Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act in Denver, Colorado

Abraham Lincoln High School
Denver, Colorado

2:20 P.M. MDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Denver!  (Applause.)  What a beautiful day.  Thank you so much.  How’s it going, Lancers?  (Applause.)  I hear the Lancers have a pretty good ball team.  That’s the story I’ve heard.  (Applause.)

Well, listen, there are a couple of people here I want to acknowledge who are just outstanding public servants.  First of all, a hometown hero who is now one of the best Secretaries of the Interior that we’ve ever had, Ken Salazar.  (Applause.)  One of the best governors in the country, John Hickenlooper.  (Applause.)  Two outstanding senators, Mark Udall -- (applause) -- and Michael Bennet.  (Applause.)  Congresswoman Diana DeGette.  (Applause.)  Congressman Ed Perlmutter.  (Applause.)  Your own hometown mayor, Michael Hancock.  (Applause.)  And former friend and -- or current friend, former mayor -- (laughter) -- and one of the finest public servants in Colorado history, Federico Peña.  (Applause.) 

So it is good to be back in Colorado, especially on a gorgeous day like this.  (Applause.)  It’s always like this in late September, isn’t it?  (Applause.)  Absolutely. 

It’s an honor to be here at Lincoln High School.  (Applause.)  And I want to give a special thank you to Amelia for that wonderful introduction.  (Applause.)  I was just talking to Amelia.  She’s a senior this year.  And she’s planning to go to college and planning to be a doctor, and I am absolutely certain she is going to succeed in everything that she does.  And she’s an example, a great example, of how smarter courses and better technology can help guarantee our kids the foundation that they need to graduate and compete in this new global economy.

So we couldn’t be prouder of Amelia and we couldn’t be prouder of all the students here at Lincoln.  (Applause.) 

Now, I came here today to talk about the economy.  I came to talk about how we can get to a place where we’re creating good middle-class jobs again -- (applause) -- jobs that pay well and jobs that offer security.

We’ve got a lot to do to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake and a fair shot and a chance to get ahead.  And that’s the number-one thing that I think about each and every day.  Your lives, your opportunities -- that should be the number-one thing that every public servant in Washington is thinking about. 

There’s so much that we could accomplish together if Washington can finally start acting on behalf of the people.  (Applause.)  We’ve got to get that city to stop worrying so much about their jobs and their careers and start worrying about your jobs and your careers.  (Applause.)

And that’s why I sent Congress the American Jobs Act.  Now, I know it’s kind of thick, but it boils down to two things:  putting people back to work and putting more money in the pockets of working Americans.  Every single thing in the American Jobs Act is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past.  Everything in it will be paid for. 

It’s been two weeks since I sent it to Congress; now I want it back.  (Applause.)  I want it back, passed, so I can sign this bill and start putting people back to work.  (Applause.)  I’ve already got the pens all ready, all lined up on my desk, ready to sign the bill.  And every one of you can help make it happen by sending a message to Congress, a simple message:  Pass this jobs bill.  (Applause.) 

Look, pass this jobs bill, and right here in Colorado, thousands of construction workers will have a job again.  (Applause.)  This is one of the most common-sense ideas out there.  All over the country there are roads and bridges and schools just like Lincoln that are in need of repair.  (Applause.)  One of the reasons we came here was this is the fastest-growing school in one of the fastest-growing school districts in Colorado.  (Applause.)

So Lincoln has been adding new AP courses and new language courses, and the wonderful principal and administrators here have been making sure -- and the teachers here have been making sure that kids have upgraded computers and learning software that’s necessary to prepare all of you students for the jobs and the economy of the future.  But you know what?  Things like science labs take money to upgrade.  The science labs here at Lincoln High were built decades ago, back in the ‘60s.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but science and technology has changed a little bit since the 1960s.  The world has changed a little bit since the 1960s.  So we need to do everything we can to prepare our kids to compete.  We need to do everything we can to make sure our students can compete with any students, anywhere in the world.  And every child deserves a great school -- and we can give it to them.   (Applause.)

We can rebuild our schools for the 21st century, with faster Internet, and smarter labs, and cutting-edge technology.  And that won’t just create a better learning environment for students -- it will create good jobs for local construction workers right here in Denver, and all across Colorado, and all across the country.  There are schools all throughout Colorado in need of renovation. 

But it’s not just in this state.  Last week, I visited a bridge in Cincinnati that connected Ohio to Kentucky.  Bridges need renovations.  Roads need renovations.  We need to lay broadband lines in rural areas.  There are construction projects like these all across this country just waiting to get started, and there are millions of unemployed construction workers ready to do the job. 

So my question to Congress is:  What on Earth are you waiting for?  Let’s get to work.  (Applause.)  Let’s get to work.  Let’s get to work.

Why should our children be allowed to study in crumbling, outdated schools?  How does that give them a sense that education is important?  We should build them the best schools.  That’s what I want for my kids; that’s what you want for your kids.  That’s what I want for every kid in America.  (Applause.)

Why should we let China build the newest airports, the fastest railroads?  We should build them right here in America, right here in Denver, right here in Colorado.  (Applause.)  There is work to be done.  There are workers ready to do it.  So tell Congress:  Pass this jobs bill right away.  (Applause.)  

Let’s pass this jobs bill and put teachers back in the classroom where they belong.  (Applause.)  Places like South Korea, they’re adding teachers in droves to prepare their kids for the global economy.  We’re laying off our teachers left and right.  All across the country, budget cuts are forcing superintendents to make choices they don’t want to make. 

I can tell you the last thing a governor like John Hickenlooper wants to do is to lose teachers.  It’s unfair to our kids.  It undermines our future.  It has to stop.  You tell Congress:  Pass the American Jobs Act, and there will be funding to save jobs of thousands of Colorado teachers and cops and firefighters.  It’s the right thing to do.  Pass the bill.  (Applause.)

If Congress passes this jobs bill, companies will get new tax credits for hiring America’s veterans.  Think about it -- these men and women, they leave their careers, they leave their families.  They are protecting us and our freedom.  And the last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home.  (Applause.)  That’s why Congress needs to pass this bill -- to make it easier for businesses to hire our veterans and use the skills that they’ve developed protecting us.  (Applause.)  

Pass this bill, and it will help hundreds of thousands of young people find summer jobs next year to help them build skills.  (Applause.)  It provides a $4,000 tax credit for companies that hire anybody who’s spent more than six months looking for a job.  It extends unemployment insurance, but it also says if you’re collecting benefits, you’ll get connected to temporary work as a way to build your skills while you’re looking for a permanent job.  Congress needs to pass this bill.  (Applause.) 

Congress needs to pass this bill so we can help the people who create most of the new jobs in this country -- America’s small business owners.  It’s all terrific that corporate profits have come roaring back, but small companies haven’t come roaring back.  Let’s give them a boost.  Pass this bill, and every small business owner in America gets a tax cut.  (Applause.)  If they hire new employees, or they raise their employees’ salaries, they get another tax cut.  (Applause.)

There are some Republicans in Congress who like to talk about being the friends of America’s job creators.  Well, you know what, if you actually care about America’s job creators, then you should actually help America’s job creators with a tax cut by passing this bill.  (Applause.)  Right away. 

Now finally, if we get Congress to pass this bill, the typical working family in Colorado will get more than $1,700 in tax cuts next year; $1,700 that would have been taken out of your paycheck now goes right back in your pocket.  (Applause.)

If Congress doesn’t act -- if Congress fails to pass this bill -- middle-class families will get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time.  We can’t let that happen.  Republicans say they’re the party of tax cuts.  Well, let them prove it.  Tell them to fight just as hard for tax cuts for working Americans as they fight for the wealthiest Americans.  (Applause.)  Tell them to pass this jobs bill right now.  (Applause.)  

So let me summarize here.  The American Jobs Act will lead to new jobs for construction workers, jobs for teachers, jobs for veterans, jobs for young people, jobs for the unemployed.  It will provide tax relief for every worker and small business in America.  And by the way, it will not add to the deficit.  It will be paid for.  (Applause.)    

Last week, I laid out a plan that would not only pay for the jobs bill but would begin to actually reduce our debt over time.  It’s a plan that says if we want to create jobs and close the deficit, then we’ve got to not only make some of the cuts that we’ve made -- tough cuts that, with the help of Mark and Michael, we were able to get done -- but we’ve also got to ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share.  (Applause.) 

