English subtitles for clip: File:2009-03-07 President Obama's Weekly Address.ogv

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Yesterday, we learned that the economy

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lost another 651,000 jobs in the month of 

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February, which brings the total number of jobs

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lost in this recession to 4.4 million.

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The unemployment rate has now surpassed eight percent,

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the highest rate in a quarter century.

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These aren't just statistics, but hardships

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experienced personally by millions of Americans

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who no longer know how they'll pay their bills,

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or make their mortgage, or raise their families.

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From the day I took office, I knew that solving this

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crisis would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight.

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And we will continue to face difficult

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days in the months ahead. But I also believe that

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we will get through this—that if we act swiftly

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and boldly and responsibly, the United States

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of America will emerge stronger

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and more prosperous than it was before.

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That's why my administration is committed

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to doing all that's necessary to address this crisis

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and lead us to a better day. That's why we're moving

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forward with an economic agenda that will jump-start

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job creation, restart lending, relieve responsible 

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homeowners, and address the long-term economic

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challenges of our time: The cost of health care,

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our dependence on oil, and the state of our schools.

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To prevent foreclosures for as many as four million

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homeowners—and lower interest rates and lift

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home values for millions more—we are implementing

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a plan to allow lenders to work with borrowers

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to refinance or restructure their mortgages.

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On Wednesday, the Department of Treasury and Housing

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and Urban Development released the guidelines that

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lenders will use for lowering mortgage payments.

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This plan is now at work.

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To restore the availability of affordable loans

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for families and businesses—not just banks—

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we are taking steps to restart the flow of credit

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and stabilize the financial markets.

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On Thursday, the Treasury Department and the

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Federal Reserve launched the Consumer and Business

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Lending Initiative—a plan that will generate up to

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a trillion dollars of new lending so that families

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can finance a car or college education—and small

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businesses can raise the capital that will create jobs.

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And we've already begun to implement the American

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Recovery and Reinvestment Act—a plan that will

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save and create over 3.5 million jobs over the next

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two years—jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges,

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constructing wind turbines and solar panels,

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expanding broadband and mass transit. And because

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of this plan, those who have lost their job in this

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recession will be able to receive extended unemployment

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benefits and continued health care coverage, while 95

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percent of working Americans will receive

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a tax break beginning April 1st.

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Of course, like every family going through hard times,

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our country must make tough choices.

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In order to pay for the things we need—

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we cannot waste money on the things we don't.

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My administration inherited a one-point-three trillion dollar budget deficit

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the largest in history. And we've inherited a budgeting

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process as irresponsible as it is unsustainable.

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For years, as Wall Street used accounting tricks to conceal

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costs and avoid responsibility, Washington did, too.

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These kinds of irresponsible budgets—

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and inexcusable practices—

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are now in the past. For the first time in many years

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my administration has produced a budget that represents an

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honest reckoning of where we are and where we need to go.

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It's also a budget that begins to make the hard choices

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that we've avoided for far too long—

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a strategy that cuts where we must and invests where we need.

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That's why it includes two trillion dollars in deficit reduction

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while making historic investments in America's future.

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That's why it reduces discretionary spending for non-defense

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programs as a share of the economy by more than ten percent

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over the next decade—to the lowest level since they began

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keeping these records nearly half a century ago.

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And that's why on Wednesday, I signed a presidential

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memorandum to end unnecessary no-bid contracts

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and dramatically reform the way contracts are awarded—

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reforms that will save the American people

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up to forty billion dollars each year.

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Finally, because we cannot bring our deficit down

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or grow our economy without tackling the skyrocketing

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cost of health care, I held a health care summit

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on Thursday to begin the long-overdue process of reform.

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Our ideas and opinions about how to achieve this reform

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will vary, but our goal must be the same: quality, affordable 

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health care for every American that no longer overwhelms the

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budgets of families, businesses, and our government.

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Yes, this is a moment of challenge for our country.

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But we've experienced great trials before.

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And with every test, each generation has found

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the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper—

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to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis.

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That is what we can and must do today.

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And I am absolutely confident that is what we will do.

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I'm confident that at this defining moment

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we will prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifice

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of those who came before us

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and the promise of those who will come after.

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Thank you.