{"id":141964,"date":"2022-06-05T17:59:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T00:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=141964"},"modified":"2022-06-05T17:59:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T00:59:41","slug":"president-biden-on-the-may-jobs-report-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=141964","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on the May Jobs Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rehoboth Beach, Delaware&#8230;Good morning, everyone.  With today\u2019s excellent jobs report and unemployment remaining at a near-historic low of 3.6 percent, I want to speak very briefly today about our economy and what we\u2019re doing to lower the costs for American families.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YHlfyHChUds\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I know that even with today\u2019s good news, a lot of Americans remain anxious, and I understand the feeling.  I grew up in a family about 100 miles from here that if \u2014 where if the price of gas went up, you felt it.  It was a discussion at the kitchen table. <\/p>\n<p>And there is no denying that high prices, particularly around gasoline and food, are a real problem for people<\/p>\n<p>But there is every reason for the American people to feel confident that we\u2019ll meet these challenges.  Because of the enormous progress we\u2019ve made on the economy, the Americans can tackle inflation from a position of strength.  Still a problem, but we can tackle it from a position of strength.<\/p>\n<p>That purpose that we\u2019ve set out to accomplish and the progress we\u2019ve made, I think, is critical. <\/p>\n<p>At the time I took office, about 16 months ago, the economy had stalled and COVID was out of control.<\/p>\n<p>Today, thanks to the economic plan and the vaccination plan that my administration put into action, America has achieved the most robust recovery in modern history just two years removed from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. <\/p>\n<p>The job market is the strongest it\u2019s been since just after World War Two.  We\u2019ve got more evidence of that today.  We learned that in May the economy added another 390,000 new jobs, bringing the total since I took office to 8.7 million new jobs \u2014 an all-time record.<\/p>\n<p>We learned that more Americans entered the labor force in May.  In fact, working-age people have come back into the workforce at a faster rate in this recovery than at any point in the last 40 years. <\/p>\n<p>That means that the unemployment rate is near historic lows.  And the number of Americans on unemployment benefits has gone from record highs to record lows, with millions of Americans moving up to better jobs, with better pay.<\/p>\n<p>And Amer- \u2014 and American manufacturing is booming: 600,000 new manufacturing jobs created since I took office.<\/p>\n<p>But it isn\u2019t only about jobs.  Since I took office, families are carrying less debt; their average savings are up.<\/p>\n<p>A recent survey from the Federal Reserve found that more Americans feel financially comfortable than at any time since the survey began in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>That confidence and comfortability is part of the reason why Americans applied to start more new small businesses last year than ever before in American history.<\/p>\n<p>And because of our historically strong growth, we have strengthened Medicare and Social Security programs that millions of American families rely on.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I learned that Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be able to pay benefits for longer than previously projected before we passed the American Rescue Plan.<\/p>\n<p>The reason?  A faster-than-expected recovery in jobs, earnings, economic growth has all strengthened the financial prospects for these bedrock programs. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, America is stronger economic \u2014 in a stronger economic position today than just about any other country in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Independent experts have projected that the U.S. economy could grow faster than China\u2019s economy this year.  That hasn\u2019t happened since 1976, nearly one half century ago.<\/p>\n<p>The point is this: We\u2019ve laid an economic foundation that\u2019s historically strong.  And now, we\u2019re moving forward to a new moment where we can build on that foundation, build a future of stable, steady growth so we can bring down inflation without sacrificing all the historic gains we\u2019ve made.  And that\u2019s what we\u2019re beginning to see in today\u2019s jobs report. <\/p>\n<p>With today\u2019s numbers, the jobs over the last three months have averaged about 400,000 jobs per month.  That\u2019s historically robust and a sign we\u2019re beginning a shift to steady growth after rapidly recovering 600,000 jobs per month over the prior six months. <\/p>\n<p>And as we move to a new period of stable, steady growth, we should expect to see more moderation.  We aren\u2019t likely to see the kind of blockbuster job reports month after month like we had over this past year, but that\u2019s a good thing.  That\u2019s a sign of a healthy economy with steady growth, rising wages for working families, everyday costs easing up, and shrinking the deficit.<\/p>\n<p>That stability puts us in a strong position to tackle what is clearly a problem: inflation.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been very clear that fighting inflation is my top economic priority.  On Tuesday, I spoke about one element of my inflation plan: giving the Federal Reserve the space they need to operate.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I\u2019d like to address the two additional elements of my plan to tackle inflation:<\/p>\n<p>One, bringing down the cost of everyday goods for families.