Look, we need to reform our tax code based on a simple principle:  Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires.  (Applause.)  Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett.  A teacher or a nurse or a construction worker making $50,000 a year shouldn’t pay higher tax rates than somebody making $50 million.  That’s just common sense.  (Applause.)

And keep in mind I’m not saying this because we should be punishing success.  This is the Land of Opportunity.  What’s great about this country is that any of these young people here, if they’ve got a good idea, if they go out there and they’re willing to work hard, they can start a business, they can create value, great products, great services.  They can make millions, make billions.  That’s great.  That’s what America is all about.  Anybody can make it if they try.

But what’s also a quintessentially American idea is that those of us who’ve done well should pay our fair share to contribute to the upkeep of the nation that made our success possible -- (applause) -- because nobody -- nobody did well on their own.  A teacher somewhere helped to give you the skills to succeed.  (Applause.)

Firefighters and police officers are protecting your property.  You’re moving your goods and products and services on roads that somebody built.  That’s how we all do well together.  We got here because somebody else invested in us, and we’ve got to make sure this generation of students can go to college on student aid or scholarships like I did.  We’ve got to make sure that we keep investing in the kind of government research that helped to create the Internet, which countless private sector companies then used to create tens of millions of jobs.

And you know what?  I’m positive -- I’ve talked to them, most wealthy Americans agree with this.  Of course, the Republicans in Congress, they call this class warfare.  You know what?  If asking a millionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber makes me a class warrior, a warrior for the working class, I will accept that.  I will wear that charge as a badge of honor.  (Applause.) 

The only warfare I’ve seen is the battle that’s been waged against middle-class families in this country for a decade now. 

Ultimately, Colorado, this comes down to choices and it comes down to priorities.  If we want to pay for this jobs plan, put people back to work, close this deficit, invest in our future, then the money has got to come from somewhere.  And so my question is:  Would you rather keep tax loopholes for oil companies?  Or do you want construction workers to have a job rebuilding our schools and our roads and our bridges?  (Applause.)

Would you rather keep tax breaks for billionaires that they don’t need?  Or would you rather put teachers back to work, and help small businesses, and cut taxes, and reduce our deficit?  (Applause.)    

It’s time to build an economy that creates good middle-class jobs in this country.  It’s time to build an economy that honors the values of hard work and responsibility.  It’s time to build an economy that lasts. 

And, Denver, that starts now.  And I need your help to make it happen.  (Applause.)  I just want you to -- just remember, Republicans and Democrats in the past have supported every kind of proposal that’s in here.  There’s no reason not to pass it just because I proposed it.  We need to tell them it’s time to support these proposals right now.

There are some Republicans in Washington who have said that some of this might have to wait until the next election.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Maybe we should just stretch this out rather than work together right now.  Some even said that if they agree with the proposals in the American Jobs Act, they still shouldn’t pass it because it might give me a win.  Think about that.  Give me a win?  Give me a break!   That’s why folks in Washington -- that’s why folks are fed up with Washington.  (Applause.)

There are some folks in Washington who don’t get it.  This isn’t about giving me a win.  This is about giving Democrats and Republicans a chance to do something for the American people.  It’s about giving people who are hurting a win.  That’s what this is about.  (Applause.)

It’s about giving small business owners a win, and entrepreneurs a win, and students a win, and working families a win.  (Applause.)  Giving all of us a win.  (Applause.)

The next election is nearly 14 months away.  The American people don’t have the luxury of waiting that long.  There are folks here in Colorado who are living paycheck to paycheck, week to week.  They need action and they need it now. 

So I’m asking all of you, I need you to lift up your voices.  Not just here in Denver, but anyone watching, anybody listening, anybody following online -- I need you to call, email, tweet, fax, visit -- tell your congressperson, unless the congressperson is here, because they’re already on board -- tell them you are tired of gridlock, you are tired of the games.  Tell them the time for action is now.  Tell them you want to create jobs now.  Tell them to pass the bill.  (Applause.)   

If you want construction workers on the job, pass the bill.  (Applause.)  If you want teachers back in the classroom, pass the bill.  (Applause.)  If you want a tax cut for small business owners, pass the bill.  (Applause.)  If you want to help our veterans share in the opportunity that they defended, pass the bill.  (Applause.) 

It is time to act.  We are not a people who sit back and wait for things to happen.  We make things happen.  We’re Americans.  We are tougher than the times that we live in, and we are bigger than the politics we’ve been seeing out of Washington.  We write our own destiny.  It is in our power to do so once more.  So let’s meet this moment and let’s get to work, and let’s show the world once again why the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth. 

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  Go Lancers!  (Applause.) 

END
2:40 P.M. MDT

Remarks by the President at a DNC Event--Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, California

September 26, 2011
8:16 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Everybody, please have a seat. So let me begin by thanking Jeffrey and the entire host committee for helping to organize this. It is a remarkable group. There are a lot of friends here who have been with us since the beginning. John remembers me when I had no gray hair --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You don't have gray hair. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, come on. A lot of people here have just been dear, dear friends. And so I'm grateful for everything that you've done. And Jeffrey has been remarkable over the last couple of years, helping us consistently move an agenda forward that creates a more just and fair and more competitive America. So I really appreciate that.

I want to spend most of my time actually in dialogue as opposed to monologue. So I'm just going to make some brief comments at the top and then I just want to open it up for questions, comments, suggestions, complaints, whatever the case may be. But before I do, I just want to acknowledge that you've got an outstanding public servant who is working every single day on behalf of Californians, to make sure that this state continues to be a hallmark of the future for America -- and that's Governor Jerry Brown. (Applause.) And I'm noticing Jerry is smart because he's sitting next to Eva. (Laughter.) Nice going. How did you get that seat? (Laughter.)

We've gone through an unprecedented time in our history. We have not seen anything like this in our lifetimes -- a financial crisis that is as bad as anything since the Great Depression, followed by a recession that is deep and lasting and has hurt a lot of people. And my first job when I came to office was to make sure that we didn’t tip into a depression, to save the auto industry, to make sure that we stabilized a financial system that was teetering on the brink of meltdown.

But what got me involved in this presidential business, the reason that all of you supported me back in 2008, wasn’t just to solve the crisis. It was a recognition that for decades the American people felt as if the rules had somehow changed on them; that there was an idea that if you worked hard, if you did the right thing -- if you looked after your family, if you dedicated yourself to your business or your job, if you were a contributing member of your community -- then you could achieve some measure of success. Not necessarily the kind of success that's reflected in this room. I think all of us would acknowledge that some of that has to do with luck and being in the right place at the right time. But you knew that you could have a home and secure a family and send your kids to college. There was this compact that said anybody in America could make it if they tried. You'd struggle sometimes, but you could make it.

And somewhere along the line people felt as if that compact got broken. And that happened long before this financial crisis hit. There are a lot of people all across the country who have done the right thing -- they're having an incredibly difficult time. And the crisis compounded. In some ways, the crisis -- the financial crisis, the recession laid bare problems that had been building up for decades -- whether it was an education system that wasn’t teaching our children what they need to learn to be competitive in the 21st century; whether it was a health care system that was inefficient and left too many people exposed to potential bankruptcy if they got sick; whether it was an energy policy that made us dependent on the most unstable parts of the world and left our economy vulnerable to the spot oil market and was helping to destroy our environment in the process.

Whether it was a crumbling infrastructure, a system in Washington for keeping the books that involved a lot of money going out oftentimes to the best connected, folks with the lobbyists, the special interests, but also meant that those folks who were most powerful and best able to do it weren’t having to pay their fair share of taxes.

People understood across the board that something wasn’t right. And so what we did in 2008 was capture a moment in time where people said, we can do better than this. Now, for the last two years we've done an awful lot. Sometimes -- I've still got a list in my pocket of campaign promises I made. (Laughter.) And I keep on checking things off the list. Equal pay for equal work -- first bill I signed. Ending "don’t ask, don't tell" -- done. (Applause.) Health care that's affordable and accessible for every single American -- made it happen. And already you've got -- (applause) -- even though it's not fully implemented yet, we already have -- there was just a report last week over a million young people could now have health insurance that didn’t have it before, in part because they can stay on their parent's health care policy. They can actually afford it.

Ending the war in Iraq -- 100,000 out, there will be all out by the end of this year -- (applause) -- a sense of respect around the world that we don't just project our power through our military, but also through our diplomacy, also through our values, through the power of our example.

So, an awful lot of stuff we got done. But here’s the challenge, is restoring that compact, restoring that sense that we’re all in it together and everybody is doing their fair share where we’ve got shared sacrifice and shared opportunity -- that project is not yet complete. It’s not finished.
 
