International Women’sDay Reception
The story of America’s women, like the story of America itself, has had its peaks and valleys. But as one of our great American educators once said, if you drew a line through all the valleys and all the peaks, that line would be drawn with an upward curve. That upward curve – what we call progress – didn’t happen by accident. It came about because of daring, indomitable women.
Women like Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, throughout her career, has put millions of cracks in America’s glass ceiling. It’s because of them – and so many others, many who aren’t recorded in the history books – that the story of America is, ultimately, one of hope and one of progress, of an upward journey.
We’re pursuing a global health strategy that makes important investments in child and maternal health. We sponsored a U.N. resolution to increase protection for women and girls in conflicttorn countries – to help make it possible for more women like Mozhdah, who traveled from Afghanistan to join us here today– to reach for their dreams. We created the first Office of Global Women’s Issues at the State Department, and appointed Ambassador Melanne Verveer to run it.
We’re doing all of this not only because promoting women’s empowerment is one of the best ways to promote economic development and economic success. We are doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I say that not only as a President, butalso as the father of two daughters, as a son and a grandson, and as a husband.
We have so much more work to do, and that’s why we’re here today. I didn’t run for President to see inequality and injustice persist in our time. I ran for President to put the same rights, the same opportunities, the same dreams within the reach of our daughters and our sons alike. I ran for President to put the American Dream within the reach of all of our people, no matter what their gender, or race, or faith, or station.
If we can stay true to that cause, if we can stay true to ourfounding ideals, then I’m absolutely confident that the line that runs through America’s story will, in the future, as it has inthepast, be drawn with an upward curve. And I’m especially pleased that these young ladies are here today because they’re the ones who are going to help bend that curve towards justice and equality.
Jobs with Small Business Owners
Last January, the month I took office, almost 800,000 Americans lost their jobs. Today we learned the job losses for this January were 20,000. The unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent for the first time since the summer. Manufacturing employment grew last month for the first time in three years, led by increased activity in the production of cars and trucks and auto parts.
These numbers, while positive, are a cause for hope but not celebration, because far too many of our neighbors and friendsand family are still out of work. We can’t be satisfied when another 20,000 have joined their ranks and millions more Americans are under-employed, picking up what work they can.
Now, even as we take additional steps to hasten that recovery, we know that there are limits to what government can do to create jobs. The true engine of job creation will always be businesses. What government can do is fuel that engine by giving entrepreneurs and companies the support to open their doors and to expand and to hire more workers.
We’re starting with small businesses because that’s where most of the new jobs do. Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created roughly 65 percent of new jobs in America. These are companies formed around kitchen tables and family meetings;formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream; formedwhen a worker decides it’s time she became her own boss. Andit’s worth remembering every once in a while, a small business becomes a big business, and then changes the world.
The truth is the economy can be growing like gangbusters foryears on end and it’s still not easy to run a small business. It’s noteasy to stay ahead of your competitors; it’s not easy to keep your costs down, to do right by your employees, to constantly innovate and adapt in a changing world.
Next week, Congress will start debating many of the jobs proposals I’ve outlined today and in recent days, many of the proposals to benefit small business, many of the proposals tospur hiring. If there are additional ideas from either party, I’m happy to consider them as well. But what I hope – what I strongly urge – is that we work quickly and we work together to get this done. America’s small businesses are counting on us.
Discussion on Jobs and the Economy
Keep in mind, when I first took the oath of office, we were already moving towards what some thought was a Great Depression. We were losing about 700,000, 800,000 jobs per month. Andthe economy was contracting at a pace that we hadn’t seen ingenerations – about 6 percent contraction that first quarter when I first took office. And I’ve often had to report bad news during the course of this year as the recession wreaked havoc on people’s lives.
But today is an encouraging day. We learned that the economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs. We are beginning to turn the corner. This month, more Americans woke up, got dressed, and headed to work at an office or factory or storefront. More folks are feeling the sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with a hard-earned and well-deserved paycheck at the end of a long week of work.
Now, at the same time, it’s important to emphasize: While we’ve come a long way, we still got a ways to go. We shouldn’t underestimate the difficulties we face as a country or the hardships that confront millions of our fellow citizens – some of your friends, some of your neighbors, some of your relatives you know are still going through a tough time.
It’s not quick and it’s not easy. And the truth is, there are some limits to what government can do. Government can’t reverse the toll of this recession overnight, and government onits own can’treplace the 8 million jobs that have been lost. The true engine of job growth in this country has always been the private sector,businesses like Celgard. What government can do is create the conditions for companies to succeed. It can help to create the conditions for companies to hire again. What it can do is build the infrastructure and create the incentives that will allow small businesses to add workers; that will help entrepreneurs to take a chance on an idea; that will lead manufacturers to set up shop in places like Charlotte.
And that’s what we did last year through the Recovery Act, alsoknown as the stimulus bill. A lot of folks were down on it – well,we don’t know what this did.
But here’s what the Recovery Act did: We cut taxes for small businesses and 95 percent of working families to promote spending and hiring – cut taxes. That’s what the Recovery Actdid, was cutting people’s taxes across America. We’re also making investments in our infrastructure, from interstate highways to broadband networks. That not only creates private sector jobs, but it also creates the platform, a better environment, in which
business can prosper.
And that’s the kind of strategy we need – helping the private sector thrive in entirely new industries, the industries of the future. It’s a strategy that will not only create jobs in the near term,but also sustained growth and opportunity in the long run.
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