First, an excerpt from the President's
speech<...>
We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.
But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people. By the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer. By the prospects of a small business owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise. By the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children.
That’s the project the American people want us to work on. Together.
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Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn’t always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck, good benefits, and the occasional promotion. Maybe you’d even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company.
That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts of once busy Main Streets. I’ve heard it in the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear – proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game.
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We have to do better. America is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad, brought electricity to rural communities, and constructed the interstate highway system. The jobs created by these projects didn’t just come from laying down tracks or pavement. They came from businesses that opened near a town’s new train station or the new off-ramp.
Over the last two years, we have begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. Tonight, I’m proposing that we redouble these efforts.
We will put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We will make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based on what’s best for the economy, not politicians.
moreNext, here is a list of initiatives the President announced:
- Investment in government-funded research and technology
- Investment in infrastructure, repairing crumbling roads and bridges
- 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
- Eliminate billions in taxpayer dollars subsidies for oil companies.
- By 2035, 80% of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.
- Within 25 years, give 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail
- Investment in education, including replacing No Child Left Behind and preparing 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
- Strengthen and protect Social Security for future generations.
- Eliminate tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans
- Strengthen health care law to increase affordability and reduce costs.
- Reduce the deficit by $400 billion over 10 years.
- Simplify the tax code for businesses by elimininating loopholes and and for individuals to make it more fair.
- Set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014
- DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform
- Bring all the troops home from Iraq this year.
- Begin withdrawal from Afghanistan in July.
There is nothing Republican about President Obama's policies and accomplishments (
here,
here,
here and
here).
The President made progress in many areas in his first two years, and there is no debate that more needs to be done. Jobs have to be the priority.
The biggest job-creating engine from the President's speech is to invest in rebuilding America's infrastructure.
by Mike Hall
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue issued a rare joint statement supporting “Obama’s call to create jobs and grow the U.S. economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure.” Trumka and Donohue said:
Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy.
With the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO standing together to support job creation, we hope that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will also join together to build America’s infrastructure.
Last night, Trumka said that many of the economic plans President Obama outlined in his State of the Union message showed he “was heading in the right direction” to restoring the health of the economy and the middle class.
Here are some other reactions. Click
here to read Trumka’s full statement.
Obama’s call to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure—which Obama described as at the core of “winning the future”—upped the ante in the debate about investing in the nation’s crumbling transportation system and infrastructure, says AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (
TTD) President Edward C. Wytkind.
President Obama is in complete agreement with transportation labor in saying that America can no longer afford to fall behind China—with its “faster trains and newer airports”—and the rest of the world in investing in the movement of people, goods and information. He said our infrastructure used to be the best—”but our lead has slipped.” And he talked about the need to “redouble” our efforts to use strategically significant investments to create good jobs. Needless to say, we agree.
Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (
AAM), says Obama’s focus on innovation, infrastructure and education, as well as his commitment to create the jobs of the future, is the right path. Obama said it’s time for the same kind American innovation that was launched after the Soviet Union beat the United States into space with Sputnik, but the United States eventually won the space race. Says Paul:
This is, indeed, a new Sputnik moment for America, as we have argued. But 50 years ago, America had a trade surplus, a healthy manufacturing base and virtually no global business competition. Our challenge today is as much about rebuilding as it is about innovating.
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