And that’s why we’ve got to work just as hard in the coming years as we did back in 2007, 2008. If anything, we’ve got to work harder. If anything, we've got to work harder -- in part because it’s not going to be as sexy. It’s not going to be as new. I’m grayer, I'm all dinged up. (Laughter.) And those old posters everybody has got in their closet -- (laughter) -- they’re all dog-eared and faded. (Laughter.)

But mainly it’s going to be hard because people are just tired. They’re worn out. Jeffrey used the analogy of the ship. We’ve been driving through a storm. We had to try to keep this boat afloat through something that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. And people are weary and hurt. And so the energy of 2008 is going to have to be generated in a different way.

It has to be a clear contrast of where we want to take the country and where the other folks want to take the country. Because right now obviously a lot of folks are hurting. But if we can give them a sense of possibility that, as hard as it is, we can still get there, to a place where every kid in this country has a decent education and is equipped for the 21st century economy, a global economy; if we can try to move forward and say we’re going to have an immigration system that makes sense, so that we’re not sending incredibly talented kids back instead of having them invest in creating new businesses here in America, which has been always part of the American Dream, part of our history; if we can say, down the road, we’re not going to wean ourselves completely off of fossil fuels, but if we’re smart and we pursue energy efficiency and we put people back to work on clean-energy projects, we can do a lot better than we’re doing right now, and, over time, if we’re investing in technology and we have faith in science, there’s no reason why we can’t help lead the world to a more sustainable place.

If we stay with it, there’s no reason why we can’t continue to help usher in democracy around the world in a way that is good for America, but also good for all those millions of young people out there who have finally said, enough, we don’t want to live under the yoke of dictatorship and we want opportunity, we want to have a life of possibility.

So there’s a vision out there to be had, and we’re going to have to drive towards it. Now, short term, what we need to do is just put people back to work. And that’s why a couple of weeks ago, I said, pass this jobs bill now. We can put people to work rebuilding America, rebuilding our schools and our roads and our bridges. Construction workers are out of work. Contractors are begging for work -- they’re able to come on and finish a project on time and under budget. The interest rates are low. Now is the time to do it.

Let’s put teachers back in the classroom. We’ve created over 2 million jobs over the last 18 months in the private sector. But in the public sector, because of budgets that Jerry knows a lot about, we’re seeing layoffs of teachers and firefighters. Let’s put those folks back to work doing those services that are vital to America’s long-term success.

And we pay for it. And the way we pay for it is swallowing some very tough cuts that are necessary but aren’t endangering our economy right now because they’re spread out over 10 years -- that’s what we agreed to this summer -- but also saying that we’ve got to have some revenue and that revenue is going to have to come from us.
 
The fact of the matter is that Warren Buffett’s secretary should not pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. The fact is, is that we made it in part because somebody was paying for decent schools and somebody was paying for -- somebody was paying for the research that went into DARPA that created the Internet that created the opportunity for Jeffrey to make a deal with Netflix. (Laughter.) Somebody made those investments. And now it’s our turn. We should be doing the same thing. And that’s not class warfare, that’s common sense.

Now, the other side has a very different idea about where to take this country. I urge all of you to watch some of these Republican debates. There’s a different vision about who we are and what we stand for. And I think the American people want a big, optimistic, bold, generous vision of America, not a cramped vision that says, you’re on your own.

But as hard as things have been over these last two and a half years, we’re going to have to fight for it. We’re going to have to fight for our vision. And I’m going to need your help, so don’t get tired on me now. (Laughter.)

This is when we’re tested. We’re in Hollywood right now, so think about the movies, the arc of the story. If things were just smooth the whole way through, not only is it a pretty dull movie but it doesn’t reflect our experience. It doesn’t reflect life. Character is tested when things are hard. This country is being tested, but I have complete faith in its character. That’s what this election is about. It’s about values. It’s about character. It’s about who we are.
 
And if you’re willing to fight with me for that, then I’m confident we’re going to come out on the other side doing just fine. (Applause.)

Thank you.

END
8:32 P.M. PDT

Remarks by the President at DNC Event -- San Diego, CA

Private Residence
San Diego, California

2:42 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT: It’s wonderful to see you all. Please, have a seat. To Liz and Mason, thank you so much for the wonderful introduction. Along with the Phelps, I have to acknowledge my dear, dear friend, Christine Forester, who has just been -- I was just reminded by our staff this was actually the first fundraiser that I did in this home after I announced in Springfield, Illinois. (Applause.)

So these are some early, early supporters -- back when a lot of folks still could not pronounce my name. (Laughter.) And they have been there ever since, and I could not be more grateful to them. And I could not be more grateful to you. In fact, some of you were in that first fundraiser, weren’t you? (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes!

THE PRESIDENT: You will recall that I had no gray hair then. (Laughter.) Do you remember that? Michelle says otherwise I've held up pretty well. (Laughter.)

In addition to Liz and Mason and Christine, I just want to acknowledge we’ve got a couple of wonderful members of Congress here. First of all, Jared Polis is here. Where is Jared? (Applause.) And I’m not sure if he’s made it yet from the airport --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes!

THE PRESIDENT: Has he? Bob Filner is in the house. (Applause.) Where is Bob? There he is. Thank you. (Applause.)

Well, I want this mostly to be a conversation rather than a monologue, so I’m going to make some very brief remarks at the top and then I just want to open it up for questions and conversation.

The last two and a half years have honestly been as tough for America as any two and a half years that we’ve seen in our lifetimes -- the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a withering recession that followed. And a lot of folks here in San Diego, here in California, and all across the country, are still struggling, still having a very tough time. And I see it every day. I get letters from people all across the country. I meet people at events and they’ve lost their homes or they’ve lost their jobs, or they are trying to figure out whether they have to defer retirement in order to make sure that their kids can go to college. And some of these stories are heartbreaking.

But what we’ve said from the start, what you committed to back in 2008, was a belief that there's nothing that can stop America when we are working together, when we're willing to share opportunity and share sacrifice; when we're willing to think beyond the short term to the kind of America that we’re passing on to the next generation -- we cannot be stopped. We’ve been through tougher times before, and we always emerged stronger and more unified.

And I believe that we are in one of those moments that are testing out character, that are testing our unity -- but if we make good decisions, there is no reason why we won’t emerge stronger from this moment as well.

Now, during the past two and a half years obviously we’ve had a lot to do. We had to yank the country out of a potential depression. We had to stabilize a world financial system. And along the way, what we've tried to do is to keep the commitments and the promises that we made back in 2007, 2008.

So whether it was the first bill that I signed -- the Lilly Ledbetter bill to make sure that women are getting paid the same for the same day's work -- (applause) -- or making sure that we’re expanding college opportunities by cutting out the middleman and putting an extra $60 billion into the student loan and the Pell Grant programs; or making sure that in a country as wealthy as ours, nobody should go bankrupt because they get sick, and passing health care reform so that 30 million Americans are going to be able to get health care, and everybody is going to be treated properly by their insurance companies -- (applause) -- or passing tough financial regulations to make sure we don’t have the kind of meltdown we saw on Wall Street again, and that consumers are protected; ending “don’t ask, don’t tell,” so that anybody can serve your country regardless of who they love; -- (applause) -- bringing 100,000 troops back from Iraq and ending that war. (Applause.)

Over the last two and a half years, even as we’ve been grappling with this economy, even as we’ve been saving the auto industry and making sure that we’ve got an energy policy that makes sense, we've still have been trying to make sure that we’re also dealing with some of the long-term problems that have been building up for decades. And we’ve got more work to do. We’re not yet finished.

Obviously, the economy is first and foremost in everybody’s minds. And a couple of weeks back, I put forward what we call the American Jobs Act, that says at a time when because of all sorts of headwinds -- Europe, and high gas prices because of what happened in the Arab Spring -- we’ve got to redouble our efforts to people back to work.

And so this American Jobs Act says, at a time when we have to rebuild our infrastructure to be competitive in the 21st century and we’ve got all these construction workers who are out of work, let’s put them to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our schools, and laying our broadband lines, and making sure that -- (applause.) Let’s put teachers back in the classroom at a time when we know that nothing is more important for lasting employment than an education. (Applause.) Let’s give businesses more incentives to hire our veterans and long-term unemployed. And let’s keep taxes low for small businesses, and let’s make sure that taxes don’t go up for middle-class families at a time when they’re still very strained and very stressed.

