Weekly Address: President Obama – Building on America’s Economic Recovery

June 4, 2016 JanF Editors' Choice, From the White House 9

The President’s Weekly Address post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President discussed his return to Elkhart, Indiana, the first town he visited as President and one that was among the hardest-hit by the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Seven years later, unemployment in Elkhart has fallen from a high of nearly 20 percent to around four percent; more families are back on sturdy ground; more are covered by health insurance; and more students are graduating from high school. Elkhart is symbolic of America’s recovery, and that progress is due to the sacrifices of hardworking Americans and a series of smart decisions the President made early in his presidency, such as rescuing the auto industry, helping families refinance their homes, and investing in job training, high-tech manufacturing, clean energy, and the infrastructure that creates good new jobs. The President emphasized that we must continue to come together around common economic goals and push back against policies that protect powerful interests instead of working Americans. That’s the choice America will make this year, and the President believes the future will be brighter if this country works together to build on the progress this country has made in the months and years ahead.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Building on America’s Economic Recovery

Remarks of President Barack Obama as Delivered
Weekly Address, The White House. June 4, 2016

Elkhart, Indiana was the first town I visited as President. I’d been on the job for three weeks, and we were just a few months into the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Elkhart was hit harder than most. Unemployment there peaked at nearly twenty percent shortly after my visit. Nearly one in five people there were out of work.

This week, I returned to Elkhart. Unemployment there has now fallen to around four percent. More families are back on sturdy ground; more are covered by health insurance; more of their kids are graduating from high school. And it’s no accident – it’s because people there worked hard, and sacrificed, and looked out for each other.

But it’s also because we made a series of smart decisions early in my presidency. To rescue the auto industry. To help families refinance their homes. To invest in things like high-tech manufacturing, clean energy, and the infrastructure that creates good new jobs – not to mention the job training that helps folks earn new skills to fill those jobs.

The results are clear. America’s businesses have created 14.5 million new jobs over 75 straight months. We’ve seen the first sustained manufacturing growth since the nineties. We’ve cut unemployment by more than half. Another 20 million Americans have health insurance. And we’ve cut our deficits by nearly 75 percent.

We haven’t fixed everything. Wages, while growing again, need to grow faster. The gap between the rich and everyone else is still way too wide. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly blocked investments and initiatives that would have created jobs faster. But the middle class isn’t getting squeezed because of minorities, or immigrants, or moochers, or anyone else we’re told to blame for our problems. If we’re going to fix what needs fixing, we can’t divide ourselves. We’ve got to come together, around our common economic goals. We’ve got to push back against policies that protect powerful special interests, and push for a better deal for all working Americans.

That’s the choice you’ll get to make this year. Between policies that raise wages, and policies that won’t. Between strengthening Social Security and making it more generous, or making it harder to help people save and retire. Between strengthening the rules we put on Wall Street to prevent another crisis, or dismantling them. Between a tax code that’s fair for working families, or wasteful tax cuts for a fortunate few at the very top.

Over the past seven years, we’ve proven that progress is possible. But it’s not inevitable. It depends on us. It depends on the choices we make. And if we come together, around our common values, and our belief in opportunity for everyone who puts in the effort – then we’ll deliver on a brighter future for all of us. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

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9 Comments

  1. President Obama flips over to campaign mode:

    That’s the choice you’ll get to make this year. Between policies that raise wages, and policies that won’t. Between strengthening Social Security and making it more generous, or making it harder to help people save and retire. Between strengthening the rules we put on Wall Street to prevent another crisis, or dismantling them. Between a tax code that’s fair for working families, or wasteful tax cuts for a fortunate few at the very top.

  2. First Lady Michelle Obama may also be moving into campaign mode.

    Transcript: Remarks by the First Lady at City College of New York Commencement. Selected quotes.

    As the president eloquently said, at this school, you represent more than 150 nationalities. You speak more than 100 different languages — whoa, just stop there. You represent just about every possible background -– every color and culture, every faith and walk of life. And you’ve taken so many different paths to this moment.

    Maybe your family has been in this city for generations, or maybe, like my family, they came to this country centuries ago in chains. Maybe they just arrived here recently, determined to give you a better life.

    So, graduates, with your glorious diversity, with your remarkable accomplishments and your deep commitment to your communities, you all embody the very purpose of this school’s founding. And, more importantly, you embody the very hopes and dreams carved into the base of that iconic statue not so far from where we sit — on that island where so many of your predecessors at this school first set foot on our shores. And that is why I wanted to be here today at City College. I wanted to be here to celebrate all of you, this school, this city. (Applause.) Because I know that there is no better way to celebrate this great country than being here with you.

