress Must Act on "To-Do List"

In this week’s address, President Obama called on Democrats and Republicans to come together and act on his Congressional “to-do list,” which will create jobs and help restore middle class security. In this make-or-break moment for the middle class, these five initiatives have bipartisan support and will help create an economy that is built to last. While some believe we should return to the same policies that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression, the President believes we must take action to speed up the recovery and ensure that our economy once again rewards hard work and responsibility as we keep our country moving forward.


Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Forward

From Barackobama.com


On the day President Obama took office, America had lost 4.4 million jobs. Here's what happened next.



The video outlines the challenges America faced as President Obama took office at the height of the worst recession in almost a century and details the progress that has been made reclaiming the security of the middle class and building an economy that's meant to last, where hard work pays and responsibility is rewarded.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Saturday, September 4, 2010

President Obama's Weekly Address 9/4/10: Honoring the American Worker

The President talks about his fight to make America work for the middle class and make sure hard work is rewarded -- rather than greed and recklessness .

Saturday, July 17, 2010

President Obama's Weekly Address 7/17/10: Filibustering Recovery & Obstructing Progress

The President blasts Republicans in the Senate who are blocking unemployment insurance and small business tax breaks to create jobs -- even as they push for permanent, massive tax cuts for the richest Americans.



Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
July 17, 2010

This week, many of our largest corporations reported robust earnings – a positive sign of growth.

But too many of our small business owners and those who aspire to start their own small businesses continue to struggle, in part because they can’t get the credit they need to start up, grow, and hire. And too many Americans whose livelihoods have fallen prey to the worst recession in our lifetimes – a recession that cost our economy eight million jobs – still wonder how they’ll make ends meet.

That’s why we need to take new, commonsense steps to help small businesses, grow our economy, and create jobs – and we need to take them now.

For months, that’s what we’ve been trying to do. But too often, the Republican leadership in the United States Senate chooses to filibuster our recovery and obstruct our progress. And that has very real consequences.

Consider what that obstruction means for our small businesses – the growth engines that create two of every three new jobs in this country. A lot of small businesses still have trouble getting the loans and capital they need to keep their doors open and hire new workers. So we proposed steps to get them that help: Eliminating capital gains taxes on investments. Establishing a fund for small lenders to help small businesses. Enhancing successful SBA programs that help them access the capital they need.

But again and again, a partisan minority in the Senate said “no,” and used procedural tactics to block a simple, up-or-down vote.

Think about what these stalling tactics mean for the millions of Americans who’ve lost their jobs since the recession began. Over the past several weeks, more than two million of them have seen their unemployment insurance expire. For many, it was the only way to make ends meet while searching for work – the only way to cover rent, utilities, even food.

Three times, the Senate has tried to temporarily extend that emergency assistance. And three times, a minority of Senators – basically the same crowd who said “no” to small businesses – said “no” to folks looking for work, and blocked a straight up-or-down vote.

Some Republican leaders actually treat this unemployment insurance as if it’s a form of welfare. They say it discourages folks from looking for work. Well, I’ve met a lot of folks looking for work these past few years, and I can tell you, I haven’t met any Americans who would rather have an unemployment check than a meaningful job that lets you provide for your family. And we all have friends, neighbors, or family members who already knows how hard it is to land a job when five workers are competing for every opening.

Now in the past, Presidents and Congresses of both parties have treated unemployment insurance for what it is – an emergency expenditure. That’s because an economic disaster can devastate families and communities just as surely as a flood or tornado.

Suddenly, Republican leaders want to change that. They say we shouldn’t provide unemployment insurance because it costs money. So after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, including a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, they’ve finally decided to make their stand on the backs of the unemployed. They’ve got no problem spending money on tax breaks for folks at the top who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them; but they object to helping folks laid off in this recession who really do need help. And every day this goes on, another 50,000 Americans lose that badly needed lifeline.

Well, I think these Senators are wrong. We can’t afford to go back to the same misguided policies that led us into this mess. We need to move forward with the policies that are leading us out of this mess.

The fact is, most economists agree that extending unemployment insurance is one of the single most cost-effective ways to help jumpstart the economy. It puts money into the pockets of folks who not only need it most, but who also are most likely to spend it quickly. That boosts local economies. And that means jobs.

Increasing loans to small business. Renewing unemployment insurance. These steps aren’t just the right thing to do for those hardest hit by the recession – they’re the right thing to do for all of us. And I’m calling on Congress once more to take these steps on behalf of America’s workers, and families, and small business owners – the people we were sent here to serve.

Because when storms strike Main Street, we don’t play politics with emergency aid. We don’t desert our fellow Americans when they fall on hard times. We come together. We do what we can to help. We rebuild stronger, and we move forward. That’s what we’re doing today. And I’m absolutely convinced that’s how we’re going to come through this storm to better days ahead.

Thanks.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

President Obama's Weekly Address: 10/31/09 Milestones on the Economy and the Recovery Act

While there is nothing to celebrate until job numbers turn around, the President cites the recent dramatic turnaround in gross domestic product as a sign of better things to come. He also applauds the fact that the Recovery Act has now created or saved more than a million jobs

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Corzine Talks Recession with Rachel Maddow

On a segment on the Rachel Maddow show yesterday, NJ Gov. Jon Corzine made an appearance to discuss the recession and what he was going to talk to President elect Obama in Philadelphia today. 

Corzine mentioned that Obama is a great listener and he hopes that Obama will support a huge stimulus package for the States.


Sunday, November 23, 2008

President-Elect Obama's Weekly Radio/Web Address 11/22/08



WASHINGTON (AFP) - US president-elect Barack Obama announced Saturday that he had ordered his economic advisers to produce an economic recovery plan to create 2.5 million new jobs over the next two years.

Well be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy, Obama said in his weekly radio address.

Obama, who has vowed to make the economy his priority when he takes office from President George W. Bush in January, said the effort should produce 2.5 million new jobs by January of 2011 and lay the foundation of the countrys economic recovery.

His announcement came two days after government data showed that new jobless claims had surged to a 16-year high, in a new sign that the worlds largest economy appeared to be sliding into a deep recession.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Economists should listen to consumers

"Experts have a half-glass full outlook for the economy while average Americans are far more pessimistic. Here's why the consumer is probably right."

CNNMoney.com posted a story the other day that does not bode well for the economic outlook. Consumers surveyed earlier this month by The Conference Board, a well-respected private business research group, gave the bleakest six-month outlook for the economy ever in the nearly 42 year history of the survey. By a 3 to 1 margin consumers expect the economy to deteriorate over the next six months.

Click on the headline to read the story