And we pay for it, because -- (phone rings) -- who’s that calling? (Laughter.) That may be Boehner calling. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hang up! (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Because even as we have to restart our economic engines -- and the most important thing we can do for our deficit is growing the economy and putting folks back to work. But what is also true is for decades Washington was not living within its means. We were making a series of irresponsible decisions about how we spend money and how we raise revenue.

And so what I said was not only will we put a jobs act that puts a couple million people back to work, and it’s estimated it will raise our GDP by a couple of percent, but we can also pay for it in a responsible way -- building off the work we did this summer, which is, we made some judicious cuts spread out over 10 years so it doesn’t impact our recovery, but we’ve cut a trillion dollars from the budget. We’re proposing that we can actually find an additional half a billion dollars in savings, making some modest modifications to Medicare and Medicaid to bend the cost curve, but not in a way that hurts beneficiaries. And once we’ve done that we’ve also got to make sure that we’ve got a tax code that is fair and in which everybody does their fair share.

Now, the other side has already taken out the playbook and said, oh, that’s class warfare. What I’ve said is this is a very simple principle that everybody should understand: Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a lower [sic] tax rate than Warren Buffett. A teacher making $50,000 a year, or a firefighter making $50,000 a year or $60,000, shouldn’t be paying a higher tax rate than somebody making $50 million a year. And that basic principle of fairness, if applied to our tax code, could raise enough money that not only do we pay for our jobs bill, but we also stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade. And as I said when I made the announcement, this is not politics; this is math. (Laughter.)

Now, the challenge we face in the short term is trying to get Congress to act. So when you leave here today I want you out there advocating for us putting people back to work and paying for it in a responsible way. But more is at stake in 2012 than just the short term. What's also at stake is the long term. For all the good work that we’ve done over the last two and a half years, we still have a lot of work to do to make sure that this is an economy in which middle-class folks, if they are working, they can make it, and that people who aspire to be in the middle class are going to be able to succeed.

That means we have to build on the education reforms that we’ve already initiated to make college more affordable. We still have not done enough to have an energy policy that frees ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. We’ve done a lot. We’ve doubled fuel efficiency standards on cars -- probably the biggest impact in environmental action over the last 30 years. But we’re still wasting too much energy that we can’t afford to waste in this new environment.

We still have to implement health care reform, and we’ve got a whole bunch of folks who would like to see it reversed, because it has been an ideological litmus test, not because it’s not working. Already we’ve got a couple million young people who have health insurance who didn’t have it before, and we haven’t even fully implemented it yet, because part of our health care reform was allowing the young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance. And it has made a huge difference -- (applause.)

Internationally, we have to continue to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. We’ve got to make sure that we are leading not just with our military but with diplomacy and with the power of our example. (Applause.) We still have to reform our immigration system in a sensible way so that young people who are studying here and want to start a business here -- we’re not training them and then just sending them back home to their home countries. We want them to stay here and start those businesses. (Applause.) We still have to make investments in basic research and science.

And so a lot is at stake in this election, even more than in 2008. Now, this is going to be a tough election because the economy is tough, and people are frustrated. And so we’ve got to understand what’s at stake. There are two contrasting visions of where America needs to go. And one vision says that we’ve got to pull and abandon our commitments to the aging and the vulnerable, and we can’t afford to invest in education the way we historically have, and we can’t afford to rebuild our infrastructure -- we’re destined to having a smaller vision of what we can do together. And the other is a big, ambitious, bold, optimistic vision of an America in which we are investing in the future, we’re investing in our people. We’re making certain that we’re making the tough decisions to be competitive in the 21st century, and we’re doing it in a way that is fair, that everybody shares in opportunity and everybody shares in responsibility. That’s what’s at stake.

Now, I’m absolutely confident that we’re going to win because I think that’s -- I think the vision that we’re putting forward is the one that ultimately America believes in. But they’ve got to be convinced. They’ve got to be persuaded. And I can’t do it alone. You guys are my ambassadors. You guys are my advocates and my shock troops out there. (Laughter.) And so I hope you are ready. If you show the same enthusiasm that you showed a little over three years ago, then I'm absolutely confident that America’s future is bright.

Thank you very much, everybody
THE PRESIDENT: . (Applause.)

END
2:55 P.M. PDT

Remarks by the President in Town Hall with Linkedin

Computer History Museum
Mountain View, California

10:58 A.M. PDT

MR. WEINER: Good morning, everyone.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes!

MR. WEINER: Oh, very nice. (Laughter.) Thank you so much for joining us here today for a very special town hall discussion on a subject we all know to be truly important, and that's putting America back to work. In just a moment, I'm going to be introducing a very special guest, but before I do, just a few brief introductory remarks.

I think today's venue, the Computer History Museum, here in Silicon Valley, is a very fitting one for our discussion. There's a number of folks who've come to Silicon Valley not just for a job, or even a career path, but because they're interested in changing the world. And that's possible here because of the amazing technologies and companies that have been born in this area.

You think back to the semiconductor revolution, the age of computing, and of course, the Internet -- and most recently, with regard to the Internet, the rise of social networks connecting hundreds of millions of people around the world in milliseconds. Perhaps more importantly are the behavioral changes taking place as a result. The way in which we go online, represent our identities; stay connected to friends, family and colleagues; and of course, share information, knowledge, ideas and opinions is fundamentally transforming the world -- the way we live, the way we play, and the way we work.

And it's that last dynamic, changing the way we work, which is where LinkedIn is focused. We connect hundreds of millions of people ultimately around the world by connecting talent with opportunity -- today, 120 million members on a global basis, and that's growing north of two members per second, the fastest rate of growth in our history.

When we talk about connecting talent with opportunity we're not just referring to enabling people to find a job or their dream jobs. We're also talking about enabling people to be great at the jobs that they're already in. This is what we do, day in and day out. But our dream is even bigger than that. There are 153 million people in the American workforce; there are 3.3 billion people in the global workforce. Ultimately, our vision is to create economic opportunity for every one of them.

What's somewhat unusual about this vision is it won't simply be manifested by the employees of our company but by our members as well, because every individual that joins the LinkedIn network is in a position to, in turn, create economic opportunity for others. We're very fortunate today to be joined by several of our members and we're going to be hearing from them shortly.

Lastly, on the subject of economic opportunity, there seems to be one number on everybody's minds these days -- 9.1 percent, the unemployment rate in this country. Over 14 million Americans are unemployed, and that number grows to north of 25 million when you factor in those that are underemployed and marginally attached to the workforce.

There's one number you may be less familiar with, and that's 3.2 million, the number of available jobs in this country -- 3.2 million. We have everything we need to begin to put this country back to work -- the raw materials, the basic building blocks and, perhaps most importantly, the will of a nation. What we need is the way. With the American Jobs Act, our President is leading the way.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor and privilege to introduce the President of the United States. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. It’s a nice crowd. (Laughter.) And I have to say, Jeff, you warmed them up very well.

MR. WEINER: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much for your hospitality. And let me begin by just saying how excited I am to be here. Every time I come to Silicon Valley, every time that I come to this region, I am excited about America’s future. And no part of the country better represents, I think, the essence of America than here, because what you see is entrepreneurship and dynamism, a forward-orientation, an optimism, a belief that if you got a good idea and you’re willing to put in the sweat and blood and tears to make it happen, that not only can you succeed for yourself but you can grow the economy for everybody. And it’s that driving spirit that has made America an economic superpower.

But obviously we’re in a period of time right now where the economy is struggling, and a lot of folks all across the country are struggling. And so part of what I hope to do is to have a conversation with all of you about, how can we continue to spark the innovation that is going to ensure our economic success in the 21st century? How can we prepare our workforce to be able to plug in to this new economy? How do we recognize that, in this competitive environment, there are all kinds of opportunities that LinkedIn presents for interconnectedness and people being able to work together and spread ideas around the world and create value, but at the same time, understanding that there are some perils as well?

If our kids aren’t properly educated, if we don’t have an infrastructure that is world-class, if we are not investing in basic research in science -- if we’re not doing all the things that made us great in the past, then we’re going to fall behind.

And we’ve got a short-term challenge, which is how do we put people back to work right now. And so, as you mentioned, I put forward a proposal, the American Jobs Act, that would put thousands of teachers back into the classrooms who have been laid off due to downturns in state and local budgets; that would make sure that we are rebuilding our infrastructure -- taking extraordinary numbers of construction workers who have been laid off when the housing bubbles went bust and putting them to work rebuilding our roads and our airports and our schools, and laying broadband lines -- all the things that help us make a success; and also make sure that we’re providing small businesses the kinds of tax incentives that will allow them to hire and allow them to succeed.

