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Weekly Address: President Obama – Commemorating Labor Day

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From the White House – Weekly Address

President Obama discusses Labor Day and reflects on the contributions of the working men and women in our country.

Transcript: Commemorating Labor Day

Hi, everybody.  This Labor Day weekend, as we gather with family and friends, we’ll also come together as a nation to honor some of our own – the working men and women of America who, across the generations, built this country up and helped make us who we are today.

On Monday, we’ll celebrate that proud history.  We’ll pay tribute to the values working Americans embody – hard work; responsibility; sacrifice; looking out for one another.  And we’ll recommit ourselves to their cause; to securing for them a better bargain so that everyone who works hard in America has a chance to get ahead.

See, over the past four and a half years, we’ve fought our way back from the worst recession of our lifetimes.  And thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve begun to lay a foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.  But as any working family will tell you, we’re not where we need to be.  

For over a decade, working Americans have seen their wages and incomes stagnate, even as corporate profits soar and the pay of a fortunate few explodes.  For even longer than that, inequality has steadily risen; the journey of upward mobility has become harder.  And in too many communities across this country, the shadow of poverty continues to cast a pall over our fellow citizens.

Reversing that trend needs to be Washington’s highest priority.  It’s certainly mine.  That’s why, over the past month, I’ve traveled all across America, laying out my ideas for how we can build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class.  A good job that pays a good wage.  A good education.  A home of your own.  Health care when you get sick.  A secure retirement even if you’re not rich.  And more chances for folks to earn their way into the middle class as long as they’re willing to work for it.  

The truth is, it’s not going to be easy to reverse the forces that have conspired – for decades – against working Americans.  But if we take a few bold steps – and if Washington is able to come together with common purpose and common resolve – we’ll get there.  Our economy will keep getting stronger and more Americans will be able to join the ranks of the middle-class.

So this Labor Day, while you’re out there grilling in the backyard, or taking that final trip for the summer, I hope you’ll also take a moment to reflect on the many contributions of our working men and women.  For generations, it was the great American middle class that made our economy the envy of the world.  And as long as I’m President, I’m going to keep fighting to make sure that happens again.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~

Editor’s Note: The President’s Weekly Address diary is also the weekend open news thread. Feel free to leave links to other news items in the comment threads.


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/ 7 Comments

7 comments

  1. JanF

    Raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would give working families, and the overall economy, a much-needed boost

    By highlighting the need to increase the federal minimum wage in his State of the Union address, President Obama breathed new life into a critically important issue.

    Wages for U.S. workers, particularly low-wage workers, have eroded not just in recent years, but over several decades (Mishel 2013; McNichol et al. 2012). This erosion has contributed to the growth of income inequality, leaving the economy less vibrant than if incomes were distributed more evenly. Raising the minimum wage and incorporating a system for automatic adjustment over time is key to reversing this erosion of low-wage workers’ earnings, and would help combat growth of income inequality.

    Raising the minimum wage would help reverse the ongoing erosion of wages that has contributed significantly to growing income inequality. At the same time, it would provide a modest stimulus to the entire economy, as increased wages would lead to increased consumer spending, which would contribute to GDP growth and modest employment gains.

  2. princesspat

     The first article is welcome good news, the second is inmho a concern. Federal funds for transportation projects are needed and welcome when serving the greater good. I hope the people in Longview, Wa. will indeed take the longview and see past the immediate need for jobs in their community.

    Federal funds flow for I-90 bus lanes, Tacoma train trestle

    Sound Transit has been awarded $24 million in federal funds for I-90 transit lanes and Tacoma train tracks, according to a Friday announcement from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office.

    The funds come from the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) stimulus program.

    The elephant in the room on the Longview coal port

    The magic number for Millennium, the giant coal terminal proposed at Longview on the Columbia River, is not 44 million – that’s how many tons of coal would be shipped annually. It’s 432. As in State Route 432, or at least the stretch of highway where traffic crossing the Lewis & Clark Bridge merges with the railroad tracks and streets that serve the busy Port of Longview and assorted major industries.

    “There’s no way you can put coal trains through Longview without fixing SR 432,” is the blunt assessment from Gary Lindstrom, marine consultant and former Port of Longview marketing director. “It’s a nightmare to me.”

    ~snip~

    That “432 Mess,” for example. Local taxpayers can’t afford a $200 million fix. State and federal budgets are tight too. Studies pre-dating Millennium validate Gary Lindstrom’s “nightmare” concerns, but neither the studies nor Millennium backers have a plan for funding the necessary mitigations. It may be time to talk about that elephant in the room.

  4. princesspat

    Boost from the sun could help gas power plants generate more electricity, run more cleanly

    Solar power remains a hard sell in the United States, but researchers in Washington have developed a way to harness the heat of the sun to boost the efficiency of conventional power plants.

    The new technology allows a natural gas-fired plant to generate 25 percent more electricity from the same amount of fuel. And it also reduces greenhouse-gas emissions, says Robert Wegeng, the Pacific Northwest National  Laboratory (PNNL) engineer who’s leading the project.

    ~snip~

    Wegeng and his colleagues are working with industry and academic experts at Oregon State University to reduce the cost of their system and develop ways to mass-produce it.

    The challenge is to produce a system that’s reliable, high-performing and economically competitive with natural gas.

    “We think we really have a good shot at it,” Wegeng said.

    The project was launched with $750,000 in federal stimulus money. The experimental phase is funded with about $3.5 million from the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative to advance solar technology, and $850,000 from industrial partner SolarThermoChemical LLC, which hopes to commercialize the technology.

    I can’t help but note that the funds for this reserch come from federal stimulus money, the Department of Energy, and higher academics……and the work is happening in the largely Republican part of Wa. State.

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