What the President Should Say on Jobs and the Economy
Tonight President Obama addresses the nation at a joint session of Congress about his plans to expand job growth. Here’s what he should say:
My Fellow Americans:
Our country is facing a jobs crisis of major proportions, the greatest since the 1930s. This nation’s strength is based on its strong economy and the global corporations that dominated their industries and fueled growth throughout the world. But now that strength is waning, as other nations, from China, India, Singapore, and Brazil to Germany and Switzerland, threaten to outstrip us in competitiveness.
In the 1990s our economy produced 23 million jobs and three consecutive years of budget surpluses. The combination of the Bush tax cuts and spending to finance two wars and entitlement plans created an enormous debt burden that future generations will be forced to carry. The historic downgrade of the U.S. debt rating from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poor’s is a warning we cannot ignore.
The excesses of the past decade have imperiled our fiscal stability and left 25 million Americans – 16.2% of the workforce – unable to find full-time jobs. As a result, the United States has its smallest full-time workforce – less than 55 percent – and hundreds of thousands are dropping out each month.
When I came into office, I inherited a broken economy. Our banks, insurance companies and automobile makers were on the brink of bankruptcy. We took aggressive steps to stop the bleeding, and prevented the world from depression. I launched a $893 billion stimulus package but it had limited impact on the structural jobs crisis.
A robust recovery must start with jobs growth. Recent figures confirm that jobs are not growing, and there is no indication they will return without aggressive actions on our part. Yet we continue to get pulled off course by partisan showdowns over the budget and debt ceiling.
We need to stop making it difficult to grow businesses and hire workers in America. In response to excesses of the past, we overregulated our industries. With domestic growth approaching zero and the challenging regulatory, tax and political climate, companies are investing instead in rapidly growing emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Middle East.
As a result, the jobs crisis is more severe than ever. The U.S. has sunk further into debt, and the country has reached the limits of its borrowing capacity. Our political stalemate has paralyzed our ability to take decisive action.
Therefore, I will use the powers entrusted in me as your President to take the actions required to put Americans back to work and restore domestic growth. All these steps must be taken without increasing the budget deficit.
Here is my plan:
- Restore fiscal stability by implementing the proposals of the Simpson-Bowles Commission to bring revenues and expenditures in line and reduce deficits by $4 trillion.
- With the recent debt downgrade, the government cannot subsidize federal jobs; therefore, I am appointing John Bryon, my Secretary of Commerce nominee and a former CEO, as Jobs Czar to work closely with American employers, large and small alike, to stimulate domestic investment and create 10 million jobs over the next decade.
- To create a positive climate for business investment like that of the 1980s and 1990s under Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, I am ordering all federal agencies to reduce or suspend unnecessary regulations and focus instead on expanding private sector jobs in the energy, transportation, health care, information technology, and financial service industries, as well as small businesses.
- To prepare unemployed Americans for 21st century jobs, I will reprogram existing funds to invest in retraining and vocational/technical education.
- To make America more attractive for investment, I propose reducing the corporate rate to 20 percent, while eliminating complex deductions and credits.
- For the remainder of my term, I will suspend taxes on repatriated foreign profits for corporations that reinvest their portion of the $1 trillion in cash trapped overseas in manufacturing, research, and job creation.
- I will expand the number of H1-B visas, travel visas and green cards to make America an attractive place for immigrants to visit, work and start companies.
- To expand exports, I will implement a free trade policy by moving ahead with free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama, while working with nations of this hemisphere to turn NAFTA into the Americas Free Trade Agreement.
As your President, I am prepared to put my re-election on the line to put Americans back to work, reignite economic growth, and restore America’s competitiveness. While my plan will not please the extremes of either political party, I ask all Americans to join me in this commitment by putting their country ahead of partisan politics.