And I have said to Congress, I understand that there’s an election 14 months away and it’s tempting to say that we’re not going to do anything until November of 2012, but the American people cannot afford to wait. The American people need help right now. And all the proposals we’ve put forward in the American Jobs Act will not only help us now, but will also help us in the future -- will lay the foundation for our long-term success.

Last point I'll make -- and then I want to get to questions -- it’s all paid for. And it’s paid for in part by building on some very tough cuts in our budget to eliminate waste and things we don't need -- that we’ve already made a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. We’ve proposed an additional half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years of spending cuts and adjustments on programs that we want to keep intact but haven’t been reformed in too long.

But what I’ve also said is in order to pay for it and bring down the deficit at the same time, we’re going to have to reform our tax code in a way that’s fair and makes sure that everybody is doing their fair share. I’ve said this before, I'll say it again: Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn't be paying a lower tax rate than Warren Buffett. Somebody who's making $50,000 a year as a teacher shouldn't be paying a higher effective tax rate than somebody like myself or Jeff, who've been incredibly blessed -- I don't know what you make Jeff, but I’m just guessing (laughter) -- who've been blessed by the incredible opportunities of this country.

And I say that because whenever America has moved forward, it’s because we’ve moved forward together. And we’re going to have to make sure that we are laying the foundation for the success of future generations, and that means that each of us are doing our part to make sure that we’re investing in our future.

So, with that, thank you so much for the terrific venue. I look forward to a bunch of great questions, both live and through whatever other linkages that we’ve got here. (Laughter.)

MR. WEINER: You’ve got it. So we’re going to be going back and forth between folks in the audience members and some previously generated questions from the LinkedIn group. So we’re going to start.

Our first question is from LinkedIn member Chuck Painter. And, Chuck we’re going to get you a mic --

Q Good morning, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.

Q I’m from Austin, Texas. I’ve been in sales in the plastics industry for 20 years. I lost my job in 2009 and fortunate enough to have found another position, become reemployed. My question is what can we do as American citizens to unite ourselves and help the economy?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, are you a native of Austin? Because that’s one of my favorite cities in the country.

Q Actually, I’m a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, but just relocated to Austin, and I love it there.

THE PRESIDENT: Austin is great. Charlotte is not bad. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you, thank you, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s the reason why I’m having my convention in Charlotte, because I love North Carolina as well. But how long did it take you to find a new job after you had gotten laid off?

Q It took nine months.

THE PRESIDENT: It took nine months?

Q Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: And that’s one of the challenges that a lot of folks are seeing out there. You’ve got skilled people with experience in an industry. That industry changes, and you were fortunate enough to be able to move. Some folks, because of the decline in the housing industry, are having trouble with mobility in finding new jobs and relocating in pursuit of opportunity.

Q Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: The most important thing that we can do right now is to help jumpstart the economy, which has stalled, by putting people back to work. And so, not surprisingly, I think the most important thing we can do right now is pass this jobs bill.

Think about it. Independent economists have estimated that, if we pass the entire package, the American Jobs Act, we would increase GDP by close to 2 percent; we would increase employment by 1.9 million persons. And that is the kind of big, significant move in the economy that can have ripple effects and help a recovery take off.

There’s been a lot of dispute about the kind of impact that we had right after the financial crisis hit. But the fact is, the vast majority of economists who looked at it have said that the Recovery Act, by starting infrastructure projects around the country, by making sure that states had help on their budgets so they didn’t have to lay off teachers and firefighters and others, by providing tax cuts to small businesses -- and by the way, we’ve cut taxes about 16 times since I’ve been in office for small businesses to give them more capital to work with and more incentives to hire -- all those things made a big difference.

The American Jobs Act is specifically tailored to putting more of those folks back to work. It’s not going to solve all our problems. We’ve still got a housing situation in which too many homes are underwater. And one of the things that we’ve proposed as part of the American Jobs Act is, is that we’re going to help reduce the barriers to refinancing so that folks can get record-low rates. That will put more money into people’s pockets. It will provide tax cuts to not only small businesses, but almost every middle-class family. That means they’ve got more money in their pockets, and that means that they’re going to be able to spend it on products and services, which provide additional incentives for business to hire folks like you.

So it’s the right step to take right now. Long term, we’re going to have to pull together around making sure our education system is the best in the world, making sure our infrastructure is the best in the world, continuing to invest in science and technology. We’ve got to stabilize our finances, and we’ve got to continue to drive down health care costs, which are a drag on our whole economy. And we’ve got to continue to promote trade, but make sure that that trade is fair and that intellectual property protection, for example, is available when we’re doing business in other countries, like China.

So there are a lot of long-term agendas that we’ve got to pursue. Right now, though, the most important thing I can do for you, even if you already have a job, is to make sure that your neighbors and your friends also have jobs, because those are ultimately the customers for your products.

Q Yes, sir. Yes, thank you Mr. President.

MR. WEINER: All right. Thank you, Chuck.

We’d now like to take a question from the audience. So anyone interested?

THE PRESIDENT: This young lady right here.

MR. WEINER: Okay. Could we get a mic over there, please? Thank you.

Q Hi. I have a question actually from my mother, who is going to be 65 next March. And she lives in Ohio, which has a very high unemployment rate. She has a GED, and she’s always worked in food service. She’s currently unemployed, just got approved for Section 8 housing, gets Social Security and food stamps. And she wants to know, when can she get a job, and what’s going to happen to Social Security and Medicare?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, where does you mom live in Ohio?

Q Mentor.

THE PRESIDENT: Mentor -- what part of Ohio is that?

Q It’s east side of Cleveland.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Well, tell mom hi. (Laughter.) You get points for being such a good daughter and using your question to tell me what’s on her mind.

Q Oh, you have no idea. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: My mother-in-law lives at home, and so I -- in the White House -- so I’ve got some idea. (Laughter.)

First of all, let me talk about Social Security and Medicare, because this has obviously been an issue that has been discussed a lot in the press lately as we think about our long-term finances. You can tell your mom that Medicare and Social Security will be there for her -- guaranteed. There are no proposals out there that would affect folks that are about to get Social Security and Medicare, and she’ll be qualifying -- she already is starting to qualify for Medicare, and she’ll be qualifying for Social Security fairly soon.

Social Security and Medicare, together, have lifted entire generations of seniors out of poverty. Our most important social safety net, and they have to be preserved. Now, both of them have some long-term challenges that we’ve got to deal with, but they’re different challenges.

Social Security is actually the easier one; it’s just a pure, simple math problem, and that is that right now the population is getting older, so more people are going on Social Security; you’ve got fewer workers supporting more retirees. And so if we don’t do anything, Social Security won’t go broke, but in a few years what will happen is that more money will be going out than coming in. And over time, people who are on Social Security would only be getting about 75 cents on every dollar that they thought they’d be getting.

And so the Social Security system is not the big driver of our deficits, but if we don’t want -- if we want to make sure that Social Security is there for future generations then we’ve got to make some modest adjustments. And when I say modest, I mean, for example, right now Social Security contributions are capped at a little over $100,000 of earnings, and that means the vast majority of people pay Social Security taxes on everything they earn. But if you're earning a million dollars, only one-tenth of your income is taxed for Social Security. We could make that modification; that would solve a big chunk of the problem.

Medicare is a bigger issue because not only is the population getting older and more people are using it, but health care costs have been going up way too fast. And that's why part of my health care reform bill two years ago was let's start changing how our health care system works to make it more efficient. For example, if your mom goes in for a test, she shouldn’t have to then, if she goes to another specialist, take the same test all over again and have Medicare pay for two tests. That first test should be emailed to the doctor who's the specialist. But right now that's not happening. So what we've said is let's incentivize providers to do a more efficient job and, over time, we can start reducing those costs.

I've made some suggestions about how we can reform Medicare, but what I'm not going to do is what, frankly, the House Republicans proposed, which was to voucherize the Medicare system, which would mean your mom might pay an extra $6,000 every year for her Medicare.

Q Which she doesn't have.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m assuming she doesn't have it.

Q No.

THE PRESIDENT: So we are going to be pushing back against that kind of proposal. And that raises the point I made earlier. If people like myself aren’t paying a little more in taxes, then the only way you balance the budget is on the backs of folks like your mom, who end up paying a lot more in Medicare and they can’t afford it, whereas I can afford to pay a little more in taxes.

