2012 02 25 Hello, everybody.In the State of the Union, I laid out three areas we need to focus on if we’re going to build an economy that lasts: new American manufacturing, new skills and education for American workers, and new sources of American-made energy.These days, we’re getting another painful reminder why developing new energy is so important to our future. Just like they did last year, gas prices are starting to climb. Only this time, it’s happening earlier. And that hurts everyone – everyone who owns a car; everyone who owns a busine. It means you have to stretch your paycheck even further. Some folks have no choice but to drive a long way to work, and high gas prices are like a tax straight out of their paychecks.Now, some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. And since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas. I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling. We hear the same thing every year.Well the American people aren’t stupid. You know that’s not a plan – especially since we’re already drilling. It’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It’s a strategy to get politicians through an election.You know there are no quick fixes to this problem, and you know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas price spikes down the line, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use le oil in our cars and trucks; in our buildings and plants. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge.Now, we absolutely need safe, responsible oil production here in America. That’s why under my Administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. In 2010, our dependence on foreign oil was under 50% for the first time in more than a decade. And while there are no short-term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices, I’ve directed my administration to look for every single area where we can make an impact and help consumers in the months ahead, from permitting to delivery bottlenecks to what’s going on in the oil markets.But over the long term, an all-of-the-above energy strategy means we have to do more. It means we have to make some choices.Here’s one example. Right now, four billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year. Four billion dollars.Imagine that. Maybe some of you are listening to this in your car right now, pulling into a gas station to fill up. As you watch those numbers rise, know that oil company profits have never been higher. Yet somehow, Congre is still giving those same companies another four billion dollars of your money. That’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And it has to stop.
A century of subsidies to the oil companies is long enough. It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable, and use that money to reduce our deficit and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Because of the investments we’ve already made, the use of wind and solar energy in this country has nearly doubled – and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it. And because we put in place the toughest fuel economy standards in history, our cars will average nearly 55 miles per gallon by the middle of the next decade – something that, over time, will save the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump. Now Congre needs to keep that momentum going by renewing the clean energy tax credits that will lead to more jobs and le dependence on foreign oil.Look, we know there’s no silver bullet that will bring down gas prices or reduce our dependence on foreign oil overnight. But what we can do is get our priorities straight, and make a sustained, serious effort to tackle this problem. That’s the commitment we need right now. And with your help, it’s a commitment we can make. Thank you.2012 02 18 Hello, everybody.I’m speaking to you this week from the Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington.Boeing has been in this community for half a century. But it’s what they’re doing here today that has folks really excited; because at this plant they’re building the plane of the future – the Dreamliner. It’s an impreive sight. And, to be honest, part of why I came was to see it up close. But I also came because this is a great example of how we can bring jobs and manufacturing back to America.You see, the last few decades haven’t been easy for manufacturing in this country. New technology has made businees more efficient and productive – and that’s good – but it’s also made a lot of jobs obsolete. The result has been painful for a lot of families and communities. Factories where people thought they’d retire have left town. Jobs that provided a decent living have been shipped overseas. And the hard truth is that a lot of those jobs aren’t coming back.But that doesn’t mean we have to settle for a leer future. I don’t accept that idea. In America, there’s always something we can do to create new jobs and new manufacturing and new security for the middle-cla. In America, we don’t give up, we get up.Right now, that’s exactly what we’re doing. Over the past 23 months, businees have created 3.7 million new jobs. And manufacturers are hiring for the first time since the 1990s. It’s now getting more expensive to do busine in places like China. Meanwhile, America is more productive than ever. And companies like Boeing are realizing that even when we can’t make things cheaper than China, we can make things better. That’s how we’re going to competeglobally.For Boeing, busine right now is booming. Last year, orders for commercial aircraft rose by more than 50 percent. To meet that rising demand, they’ve put thousands of folks to work all over the country. We want to see more of this. We need to make it as easy as we can for our companies to create more jobs in America, not overseas. And that starts with our tax code.No company should get a tax break for outsourcing jobs. Instead, tax breaks should go to manufacturers who set up shop here at home. Bigger tax breaks should go to high-tech manufacturers who create the jobs of the future. And if you relocate your company to a struggling community, you should get help financing that new plant, that new equipment, or training for new workers. It’s time to stop rewarding businees that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding businees that create jobs here in America. And Congre should send me that kind of tax reform right away.Another thing we’re doing is to make it easier for companies like Boeing to sell their products all over the world, because more exports mean more jobs.Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S.exports over five years. And we’re on track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule.We have a big opportunity right now to build not only an economy that will help us succeed today, but an economy that will help our kids and their kids succeed tomorrow.We know what we need to do. We need to strengthen American manufacturing.We need to invest in American-made energy and new skills for American workers. And above all, we need to renew the values that have always made this country great: Hard work. Fair play. Shared responsibility.We can do this. Ask the folks in Everett. Right here, a few years ago, the first Dreamliner took off on its maiden trip.Thousands of employees came to watch. One was an executive office administrator named Sharon O’Hara. As Sharon saw that first plane take flight – a result of so much hard work – she got goose bumps. In her words, she said, “We said we would do it and we did.” That’s the story of America. We said we would do it, and we did. That’s the can-do spirit that makes us who we are. We’ve seen challenging times before. But we always emerge from them stronger. And that’s what we’re going to do again today. Thanks, and have a great weekend.2012 02 11 Hello, everybody.In recent weeks, we’ve seen signs that our economy is growing stronger and creating jobs at a faster clip. While numbers and figures will go up and down in the coming months, what cannot waver is our resolve to do everything in our power to keep stoking the fires of the recovery.And the last thing we should do is let Washington stand in the way.You see, at the end of the month, taxes are set to go up on 160 million working Americans.If you’re one of them, then you know better than anyone that the last thing you need right now is a tax hike. But if Congre refuses to act, middle cla taxes will go up. It’s that simple.
Now, if this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been here before. Back in December, Congre faced this exact same predicament. Ultimately, thanks to your voices, they did the right thing – but only after a great deal of bickering and political posturing that put the strength of our economy and the security of middle cla families at risk. We can’t go through that again.Congre needs to stop this middle cla tax hike from happening. Period. No drama. No delay. And no ideological side iues that have nothing to do with this tax cut. Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our recovery. Now is the time for common-sense action. And this tax cut is common-sense. If you’re a family making about $50,000 a year, this tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year. That’s about $40 in every paycheck. I know there are some folks in this town who think $40 isn’t a lot of money. But to a student or a senior who’s trying to stretch the budget a little bit further? To a parent who’s filling up the tank and looking at rising gas prices? To them, $40 can make all the difference in the world.And so can your voice. I hope you’ll pick up the phone, send a tweet, write an email, and tell your representative that they should get this done before it gets too late. Tell them not to play politics again by linking this debate to unrelated iues.Tell them not to manufacture another needle standoff or crisis. Tell them not to stand in the way of the recovery. Tell them to just do their job. That’s what our middle cla needs. That’s what our country needs.In the wake of the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, we’re getting things going again. And we’re going to keep at it until everyone shares in America’s comeback.Thanks, and have a great weekend.2012 02 04 Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been traveling around the country and talking with folks about my blueprint for an economy built to last. It’s a blueprint that focuses on restoring the things we’ve always done best. Our strengths.American manufacturing.American energy. The skills and education of American workers.most importantly, American values like fairne and responsibility.We know what happened when we strayed from those values over the past decade – especially when it comes to our housing market.Lenders sold loans to families who couldn’t afford them. Banks packaged those mortgages up and traded them for phony profits. It drove up prices and created an unsustainable bubble that burst – and left millions of families who did everything right in a world of hurt.Itwas wrong. The housing crisis has been the single biggest drag on our recovery from the receion. It has kept millions of families in debt and unable to spend, and it has left hundreds of thousands of construction workers out of a job.But there’s something even more important at stake. I’ve been saying this is a make-or-break moment for the middle cla. And the housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle-cla in this country: owning a home. Raising our kids. Building our dreams.Rightnow, there are more than 10 million homeowners in this country who, because of a decline in home prices that is no fault of their own, owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Now, it is wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. I don’t accept that. None of us should.That’s why we launched a plan a couple years ago that’s helped nearly one million responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages and save an average of $300 on their payments each month. Now, I’ll be the first to admit it didn’t help as many folks as we’d hoped. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying.That’s why I’m sending Congre a plan that will give every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgages by refinancing at historically low rates. No more red tape. No more endle forms. And a small fee on the largest financial institutions will make sure it doesn’t add a dime to the deficit.I want to be clear: this plan will not help folks who bought a house they couldn’t afford and then walked away from it. It won’t help folks who bought multiple houses just to turn around and sell them in speculation.What this plan will do is help millions of responsible homeowners who make their payments every month, but who, until now, couldn’t refinance because their home values kept dropping or they got wrapped up in too much red tape.But here’s the catch. In order to lower mortgage payments for millions of Americans, we need Congre to act. They’re the ones who have to pa this plan. And as anyone who has followed the news in the last six months can tell you, getting Congre to do anything these days is not an easy job.That’s why I’m going to keep up the preure on Congre to do the right thing. But I also need your help. I need your voice. I need everyone who agrees with this plan to get on the phone, send an email, tweet, pay a visit, and remind your representatives in Washington who they work for. Tell them to pa this plan. Tell them to help more families keep their homes, and more neighborhoods stay vibrant and whole.The truth is, it will take time for our housing market to recover. It will take time for our economy to fully bounce back. But there are steps we can take, right now, to move this country forward. That’s what I promise to do as your President, and I hope Members of Congre will join me.Thank you, and have a great weekend.2012 01 21 Hello, everybody. On Thursday, I went down to Florida to visit Disneyworld. To Sasha and Malia’s great disappointment, I was not there to hang out with Mickey or ride Space Mountain. Instead, I was there to talk about steps we’re taking to boost tourism and create jobs.Tourism is the number one service we export. Every year, tens of millions of tourists come from all over the world to visit America. They stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, and see all the sights America has to offer.That’s good for local businees. That’s good for local economies. And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It’s that simple.We can’t wait to seize this opportunity. As I’ve said before, I will continue to work with Congre, states, and leaders in the private sector to find ways to move this country forward. But where they can’t act or won’t act, I will. Because we want the world to know that America is open for busine. And that’s why I announced steps we’re taking to promote America and make it easier for tourists to come and visit.Frequent travelers who pa an extensive background check will be able to scan their paports and fingerprints and skip long lines at immigration at more airports.
We’re going to expand the number of countries where visitors can get pre-cleared by Homeland Security so they don’t need a tourist visa. And we’re going to speed up visa proceing for countries with growing middle claes that can afford to visit America – countries like China and Brazil.We want more visitors coming here. We want them spending money here. It’s good for our economy, and it will help provide the boost more businees need to grow and hire. And we can’t wait to make it happen.Too often over the last few months, we’ve seen Congre drag its feet and refuse to take steps we know will help strengthen our economy. That’s why this is the latest in a series of actions I’ve taken on my own to help our economy keep growing, creating jobs, and restoring security for middle-cla families.In September, we decided to stop waiting for Congre to fix No Child Left Behind and give states the flexibility they need to help our kids meet higher standards. We made sure that small businees that have contracts with the Federal Government can get paid faster so they can start hiring more people. We made it easier for veterans to get jobs and put their skills to work. We took steps to help families whose home values have fallen refinance their mortgages and save up to thousands of dollars a year. We sped up the loan proce for companies that want to rebuild our roads and bridges – putting construction workers back on the job. And I appointed Richard Cordray to be America’s consumer watchdog and protect working Americans from the worst abuses of the financial industry.These are good steps. Now we need to do more.On Tuesday evening, I’ll deliver my State of the Union Addre, where I’ll lay out my blueprint for actions we need to take together – not just me, or Congre, but every American – to rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility are rewarded. An economy that’s built to last.I hope you’ll tune in. In the meantime, I’m going to keep doing everything I can to make this country not only the best place to visit and do busine – but the best place to live and work and build a better life.Thanks for watching.Have a great weekend. And I’ll see you on Tuesday.