<\/p>\n<p>And two, bringing down the federal deficit at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Bringing down the costs \u2014 here\u2019s where we stand: The two challenges on the minds of most working families are prices at the pump and prices at the grocery store.  Both of these challenges have been directly exacerbated by Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The price of gas is up $1.40 since the beginning of the year when Putin began amassing troops at the Ukrainian border.  This is the \u201cPutin price hike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Putin\u2019s war has raised the price of food because Ukraine and Russia are two of the world\u2019s major breadbaskets for wheat and corn \u2014 the basic product for so many foods around the world. <\/p>\n<p>Ukraine has 20 million tons of grain in storage right now, and it\u2019s been in storage since the last harvest.  Normally, that would have already been exported into the world market.  But because of Putin\u2019s invasion and a blockade of the port at which they could take that grain out for the rest of the world, it\u2019s not.  It\u2019s not. <\/p>\n<p>And look, I understand that families who are struggling probably don\u2019t care why the prices are up.  They just want them to go down.  \u201cJoe, what are you going to do to bring them down?\u201d  But it\u2019s important that we understand the root of the problem so we can take steps to solve it.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been up front with the American people from the outset that there would be a cost here at home of Putin\u2019s decision to brutally and savagely invade a sovereign nation.<\/p>\n<p>But as your President, I remain committed to doing everything in my power to blunt the impact on American families, and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n<p>I led the world to coordinate the largest release of global oil reserves in history \u2014 240 million barrels \u2014 to boost global supply and keep prices from rising even more.<\/p>\n<p>I directed the sale of gasoline using homegrown biofuels this summer.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m working closely with our European partners to get more of the grain locked in Ukraine right now out into the world market, which could help bring down prices.  There\u2019s ways to do that over land, which we could talk about at another time.<\/p>\n<p>But actions have already helped to blunt that \u2014 what would have been an even larger Putin price hike.<\/p>\n<p>And as I said, I\u2019m going to continue to use every tool available to me to further blunt those price hikes as we move forward.<\/p>\n<p>But the fact is this: There\u2019s more than one way to solve this problem.  If food and gas prices are going to be elevated by Putin\u2019s price hike, one way we can make things a little better for families is by helping them save on other basic items their family needs on a monthly basis, like their utility bills, their Internet bills, their prescription drug bills, and other costs like housing.<\/p>\n<p>My goal is to make sure that at the end of the month families have a little more breathing room than they \u2014 than they have now. <\/p>\n<p>For example, here\u2019s something we can do right now: Congress could help ease the costs for families right away by passing my clean energy investment proposal that I\u2019ve proposed that\u2019s been sitting there.  Things like tax credits for businesses to produce clean energy and tax cuts for families to make their homes more energy efficient.  That\u2019s what it results in. <\/p>\n<p>I met with nearly a dozen CEOs of America\u2019s largest utility companies, such as Southern Company and American Electric Power.  They told me that if we pass the investments, they will make immediately lower \u2014 they\u2019ll immediately lower the average family\u2019s energy costs by about $500 a year.  That would help a lot.  That\u2019d make up for a lot. <\/p>\n<p>In the long run, it would help families make America truly energy independent so, in the future, American families are no longer subject to the whims of a dictator half a world away, controlling oil.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just utility bills, though.  I\u2019ve laid out a plan to lower prescription drug costs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies and how much they can charge, just like they do with the Veterans Administration. <\/p>\n<p>Right now, they say, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to pay X \u2014 more than X amount of dollars for your insulin.\u201d  Well, they can decide not to sell it all \u2014 or they can sell it at the price that the government says they\u2019ll pay for it, bringing down the average cost of prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>By capping that cost of insulin, by the way, at no more than $35 a month.  It costs them less than 10 bucks to make it.  And some \u2014 in some families, it means hundreds of dollars a month and sometimes hundreds of dollars a year, depending on what the \u2014 what ailment they\u2019re trying to deal with.<\/p>\n<p>Someone with diab- \u2014 diabetes, for example, it\u2019s hundreds of dollars per year.  Someone with arthritis, it could be thousands of dollars per year.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve laid out a plan to lower rent and mortgage costs \u2014 the largest cost most families face; around a third of a typical family\u2019s budget \u2014 because we have a shortage of housing.  Building more than a million more housing units and closing the shortfall in affordable housing in this country will do that.