Michael Braun's Blog

Here’s my vision for the start of President Obama’s State of the Union address tomorrow:

My fellow Americans, I wish I could stand before and say that our nation was functioning on all cylinders, that our economy was strong and getting stronger, that there was little that needed correcting. I wish I could tell you that our budget was balanced, that all Americans had access to good paying jobs, and that the American dream was alive and well. I wish I could talk about our foreign policy efforts as solely centered around negotiating and maintaining world peace and harmony. But because I can’t talk about those things tonight, I want to take time to explain myself, explain our government’s efforts to bring the nation back on track, and then talk about what our plans are for the future, so that starting next year, I can start to talk about real progress and not about hopes and dreams.

First, the issues. Starting in late 2007, our economy entered into its greatest recession since the Great Depression 80 years ago. Myriad problems, including irresponsibility in both the private and public sectors, brought our economy to a crashing halt. President Bush worked with the best economic advisors available to propose an emergency stimulus package. When I was brought into office, I worked with many of these same advisors and proposed an additional round of funding. This money has been well-spent, and much of the allocated funds remain unspent. There is lots of money left to help stimulate the economy. This is a good thing, because though economists may say that our recession is officially over, that our economy has grown in small increments over the last couple of quarters, Americans on the street know that growth in the financial sectors hardly translates to more jobs.

It’s easy to get frustrated by the lack of growth in the economy. Even among top economists, there is widespread sentiment that getting the economy going again is no easy feat. But we don’t need economists to say this; Wall Street’s perspectives are way behind Main Street’s, full of regular Americans who don’t need to read about the economy; they’re already living it. One year ago, I took office swept in by a large movement of people from around the country, from all different backgrounds, and with many different political philosophies. And though our message was change, it’s been no easy thing for my administration either. We know the realities on the ground, and we are working to change them.

But let’s keep this economic disaster in scale. The Great Depression started in 1929; we began to see signs of economic recovery in 1933; but the economy would not return to pre-Depression levels until another 6 years after that. The unemployment rate peaked at 25%, 25%! Even in 1940, it was still at 15%. It wasn’t until 1941, and the start of the United States’ massive involvement in a global conflict, that our unemployment rate dropped below 10%. This economic disaster that we are suffering today has caused massive hardship, but critics who say that the government can fix the problems ignore the massive scale of the problem. This is the greatest recession since the Great Depression, and yet, right now, our unemployment rate stands as less than 11 years after the Great Depression began. Our government is in a position of strength. Our knowledge of economic policy has never been greater. My fellow Americans, we are working to solve this massive financial crisis with a wide variety of tools.

My administration expects to see job growth starting later this year. We will be spending more stimulus money, as well as working on necessary and important reforms of the banking industry. We have extended the housing tax credit to encourage more people to buy a home. And we hear the voices from Main Street every single day. There is no greater priority for my administration right now. With that in mind, let no charlatan tell you he has a magical elixir for economic recovery. The solutions lie not in one path. Only tax cuts, or only government spending, or only increased oversight, or only large taxes on Wall Street bonuses, or only greater innovation from Americans will not solve the crisis. We need, and are using, all these tools, and we are starting to see results.