    See, all of you know, for centuries, this city has been the gateway to America for so many striving, hope-filled immigrants — folks who left behind everything they knew to seek out this land of opportunity that they dreamed of. And so many of those folks, for them, this school was the gateway to actually realizing that opportunity in their lives, founded on the fundamental truth that talent and ambition know no distinctions of race, nationality, wealth, or fame, and dedicated to the ideals that our Founding Fathers put forth more than two centuries ago: That we are all created equal, all entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” City College became a haven for brilliant, motivated students of every background, a place where they didn’t have to hide their last names or their accents, or put on any kind of airs because the students at this school were selected based not on pedigree, but on merit, and merit alone. (Applause.) […]

    That is the power of our differences to make us smarter and more creative. And that is how all those infusions of new cultures and ideas, generation after generation, created the matchless alchemy of our melting pot and helped us build the strongest, most vibrant, most prosperous nation on the planet, right here. (Applause.)

    Who could she be talking about here?

    But unfortunately, graduates, despite the lessons of our history and the truth of your experience here at City College, some folks out there today seem to have a very different perspective. They seem to view our diversity as a threat to be contained rather than as a resource to be tapped. They tell us to be afraid of those who are different, to be suspicious of those with whom we disagree. They act as if name-calling is an acceptable substitute for thoughtful debate, as if anger and intolerance should be our default state rather than the optimism and openness that have always been the engine of our progress. […]

    … here in America, we don’t give in to our fears. We don’t build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere but sought out this country and made it their home …

    THIS!!

    Finally, graduates, our greatness has never, ever come from sitting back and feeling entitled to what we have. It’s never come from folks who climb the ladder of success, or who happen to be born near the top and then pull that ladder up after themselves. No, our greatness has always come from people who expect nothing and take nothing for granted — folks who work hard for what they have then reach back and help others after them.

    There is more at the link.

    • One more piece:

      … it’s the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters –- two beautiful, black young women -– head off to school — (applause) — waving goodbye to their father, the President of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: To get an education and improve his prospects in life.

      So, graduates, while I think it’s fair to say that our Founding Fathers never could have imagined this day, all of you are very much the fruits of their vision. Their legacy is very much your legacy and your inheritance. And don’t let anybody tell you differently. You are the living, breathing proof that the American Dream endures in our time. It’s you.

  3. From the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Payday Lending Rule Changes …

    Today we’re announcing a proposed rule that would require lenders to determine whether borrowers can afford to pay back their loans. The proposed rule would also cut off repeated debit attempts that rack up fees and make it harder for consumers to get out of debt. These strong proposed protections would cover payday loans, auto title loans, deposit advance products, and certain high-cost installment loans.

    Director Cordray: Prepared Remarks of Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Field Hearing on Small-Dollar Lending in Kansas City, Mo.

    We are here in Kansas City, known as “the Heart of America,” to discuss concerns about payday lending and other types of loans made to consumers facing an immediate need for cash. We have been here before, when we brought an enforcement action to shut down the Hydra Group. This predatory online-lending scheme maneuvered people into small-dollar loans and then stripped money out of their accounts without their consent. We froze their assets and put them out of business. We also held an earlier field hearing in St. Louis, on the other side of the “Show Me State.” There we learned about loans offered at rates as high as 1,950 percent annually, made to consumers who lacked the ability to repay, causing some people to roll over their loans again and again. Today we are here to show everyone concerned our proposed new rule on payday loans, auto title loans, and certain high-cost installment and open-end loans. In such markets, where lenders can succeed by setting up borrowers to fail, something needs to change.

    Full text at the link.

    FACT SHEET: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Proposes Rule to End Payday Debt Traps

  4. In the News: Granny Killing Trumps Racist Comments …

    U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) believes that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent, racist attack on a federal judge — Trump claimed that Judge Gonzalo Curiel must remove himself from a case involving one of Trump’s companies because Curiel is “of Mexican heritage” — is wrong. But Ryan is voting for Trump anyway. […]

    “If you want to get rid of Obamacare,” Ryan explained, “you need to pass a new law” that the president must sign. “We need a partner in the White House,” the Speaker continued, “to help us advance these bills that we’ve been passing — these conservative reforms that we want to get in law.” […]

    The “conservative reforms” Ryan refers to are far more ambitious than simply rolling back President Obama’s legislative achievements. Ryan’s other plans include voucherizing Medicare in a way that significantly reduces health benefits to seniors, slashing health care for poor people and food stamps, and giving large tax cuts to rich people.

  5. In The News: Twenty-seventh anniversary of Tienanmen Square Massacre …

    Tens of thousands of people poured into Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday evening to remember the victims of the Chinese military’s bloody June 4, 1989, crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

    Participants laid a wreath and held a moment of silence at the annual vigil – the only large-scale public commemoration of Beijing’s brutal crackdown held on Chinese soil.

    In Beijing, authorities tightened security around Tiananmen Square, highlighting the enduring sensitivity over the events among the Communist Party leadership.

    Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed as tanks and troops converged on Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989. The topic remains taboo in China and any form of commemoration, whether public or private, is banned.