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve laid out a plan to lower the cost of high-speed Internet by working with the 20 leading Internet service providers to cut their prices and raise their speeds.<\/p>\n<p>For tens of millions of households, this could lower what they have to pay for high-speed Internet by $50 a month or more.  And nearly 40 percent of households in America qualify for these savings.<\/p>\n<p>And by the way, you can find out if you\u2019d be eligible by visiting \u2014 by vi- \u2014 GetInternet.gov.  GetInternet.gov.  I\u2019ll say it again: GetInternet.gov.  See if you qualify.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve laid out a plan to lower the cost of everyday goods that move through our supply chains to stores and families\u2019 doorsteps.<\/p>\n<p>For example, at the State of the Union, I called on Congress to crack down on foreign-owned shipping companies that have raised their prices to transport goods by as much as 1,000 percent.  One thousand percent.  And that obviously raises the cost of the goods on those ships to consumers.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate has passed legislation, and I am hopeful the House can do the same to send me legislation in the coming weeks to crack down on these companies and help lower overall costs.<\/p>\n<p>And my plan does all this without raising a penny in taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year and without raising the deficit at all by taxing the super wealthy and big corporations, like the 55 major corporations that don\u2019t pay a single penny in taxes, even though they had a \u2014 $40 billion in profits.<\/p>\n<p>The point is this: I\u2019m doing everything I can on my own to help working families during this stretch of higher prices.  And I\u2019m going to \u2014 I\u2019m going to continue to do that.<\/p>\n<p>But Congress needs to act as well.  We can do so much more if we come together to lower the costs for American families.<\/p>\n<p>But my congressional Republican friends, led by Rick Scott, have a different approach.  He\u2019s actually introduced a plan.  He wants to raise taxes on working families by an average of $1,500 a year; put Medicare and Social Security \u2014 Medicaid \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Social Security and Medicaid on the chopping block every five years.  In other words: Every five years, they\u2019re \u2014 they\u2019re going no longer exist unless they vote them back into existence.<\/p>\n<p>I disagree with that.  What in God\u2019s name are they doing?<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll work with anyone \u2014 Democrat, Republican, independent \u2014 to deliver real solutions and real savings for the American people, not take money out of their pockets.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the other melem- \u2014 other element I\u2019d like to address that has impacts on inflation is to lower the deficit.  The reason this matters to families is because reducing the deficit is another way to ease inflation.<\/p>\n<p>My friends on the Republican side like to paint me as the \u201cbig spender.\u201d  But let\u2019s look at the facts.  Facts matter. <\/p>\n<p>Under my predecessor, the deficit exploded, rising every single year he was in office.  Under my plan, we\u2019re on track to cut the federal deficit this year by $1.7 trillion.  You hear me now?  This year by $1.7 trillion.  That\u2019s a fact.  The largest decline in American history.<\/p>\n<p>And by the way, those aren\u2019t White House projections.  They come from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that you in the press and everybody around the country legitimately quotes all the time.<\/p>\n<p>That progress on tackling the deficit was not pre-ordained.  It was my economic strategy built into our historic recovery.  That we didn\u2019t anticipate a war in Ukraine at the time.  Historic economic growth that not only helped tens of millions of families move up, it has helped our federal deficit come down.<\/p>\n<p>And now, because of that strategy, we\u2019re on track for a deficit to take up a lower share of our economy than it did before the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the Treasury Department is planning to pay down \u2014 pay down \u2014 the national debt this quarter, which never happened under my predecessor.  Not once.  Not once.  Because, unlike my predecessor, the deficit has come down both years I\u2019ve been here.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve proposed a plan to keep shrinking that deficit by making commonsense reforms to our tax code, leveling the playing field internationally so that the biggest companies no longer have an incentive to shift jobs overseas \u2014 to shift them overseas to make their product because they get charged less in taxes and avoid paying their fair share of taxes here at home.  We put together a multi-nation initiative that I\u2019m hopeful will come into play at the G7. <\/p>\n<p>And ending the outrageous unfairness of our tax system that allows billionaires \u2014 look, if you can make a billion dollars, I\u2019m all for it.  Just pay a little bit of your fair share, you know?  Just pay your fair share.  Billionaires pay a lower rate than a teacher or a firefighter.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is this: Part of the reason I ran for President is because I was tired of trickle-down economics.  It doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>My plans have produced the strongest, fastest, most widespread economic recovery America has ever experienced, with record jobs, a new record of small businesses, and wages rising. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the foundation for an economy that works for working families.<\/p>\n<p>And because of that foundation, we\u2019re better positioned than any country in the world to overcome the global inflation that we\u2019re seeing and reach a new chapter of stable and steady growth.