[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 27 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H938-H939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
                   UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 112 77)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, referred to the Joint Economic Committee 
and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  One of the fundamental tenets of the American economy has been that 
if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, 
send your kids to college, and put a little money away for retirement. 
That's the promise of America.

[[Page H939]]

  The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. We 
can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do 
very well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can 
restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their 
fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.
  Long before the recession that began in December 2007, job growth was 
insufficient for our growing population. Manufacturing jobs were 
leaving our shores. Technology made businesses more efficient, but also 
made some jobs obsolete. The few at the top saw their incomes rise like 
never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that 
were growing, paychecks that were not, and personal debt that kept 
piling up.
  In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had 
been sold to people who could not afford them or did not understand 
them. Banks had made huge bets and doled out big bonuses with other 
people's money. Regulators had looked the other way, or did not have 
the authority to stop the bad behavior. It was wrong. It was 
irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put 
millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, 
hardworking Americans holding the bag.
  In the year before I took office, we lost nearly 5 million private 
sector jobs. And we lost almost another 4 million before our policies 
were in full effect.
  Those are the facts. But so are these: In the last 23 months, 
businesses have created 3.7 million jobs. Last year, they created the 
most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating 
jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. And we have put in place 
new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like this never 
happens again.
  Some, however, still advocate going back to the same economic 
policies that stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for way 
too many years. And their philosophy is simple: We are better off when 
everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules.
  That philosophy is wrong. The more Americans who succeed, the more 
America succeeds. These are not Democratic values or Republican values. 
They are American values. And we have to reclaim them.
  This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all 
those who are working to get into the middle class. It is a moment when 
we go back to the ways of the past--to growing deficits, stagnant 
incomes and job growth, declining opportunity, and rising inequality--
or we can make a break from the past. We can build an economy by 
restoring our greatest test strengths: American manufacturing, American 
energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values--
an economy built to last.
  When it comes to the deficit, we have already agreed to more than $2 
trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do more, and that means 
choices. Right now, we are poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on 
what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 
percent of Americans. Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in 
the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than 
millions of middle-class households. I believe that tax reform should 
follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you 
should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. In fact, if you are 
earning a million dollars a year, you should not get special tax 
subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 
a year, like 98 percent of American families do, your taxes should not 
go up.
  Americans know that this generation's success is only possible 
because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to 
the future of their country. Now it is our turn. Now it falls to us to 
live up to that same sense of shared responsibility.
  This year's Economic Report of the President, prepared by the Council 
of Economic Advisers, describes the emergency rescue measures taken to 
end the recession and support the ongoing recovery, and lays out a 
blueprint for an economy built to last. It explains how we are 
restoring our strengths as a Nation--our innovative economy, our strong 
manufacturing base, and our workers--by investing in the technologies 
of the future, in companies that create jobs here in America, and in 
education and training programs that will prepare our workers for the 
jobs of tomorrow. We must ensure that these investments benefit 
everyone and increase opportunity for all Americans or we risk 
threatening one of the features that defines us as a Nation--that 
America is a country in which anyone can do well, regardless of how 
they start out.
  No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because 
we built it together. If we remember that truth today, join together in 
common purpose, and maintain our common resolve, then I am as confident 
as ever that our economic future is hopeful and strong.
                                                        Barack Obama.  
The White House, February, 2012.

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