So that’s on Medicare and Social Security. In terms of her finding a job, the most important thing we can do right now is to pass the American Jobs Act, get people back to work. Because, think about it, if she’s been in the food service industry, that industry is dependent on people spending money on food, whether it’s at a restaurant, or a cafeteria, or buying more groceries. And if a construction worker and a teacher or a veteran have a job because of the programs that we proposed in the American Jobs Act, they’re going to be spending more money in food services, and that means that those businesses are going to have to hire more, and your mom is going to be more likely to be hired. All right?

Q Yes. And one of the other issues, though, is just a matter that there’s a big age gap between her and the other folks who are willing to come in and work for less money. They’ve got less experience.

THE PRESIDENT: That is a challenge. It is tough being unemployed if you’re in your 50s or early 60s, before retirement. That’s the toughest period of time to lose your job. Obviously, it’s never fun to lose your job, and it’s always hard in this kind of really deep recession, but it’s scariest for folks who are nearing retirement and may also be worrying about whether they’ve got enough saved up to ever retire.

So that’s part of the reason why one of the things that we’re also proposing, separate and apart from the jobs bill, is we’ve got to do a better job of retraining workers so that they, in their second or third or fourth careers, are able to go back to a community college, maybe take a short six-month course or a one-year course that trains them on the kinds of skills that are going to be needed for jobs that are actually hiring, or businesses that are actually hiring right now.

We’ve done some great work working with community colleges to try to make sure that businesses help design the training programs so that somebody who enrolls -- like your mom, if she goes back to school, she knows that after six months she will be trained for the particular job that this business is looking for.
All right? Thanks so much.

Q Great.

THE PRESIDENT: Tell her I said hi.

Q Thank you. Okay.

MR. WEINER: We’re going to go to the group, the LinkedIn group. We had thousands of questions submitted, and here’s one of them from LinkedIn member Marla Hughes. Marla is from Gainesville, Florida. She is the owner of Meticulously Clean, home and apartment cleaning service, and her question is: As a small business owner, regulation and high taxes are my worst enemies when it comes to growing my business. What are you going to do to lessen the onerous regulations and taxation on small businesses?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s hard to say exactly what regulations or taxes she may be referring to, because obviously it differs in different businesses. But as I said, we’ve actually cut taxes for small business 16 times since I’ve been in office. So taxes for small businesses are lower now than they were when I came into office.

Small businesses are able to get tax breaks for hiring; they’re able to get tax breaks for investment in capital investments; they are able to get tax breaks for hiring veterans. They’re able to get tax breaks for a whole host of areas, including, by the way, a proposal we put forward that says there should be no capital gains tax on a start-up, to encourage more small businesses to go out there and create a business.

In terms of regulations, most of the regulations that we have been focused on are ones that affect large businesses, like utilities, for example. In terms of how they deal with safety issues, environmental issues, we have been putting forward some tough regulations with respect to the financial sector, because we can’t have a repeat of what happened in 2007.

And the fact of the matter is, is that if what happened on Wall Street ends up having a spillover effect to all of Main Street, it is our responsibility to make sure that we have a dynamic economy, we have a dynamic financial sector, but we don’t have a mortgage brokerage operation that ends up providing people loans that can never be repaid and end up having ramifications throughout the system.

So you’re going to hear from, I think, Republicans over the next year and a half that somehow if we just eliminated pollution controls, or if we just eliminated basic consumer protections, that somehow that, in and of itself, would be a spur to growth. I disagree with that. What I do agree with is that there's some regulations that have outlived their usefulness. And so what I've done is I've said to all the agencies in the federal government, number one, you have to always take cost as well as benefits into account when you're proposing new regulations. Number two, don't just be satisfied with applying that analysis to new regulations, look back at the old regulations to see if there are some that we can start weeding out.

And we initiated the most aggressive -- what we call look-back provisions -- when it comes to regulations, where we say to every agency, go through all the regulations that you have on your books that flow through your agencies and see if some of them are still necessary. And it turns out that a lot of them are no longer necessary. Well, let's get rid of them if they've outlived their usefulness.

I think that there were some regulations that had to do with the transportation sector, for example, that didn’t take into account that everybody operates on GPS now. Well, you've got to adjust and adapt to how the economy is changing and how technology has changed. And we've already identified about $10 billion worth of savings just in the initial review, and we anticipate that that's only going to be a fraction of some of the paperwork and bureaucracy and red tape that we're going to be able to eliminate.

But I will never apologize for making sure that we have regulations in place to ensure that your water is clean, that your food is safe to eat -- that the peanut butter you feed your kids is not going to be contaminated; making sure that if you take out a credit card there's some clarity about what it exactly is going to do and you're not seeing a whole bunch of hidden fees and hidden charges that you didn’t anticipate. That's always been part of what makes the marketplace work, is if you have smart regulations in place, that means the people who are providing good value, good products, good services, those businesses are going to succeed. We don't want to be rewarding folks who are gaming the system or cheating consumers.

And I think that's how most Americans feel about regulations as well. They don't want more than is necessary, but they know that there's some things that we've got to do to protect ourselves and our environment and our children.

MR. WEINER: Thank you for your question, Marla.

Now we're going to take a question from LinkedIn member Esther Abeyja (phonetic). Esther is an IT analyst from Chicago, Illinois --

THE PRESIDENT: There you go. Chicago is all right, too. (Laughter.)

MR. WEINER: Esther, what is your question for the President?

Q Good morning, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.

Q As Jeff said, I'm from Chicago, recently unemployed, and my fear is that the longer I'm unemployed the harder it is going to be for me to get employed. It seems that nowadays employers are hiring people who are currently employed because they're in touch with their skill set. What programs do you think should be in place for individuals such as myself to keep in touch with our skills, be in demand, marketable and eventually get hired?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, you obviously are thinking ahead about how to keep your skills up. And the most important thing you can do is to make sure that, whether it's through classes or online training, or what have you, that you're keeping your skill sets sharp.

We, as part of the American Jobs Act, are actually supporting legislation in Congress that says employers can't discriminate against somebody just because they're currently unemployed -- because that doesn’t seem fair. That doesn’t make any sense. But the most important thing probably we can do for you is just make sure that the unemployment rate generally goes down, the labor market gets a little tighter so that employers start looking beyond just the people who are currently employed to folks who have terrific skills and just have been out of the market for a while.

So passing the American Jobs Act is going to be important. There's legislation in there that says you can't be discriminated against just because you don't have a job. The one other thing that we can do is, during this interim, as you're looking for a job, making it easier for you to be able to go back to school if you think there's some skill sets that you need -- making it economical for you to do it.

One of the things that we did during the last two and a half years -- it used to be the student loan program was run through the banks. And even though the federal government guaranteed all these loans, so the banks weren’t taking any risks, they were taking about $60 billion out of the entire program, which meant that there was less money to actually go directly to students. We ended that. We cut out the middleman and we said let's use that money to expand the availability of Pell Grants, to increase the amount that Pell Grants -- each Pell Grant a student could get. And through that process, you've got millions of people all across the country who are able to actually go back to school without incurring the huge debt loads that they had in the past -- although, obviously, the cost of a college education is still really high.

But if we can do more to make it easier for you to keep your skills up even when you're not already hired, hopefully that will enhance your marketability to employers in the future. All right? Just looking at you I can tell you're going to do great.

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

MR. WEINER: Thanks, Esther.

Our next question is from LinkedIn member Wayne Kulich (phonetic). Wayne is from Phoenix, Arizona. He spent 25 years flying aircraft for the U.S. Navy and is now program director for American Express. Wayne.

Q Good morning, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, sir.

Q I’m from Phoenix, Arizona, where I’m a program director, as Jeff had said. I retired in 2007. When I retired, networking was essentially how I got all my jobs after retirement. How do you envision the government’s role in integrating networking tools that aid veterans that are leaving the service and getting jobs?

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great question. And first of all, let me thank you for your service to this country.

Q My honor.

THE PRESIDENT: We are very grateful to you for that. (Applause.) Thank you. But you were extraordinarily skilled, and even then it sounds like you had to rely on informal networks rather than a formal set of processes for veterans in order for you to find a job that used all your skills. We have not done as good of a job in the past in helping veterans transition out of the armed services as we should have.