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s come together and focus on what\u2019s the matter \u2014 on what matters.  Let\u2019s build on the extraordinary progress we\u2019ve made.  And let\u2019s continue to build this economy from the bottom up and the middle out.  When that happens, everybody does well, including the very wealthy. <\/p>\n<p>Thank you.  And God bless you.  And I \u2014 God \u2014 may God protect our troops.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll take a few questions.<\/p>\n<p>Yes. <\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, are you going to Saudi Arabia?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Saudi Arabia, sir?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Let me answer her \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, Elon Musk has asked \u2014 has said that he has a \u201csuper bad feeling\u201d about the U.S. economy.  He is laying off 10 percent of his workforce.  What do you say to Elon Musk about his feeling about the economy?  Jamie Dimon has said similar things.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me tell you.  While Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly.  I think Ford is increasing the investment in building new electric vehicles: 6,000 new employees \u2014 union employees, I might add \u2014 in the Midwest.<\/p>\n<p>The former Chrysler Corporation, Stellantis, they\u2019re also making similar investments in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Intel is adding 20,000 new jobs for making computer chips.<\/p>\n<p>So, you know, lots of luck on his trip to the Moon.  I mean, I don\u2019t \u2014 I mean, you know.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President \u2014 are you going to go to Saudi Arabia, Mr. President?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I\u2019m not sure whether I\u2019m going.  I\u2019m \u2014 I have no direct plans at the moment.  But let me tell you that I have been engaged in trying to work with how we can bring more stability and peace to the Middle East. <\/p>\n<p>And there is a possibility that I would be going to meet with both the Israelis and the Ara- \u2014 some Arab countries at the time \u2014 including, I expect, would be Saudi Arabia \u2014 would be included in that if I did go.<\/p>\n<p>But I have no direct plans at the moment.  We\u2019re looking at it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Is the Kingdom still a pariah, in your eyes?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Look, I\u2019m not going to change my view on human rights.  But as President of the United States, my job is to bring peace if I can \u2014 peace if I can.  And that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to try to do.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, would you be open to meeting with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if you do end up going to Saudi Arabia?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Look, we\u2019re getting way ahead of ourselves here.  What I want to do is see to it that we diminish the likelihood that there\u2019s a continuation of this \u2014 some of the senseless wars between Israel and the Arab nations.  And that\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Is OPEC doing enough on oil production?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, what I recently read and talking to my team that \u2014 they acknowledge that there is an oil shortage, and they have made an announcement, of late, that they\u2019re going to increase production.  So, I don\u2019t know enough to know whether it\u2019s enough, but I know it\u2019s positive.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, does Ukraine have to cede territory to achieve some peace?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  You know, you\u2019ve been always fair with me. The \u2014 from the beginning, I\u2019ve said and I\u2019ve been \u2014 not everyone has agreed with me \u2014 nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.  It\u2019s their territory.  I\u2019m not going to tell them what they should and shouldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>But it appears to me that, at some point along the line, there\u2019s going to have to be a negotiated settlement here.  And what that entails, I don\u2019t know.  I don\u2019t think anybody knows at the time.<\/p>\n<p>But in the meantime, we\u2019re going to continue to put the \u2014 the Ukrainians in a position where they can defend themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all so very much.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, will you go to the Hill next week on guns to meet with lawmakers?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  My staff is \u2014 my staff is dealing \u2014 and have been dealing constantly with every member of the House and Senate who is wanting to talk about guns.  It\u2019s been a constant interchange.  And I\u2019ve been constantly briefed.  I\u2019ll do what I can to try to see if we have some real progress.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rehoboth Beach, Delaware&#8230;Good morning, everyone. With today\u2019s excellent jobs report and unemployment remaining at a near-historic low of 3.6 percent, I want to speak very briefly today about our economy and what we\u2019re doing to lower the costs for American families. I know that even with today\u2019s good news, a lot of Americans remain anxious, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Chrome-Legacy-Window-652022-55806-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141966,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141964\/revisions\/141966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}