Presidential Speech on the Economy - Proposed

Introduction: Econ 1A

The opinions and speeches from the Office of President are keys to the people's state of mind about the economy. Economic activity is based on people's expectations about the future. If most people think the economy is doing well, then they will invest, buy properties and take on debt. But if most people think the economy is doing poorly, they will save their money for a rainy day and avoid borrowing money to protect their family.

Up until the current President I had not in 50 years of listening heard a sitting President say that the economy was in bad shape, regardless of the reality. That's because the office confers authority on the occupant about the future of the economy.

'If the President says that the economy is doing well, by golly family, we'll go ahead and buy that new house because things will work out. But, if the President says that the economy is in trouble, well gee whillickers, we'd better hunker down and save our cash for hard times ahead.'

The President-Elect's main job, IMHO, from now until the end of his terms in 2016 is to constantly repeat that the economy is doing great and the future is bright. Exactly like he did during the campaign with the mantra of change. The change we want now is economic growth with fairness. And, it is happening before our eyes.

The Speech - Thanksgiving Day

Good evening my fellow Americans, I am taking this time tonight to address you all about the state of the American economy at this joyous Holiday time when we have gathered our family and friends if we can and we are missing them terribly if we cannot be with them. Michele and I offer our prayers for the safe return of all our men and women in harm's way tonight. May God be with you.

I know that you all are concerned about how we are doing here at home and how other countries are doing as well. Well, let me tell you this, I won't lie to you, there are some troubled places in our land tonight and my economic team and I are working tirelessly to craft sensible solutions to those problems - solutions that will harness the incredible energy of the American people to the task of putting all those who want to work back to work quickly. It's our number one priority.

Let's be clear about one thing: the American economy is the strongest economy in the world. It is the strongest in the world because of you folks out there listening to me tonight and your fellow Americans who will read about this tomorrow. The fundamentals of the economy are sound and people are ready and willing to work hard to make our economy grow.

Here are just a few of the things that are right about our economy today:

Just about 95% of you who want to work are working. In my book, when you get something 95% right, you are doing pretty well. We are working hard here to get that closer to 100% and to make sure that the wages you earn can provide you and your family a comfortable living. We have a lot of ideas about how to do that and you'll be hearing about them soon.

The housing market has been difficult for a lot of folks. It is rebounding now and some of you are buying homes and other properties because of the incredible bargains. Banks are lending to home buyers on favorable terms. Interest rates on 30 year loans are close to historic lows.

The government has a responsibility to help out some of the folks who have home loans they can't afford any longer and we are working on the question. We'll have an announcement about our plans soon.

The Christmas shopping and holiday gift giving season starts tomorrow and I hope you all will celebrate this season in the traditions of your family. I see this season as a beginning of hope for our country. Please share that hope with us in the next few weeks by spending time with your family and friends if you can.

The stock market has some incredible bargains now and most of the advice I read about buying stocks is to hold them for long term gains. If your situation permits, it's a good time to think about adding to your portfolio. Our economy is going to grow. You heard that from an insider.

Gas prices have come down a lot in recent days. That's helping with your daily budgets and I'm happy about that. We didn't do it, but I'm still happy about it.

I am here to say that our future is bright in this country. We have a chance to change the direction of our country for the better. We are working very hard to create a bright future. Here are some of the ideas we are working on. I am not going to promise you that each idea here will become reality, but a few of them will.

We are finalizing our plan to bring health care to all Americans.

Some of our banks have seen ownership changes, but no depositor has lost a dollar due to the fine work of the FDIC. All your deposits in single accounts under $250,000 are safe.

Our financial sector has some issues we need to fix. We are working hard here to craft new rules and regulations that will prevent abuses in the future. Some of the banks which have received federal funds are still not lending to credit worthy borrowers at realistic rates; we will be contacting them soon.

We are focusing on the market as an engine of growth. The government has taken some positions in some companies to help us over this tight period. As soon as the situation eases up, we will turn those positions back to the markets. The steps the government has taken are the right steps and you will see the results on Main Street very soon.

It's time to create the future for our kids and grandchildren. What kind of future do we want for them? Here's an idea about energy and the future - just to let you see the kind of fun this job can really be.

We need to reduce our reliance on personal cars as the main method of getting to work. I will propose a giant program of building fixed rail metro systems in large urban areas. This will revitalize our cities, save energy, provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and give us all better lives. I will pay for it by placing a ten cent per gallon import tax on foreign oil so that the revenues will be placed into a fund for urban rail projects. At current prices, that's a five percent fee for a better future.

We are also going to ask the Big Three US automakers to create energy efficient cars so that they will survive into tomorrow.

Let me say in conclusion that we understand exactly where we are. There are a lot of good things about our country now and it is appropriate to celebrate those. There are also some problem areas. We are identifying the problems and creating solutions to fix them.

You are already working to get America moving again. I will be with you in January. Yes we can!