I’ll give you an example. I actually had lunch with a group of veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars up in Minnesota. And a young man I was talking to had just gone back to school. He was getting his nursing degree. He had worked in emergency medicine in Iraq, multiple deployments; had probably dealt with the most incredible kinds of medical challenges under the most extreme circumstances; had received years of training to do this. But when he went back to nursing school, he had to start as if he had never been involved in medicine at all. And so he had to take all the same classes and take the same debt burdens from taking those classes as if I had just walked in and could barely put a Band-Aid on myself. But he had to go through the same processes.
Well, that’s an example of a failure on the part of both DOD and the VA -- the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration -- to think proactively, how can we help him make the transition?

So what we’ve started to say is let’s have a sort of a reverse boot camp. As folks are thinking about retiring, as folks are thinking about being discharged, let’s work with them while they’re still in the military to say is there a way to credential them so that they can go directly into the job and work with state and local governments and employers, so that if they’ve got a skill set that we know is applicable to the private sector, let’s give them a certification, let’s give them a credential that helps them do that right away.

We’ve also then started to put together a network of business, and I actually asked for a pledge from the private sector, and we’ve got a commitment that 100,000 veterans will be hired over the next several years. And that creates a network -- and maybe they’ll end up using Linkedin, I don’t know. But what we want to do is to make sure that, whether it’s the certification process, whether it’s the job search process, whether it’s resume preparation, whether it’s using electronic networking, that we’re using the huge capacity of the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense, and all the federal agencies, to link up together more effectively.

Because not only is the federal government obviously a big employer itself -- and we’ve significantly increased the hiring of veterans within the federal government, including, by the way, disabled veterans and wounded warriors -- but the federal government is also a big customer of a lot of businesses. And there’s nothing wrong with a big customer saying to a business, you know what, we’re not going to tell you who to hire, but here’s a list of extremely skilled veterans who are prepared to do a great job and have shown incredible leadership skills. Now, you think of these -- you’ve got 23, 24, 25-year-olds who are leading men into battle, who are handling multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment, and they do so flawlessly. Those leadership skills, those technical skills should be able to translate directly into jobs.

The last thing I’ll say is, obviously, the American Jobs Act also would be helpful because it provides additional tax incentives for companies to hire our veterans.

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.)

MR. WEINER: Thank you, Wayne. And thank you again for your service.

Let’s turn to the audience now. A lot of hands going up. Mr. President, want to pick someone?

THE PRESIDENT: Well -- (laughter) -- you kind of put me on the spot here. That guy -- the guy in the glasses right back in the -- right in the back there. Why not?

Q Thank you, Mr. President. I don’t have a job, but that’s because I’ve been lucky enough to live in Silicon Valley for a while and work for a small startup down the street here that did quite well. So I’m unemployed by choice. My question is would you please raise my taxes? (Laughter and applause.) I would like very much to have the country to continue to invest in things like Pell Grants and infrastructure and job training programs that made it possible for me to get to where I am. And it kills me to see Congress not supporting the expiration of the tax cuts that have been benefiting so many of us for so long. I think that needs to change, and I hope that you will stay strong in doing that.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate it. What was the startup, by the way? You want to give me a little hint?

Q It’s a search engine. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Worked out pretty well, huh?

Q Yes. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, let me just talk about taxes for a second. I’ve made this point before, but I want to reiterate this. So often the tax debate gets framed as “class warfare.” And, look, as I said at the outset, America’s success is premised on individuals, entrepreneurs having a great idea, going out there and pursuing their dreams and making a whole lot of money in the process. And that’s great. That’s part of what makes America so successful.

But as you just pointed out, we’re successful because somebody invested in our education, somebody built schools, somebody created incredible universities. I went to school on scholarship. Michelle -- her dad was what’s called a stationary engineer at the water reclamation district; never owned his own home, but he always paid his bills; had multiple sclerosis, struggled to get to work every day, but never missed a day on the job; never went to college, but he was able to send his daughter to Princeton and on to Harvard Law School. We benefited from somebody, somewhere making an investment in us. And I don’t care who you are, that’s true of all of us.

Look at this room. I mean, look at the diversity of the people here. A lot of us are -- parents came from someplace else, or grandparents came from someplace else. They benefited from a public school system, or an incredible university network, or the infrastructure that allows us to move products and services around the globe, or the scientific research that -- Silicon Valley is built on research that no individual company would have made on their own because you couldn’t necessarily capture the value of the nascent Internet.

So the question becomes: If we’re going to make those investments, how do we pay for it? Now, the income of folks at the top has gone up exponentially over the last couple of decades, whereas the incomes and wages of the middle class have flat-lined over the last 15 years. So this young lady’s mom, who’s been working in food services, she doesn’t have a lot of room to spare. Those of us who have been fortunate, we do. And we’re not talking about going to punitive rates that would somehow inhibit you from wanting to be part of a startup or work hard to be successful. We’re talking about going back to the rates that existed as recently as in the ‘90s, when, as I recall, Silicon Valley was doing pretty good, and well-to-do people were going pretty well. And it turns out, in fact, during that period, the rich got richer. The middle class expanded. People rose out of poverty, because everybody was doing well.

So this is not an issue of do we somehow try to punish those who have done well. That’s the last thing we want to do. It’s a question of how can we afford to continue to make the investments that are going to propel American forward.

If we don’t improve our education system, for example, we will all fall behind. We will all fall behind. That’s just -- that’s a fact. And the truth is, is that on every indicator -- from college graduation rates to math and science scores -- we are slipping behind other developed countries. And that’s going to have an impact in terms of, if you’re a startup, are you going to be able to find enough engineers? It’s going to have an impact in terms of, is the infrastructure here good enough that you can move products to market? It’s going to have an impact on your ability to recruit top talent from around the world. And so we all have an investment in improving our education system.

Now, money is not going to solve the entire problem. That’s why we’ve initiated reforms like Race to the Top that says we’re going to have higher standards for everybody. We’re going to not just have kids taught to the test, but we’re going to make sure that we empower teachers, but we’re also going to hold them accountable, and improve how we train our principals and our teachers. So we’re willing to make a whole bunch of reforms, but, at some point, money makes a difference. If we don't have enough science teachers in the classroom, we’re going to have problems. Somebody has got to pay for it.

And, right now, we’ve got the lowest tax rates we’ve had since the 1950s. And some of the Republican proposals would take it back -- as a percentage of GDP -- back to where we were back in the 1920s. You can’t have a modern industrial economy like that.

So I appreciate your sentiment. I appreciate the fact that you recognize we’re in this thing together. We’re not on our own. And those of us who’ve been successful, we’ve always got to remember that.

Q I know a lot of people in that same situation, and every one of them has said that they would support an increase in their taxes -- so, please. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to get to work. Thank you.

MR. WEINER: Thank you. Thank you for your question.

Next question was submitted to the Linkedin group -- it actually comes from a Linkedin employee named Theresa Sullivan. It’s a two-part question.

First, do you think our public education system and our unemployment rates are related? And second, what, if any, overhaul in education is necessary to get Americans ready for the jobs of tomorrow, rather than the jobs of 20 years ago?

THE PRESIDENT: There is no doubt that there is a connection, long term, between our economic success, our productivity, and our education system. That’s indisputable. When we were at our peak in terms of growth, back in the '60s and the '70s, in large part it was because we were doing a better job of training our workforce than anybody else in the world.

Now the rest of the world has caught up -- or is catching up. They’re hungry. And as I said before, we are slipping behind a lot of developed countries. So our proportion of college graduates has not gone up, while everybody else's has gone up. Our proportion of high school graduates has not gone up, while everybody else’s has gone up. And if you’ve got a billion Chinese and Indians and Eastern Europeans, all who are entering into a labor force and are becoming more skilled, and we are just sitting on the status quo, we’re going to have problems.

Now, what can we do? This is a decade-long project; it’s not a one-year project. And we’ve been pushing since we came into office to look at the evidence, to base reforms on what actually works. The single-most important ingredient in improving our schools is making sure we’ve got great teachers in front of the -- in front of every classroom.

And so what we’ve said is let’s make sure that we’ve hired enough teachers; let's train them effectively; lets pay them a good wage; let's make sure that we’re putting a special emphasis on recruiting more math and science teachers -- STEM education is an area where we’ve fallen significantly behind. Let’s make sure they’re accountable, but lets also give them flexibility in the classroom so that they don't have to do a cookie-cutter, teach-to-the-test approach that squashes their creativity and prevents them from engaging students. But at the end of the year, let’s make sure that they’re doing a good job. And if there are teachers out there who are not doing a good job, let’s work to retrain them. And if they’re not able to be retrained, then we should probably find them a different line of work. We’ve got to have top-flight principals and leadership inside the schools. That makes a big difference.