    Taiwan to China: “Democracy is nothing to fear”

    Taiwan’s new president told China on Saturday that democracy is nothing to fear.

    Tsai Ing-wen said in a Facebook post on the 27th anniversary that Taiwan could serve as an example to China.

    Tsai said in the run-up to Taiwan’s elections earlier this year she had seen people from from China, as well as the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, mixing with crowds in Taiwan.

    “These many friends, after experiencing things for themselves can see that in fact there’s nothing scary about democracy. Democracy is a good and fine thing,” wrote Tsai, who took office last month.

  6. In The News: Muhammad Ali passed away yesterday at the age 74. Some links:

    NPR: Boxer Muhammad Ali, ‘The Greatest Of All Time,’ Dies At 74

    Muhammad Ali, the man considered the greatest boxer of all time, died late Friday at a hospital in Phoenix at age 74. He was battling respiratory problems.

    Ali inspired millions by standing up for his principles during the volatile 1960s and by always entertaining — in the boxing ring and in front of a microphone.

    ~

    The Nation: ‘I Just Wanted to Be Free’: The Radical Reverberations of Muhammad Ali

    The reverberations. Not the rumbles, the reverberations. The death of Muhammad Ali will undoubtedly move people’s minds to his epic boxing matches against Joe Frazier, George Foreman, or there will be retrospectives about his epic “rumbles” against racism and war. But it’s the reverberations that we have to understand in order to see Muhammad Ali as what he remains: the most important athlete to ever live. It’s the reverberations that are our best defense against real-time efforts to pull out his political teeth and turn him into a harmless icon suitable for mass consumption.

    ~

    The New Yorker: The Outsized Life of Muhammad Ali

    What a loss to suffer, even if for years you knew it was coming. Muhammad Ali, who died Friday, in Phoenix, at the age of seventy-four, was the most fantastical American figure of his era, a self-invented character of such physical wit, political defiance, global fame, and sheer originality that no novelist you might name would dare conceive him.

    • From the White House: Statement from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on the Passing of Muhammad Ali

      Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d “handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.”

      But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.

      Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.

      In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was – still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden.

      “I am America,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”

      That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.

      He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes – maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes.

      Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.

  7. The president also mentioned Social Security again, as he did in his Elkhart speech. The Democratic Party is going to be running on that issue this year because it is one of those issues where the contrast between the two parties could not be more stark.

    Ed Kilgore: 2016 Is Turning Into a Historically Great Year for Social Security

    … both Bernie Sanders and (to a lesser extent) Hillary Clinton have both been talking about enhancing Social Security benefits, with their main argument being over the financing mechanism, with Clinton being reluctant to embrace a lift in the payroll tax cap that would hit upper-middle-class voters.

    But now along comes another potential game-changer: President Obama.

    Not only do we need to strengthen its long-term health, it’s time we finally made Social Security more generous and increased its benefits so that today’s retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they’ve earned,” Obama said in an economic call to arms in Elkhart, Indiana. “We could start paying for it by asking the wealthiest Americans to contribute a little bit more.”

    Now you can interpret Obama’s shift any way you want — as a response to leftward pressure from the primary contest, or as proof he was never serious about “entitlement reform” to begin with, or simply as a parting middle-finger-gesture to the GOP, whose leaders were probably less serious than Obama about reaching some “grand bargain” that included high-end tax increases. But the fact remains that the combination of forces in favor of Social Security benefit cuts — or even for simple maintenance of the status quo — has been reduced significantly.

    He mentions the Trump comments about “protecting” Social Security as a potential shift in the Republican Party position but noted that Trump has already walked back a few of those comments. But if Democrats can get in front on this issue, when Trump reveals that his agenda is the Ryan Republican agenda, this will be important in November:

    rank-and-file Republicans have never much bought into Social Security (or Medicare) cuts

    Running as a Republican granny killer might cause Trump to lose his faux populist Teflon coating and depress Republican turnout.

    Martin Longman at WaMo thinks that it won’t be that difficult to “fix” the perception that President Obama was willing to destroy Social Security [insert eyeroll here]:

    I get that there was some brand damage and lost opportunities to attack Republicans that resulted from pretending to be serious about using Social Security cuts to address the debt, but I think they were outweighed by Obama’s ability to say that he was bending over backwards, defying his base, and acting like the only adult in the room, and the Republicans simply would not reciprocate in any reasonable way.

    You have to look at the alternatives available to Obama. He could have taken a maximalist oppositional stance, and rather than putting some concessions on the table simply upped the ante by saying that not only wasn’t the debt a problem, but that we needed to spend more on entitlements. But that would have come with a lot of political costs, and costs that could have imperiled his reelection.

    So he lived to fight another day and this time maybe when we run on it – and are rewarded at the polls – we can get real meaningful change that funds Social Security for the next 100 years.

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