We’ve also got to focus on -- there are some schools that are just dropout factories where less than half of the kids end up graduating -- a lot of them, the students are black and brown, but that’s also the demographic that’s growing the fastest in this country. So if we don't fix those schools we’re going to have problems. So we’ve said to every state, you know what, focus on the lowest-performing schools and tell us what your game plan is to improve those schools’ performance.

And it may be that we’ve got to also, in some cases, rethink how we get students interested in learning. IBM is engaged in a really interesting experience in New York where they’re essentially setting up schools -- similar to the concept I was talking about with community colleges -- where they’re saying to kids pretty early on -- I think as early as 8th grade -- we’re going to design a program -- IBM worked with the New York public schools to design a program -- and this is not for the kids who are in the top 1 percent, this is for ordinary public school kids. You follow this program, you work hard, IBM will hire you at the end of this process. And it suddenly gives kids an incentive. They say, oh, the reason I'm studying math and science is there's a practical outcome here. I will have a job. And there are practical applications to what I'm doing in the classroom.

And that's true at high-end jobs, but it's also true -- we want to do more to train skilled workers even if they don't have a four-year degree. It may be that the more the concept of apprenticeship and the concept of a rigorous vocational approach is incorporated in the high schools so the kids can actually see a direct connection to what they're learning and a potential career, they're less likely to drop out and we're going to see more success.

So one last point I'll make about this is George Bush actually was sincere I think in trying to improve the education system across the country through something called No Child Left Behind, that said we're going to impose standards, there's going to be accountability; if schools don't meet those standards we're going to label them as failures and they're going to have to make significant changes. The intent was good. It wasn’t designed as well as it could have been. In some cases, states actually lowered their own standards to make sure that they weren’t labeled as failures. There wasn’t enough assistance given to these schools to meet the ambitious goals that had been set.

So what we've said is, look, we'll provide states some waivers to get out from under No Child Left Behind if you can provide us with a plan to make sure that children are going to be college and career ready. And we'll give you more flexibility but we're still going to hold you accountable and we will provide you the tools and best practices that allow you to succeed.

So, last point I'll make on this -- there is also a cultural component to this, though. We, as a country, have to recognize that all of us are going to have to up our game and we, as parents, have to instill in our kids a sense of educational excellence. We've got to turn off the TV set. I know it's dangerous to say in Silicon Valley, but put away the video games sometimes, and all the electronics, unless it's school-related. And we've just got to get our kids more motivated and internalizing that sense of the importance of learning.

And if we don't do that, we're going to continue to slip behind, even if some of these school reform approaches that we're taking are successful.

MR. WEINGER: Thank you, Theresa.

Our next question comes from LinkedIn member Robert Holly (phonetic) who is joining us from Charlotte, North Carolina. After a promising career in financial services, Robert was, unfortunately, recently laid off. Robert, what is your question?

Q Good morning, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.

Q As Jeff mentioned, I have a 22-year, very successful career in IT management, but I find myself displaced. And not only that, I look at the statistics of unemployment -- 16.7 percent for African Americans. My question would be -- and not just for the African Americans, but also for other groups that are also suffering -- what would you be your statement of encouragement for those who are looking for work today?

THE PRESIDENT: What I would say is just, given your track record, given your history, seeing you stand here before this group, you're going to be successful. You've got a leg up on a lot of folks. You've got skills, you've got experience, you've got a track record of success. Right now your challenge is not you, it's the economy as a whole. And by the way, this is not just an American challenge; this is happening worldwide.

I hope everybody understands our biggest problem right now, part of the reason that this year, where at the beginning of the year, economists had estimated, and financial analysts had estimated that the economy was going to be growing at about 3.5 percent, and that has not happened, in part has to do with what happened in the Middle East and the Arab Spring, which disrupted energy prices and caused consumers to have to pull back because gas was getting so high; what's happening in Europe, which they have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with all the challenges their banking system faced. It's now being compounded by what's happening in Greece. So they're going through a financial crisis that is scaring the world. And they're trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven't been quite as quick as they need to be.

So the point is, is that economies all around the world are not growing as fast as they need to. And since the world is really interconnected, that affects us as well. The encouraging thing for you is that when the economy gets back on track in the ways that it should, you are going to be prepared to be successful. The challenge is making sure that you hang in between now and then.

That's why things like unemployment insurance, for example, are important. And part of our jobs act is to maintain unemployment insurance. It's not a end all, be all, but it helps folks meet their basic challenges. And by the way, it also means that they're spending that money and they're re-circulating that into the economy so it's good for businesses generally.

Some of the emergency measures that we've been taking and we've proposed to take help to bridge the gap to where the economy is more fully healed. And historically, after financial crises, recessions are deeper and they last longer than after the usual business cycle recessions.

So I guess the main message I have for you is the problem is not you; the problem is the economy as a whole. You are going to be well equipped to succeed and compete in this global economy once it's growing again. My job is to work with everybody I can -- from the business community to Congress, to not-for-profits, you name it -- to see if we can speed up this process of healing and this process of recovery.

And in the meantime, we will make sure that things like unemployment insurance that are there to help people during tough times like this are going to continue to be available. And if there are -- since you’re in IT, if there are areas where you need to be sharpening your skills, as the young lady here mentioned, we are going to make sure that the resource is available for you to be able to go back to school and do that.

Thank you.

MR. WEINER: Thank you. That was our last question. We’re going to begin to wrap it up, and before I turn it over to you for some concluding remarks, I just wanted to say thank you, and let you know how much we appreciate the work that you’re doing. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say I can’t think of anything more important than creating economic opportunity when it comes to profoundly and sustain-ably improving the quality of an individual’s life, the lives of their family members, the lives of the people that they in turn can create jobs for.

And in hard-hit American cities and developing countries around the world, these folks are creating role models for the next generation of entrepreneurs and professionals that didn’t know it was possible.

So on behalf of myself, on behalf of our visionary founder, Reid Hoffman, without whom none of this would have been possible, on behalf of our employees, of course our members, on behalf of our country, thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you so much. (Applause.) Thank you. Well, let me just say these have been terrific questions and I so appreciate all of you taking the time to do this. I appreciate LinkedIn helping to host this. And for those of you who are viewing, not in this circle but around the country, maybe around the world, I appreciate the chance to share these ideas with you.

Look, we’re going through a very tough time. But the one thing I want to remind everybody is that we’ve gone through tougher times before. And the trajectory, the trend of not just this country but also the world economy is one that’s more open, one that’s more linked, one that offers greater opportunity, but also one that has some hazards. If we don’t prepare our people with the skills that they need to compete, we’re going to have problems. If we don’t make sure that we continue to have the best infrastructure in the world, we’re going to have problems. If we’re not continuing to invest in basic research, we’re going to have challenges. If we don’t get our fiscal house in order in a way that is fair and equitable so that everybody feels like they have responsibilities to not only themselves and their family but also the country that’s given them so much opportunity, we’re going to have problems.

And so I am extraordinarily confident about America’s long-term future. But we are going to have to make some decisions about how we move forward. And what’s striking to me is, when we’re out of Washington and I’m just talking to ordinary folks, I don’t care whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, people are just looking for common sense. The majority of people agree with the prescriptions I just offered. The majority of people by a wide margin think we should be rebuilding our infrastructure. The majority of folks by a wide margin think that we should be investing in education. The majority of people by a wide margin think we should be investing in science and technology. And the majority of people think by a wide margin that we should be maintaining programs like Social Security and Medicare to provide a basic safety net.

The majority of people by a significant margin think that the way we should close our deficit is a balance of cutting out those things that we don’t need, but also making sure that we’ve got a tax code that’s fair and everybody is paying their fair share.

So the problem is not outside of Washington. The problem is, is that things have gotten so ideologically driven and everybody is so focused on the next election and putting party ahead of country that we’re not able to solve our problems. And that’s got to change. And that’s why your voices are going to be so important.

The reason I do these kinds of events is I want you to hear from me directly. I want to hear from you directly, but I also want your voices heard in the halls of Congress. I need everybody here to be speaking out on behalf of the things that you care about, and the values that made this country great, and to say to folks who you’ve elected -- say to them, we expect you to act responsibly, and not act in terms of short-term political interest. Act in terms of what’s going to be good for all of us over the long term.

If that spirit, which all of you represent, starts asserting itself all across the country, then I’m absolutely confident the 21st century is going to be the American century just like the 20th century way.

So thank you very much everybody. God bless you.

MR. WEINER: Thank you, everybody.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.)

END
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