Press Release: Remarks of President Barack Obama in Holland, Michigan - As Prepared for Delivery

As Prepared for Delivery—

Hello, everybody. It's great to be in Holland, Michigan. And I'm especially pleased to be here as Compact Power breaks ground on this site. This is about more than building a new factory. It's about building a better future for this city, for this state, and for this country.

Now, let me begin by saying what everyone here — and everyone in Holland and Michigan — knows too well, which is that these have been some very tough times. A brutal recession capped what was already a lost decade for the middle class, especially in the manufacturing towns of the Midwest. Places like this. Even before the recession cost so many their jobs, incomes had been flat, jobs were moving overseas, while the price of everything from health care to an education for your kids skyrocketed.

It was a decade in which it seemed like the values that built this country were turned upside down. Folks who were working hard and honestly every day to meet their responsibilities were running in place or falling behind — while high-flying financial speculators cut corners and were rewarded with lavish benefits. It got even worse when the financial crisis sent our economy into a freefall and cost 8 million Americans their jobs. Michigan was hit harder than anywhere. On top of the recession, you were also rocked by the near-collapse of the domestic auto industry.

It was in the middle of this crisis that my administration walked through the door. And we had to make a set of difficult decisions. Some, including shoring up two of the big three automakers, were not real popular. But with millions of jobs at stake — with the future of so many families and businesses on the line — we acted to prevent our country from slipping into an even deeper crisis.

That's why, when my administration began, we cut taxes for small business owners and 95 percent of working families, and extended unemployment insurance to help folks get through these storms. And through small business loans, a focus on research and development, and investments in high-tech, fast-growing sectors like clean energy — we've aimed to grow our economy by harnessing the innovative spirit of the American people.

Because we did, shovels will soon be moving earth, and trucks pouring concrete, where we're standing. Because of a grant to this company — a grant that's leveraging more than 150 million private dollars — as many as 300 hundred people will be put to work doing construction and another 300 will eventually be hired to operate this plant when it's fully up and running. And this will lead to growth at local businesses like parts suppliers and restaurants.

This is the ninth advanced battery plant to begin construction because of our economic plan — plants that will put thousands of people to work. This includes folks working at a couple of facilities being built in Michigan by another battery technology company called A123. In every case, we've been guided by a simple idea: Government cannot generate the jobs or growth we need by itself. But it can lay the foundation for small businesses to expand and hire, for entrepreneurs to open up shop and test new products, for workers to get the training they need, and for families to achieve some measure of economic security.

So our goal has never been to create a government program, but to encourage private-sector growth. And we're seeing results. There are 4.5 million unemployed workers already hired whose employers are eligible for a payroll tax exemption — a tax break I signed into law earlier this year.

Just yesterday, my Council of Economic Advisers put out a detailed report. It showed that for things like tax credits that go to advanced energy manufacturing, loan guarantees for small businesses, and financing for infrastructure projects, we're leveraging nearly three private dollars for every public dollar. That's an incredible bang for our buck. By making critical seed money available, we have attracted more than $280 billion dollars in investment from private companies and others, which will mean new jobs and brighter futures for families in Holland and in communities across the country.

And these aren't just any jobs. These are jobs in the industries of the future. In fact, just a couple of years ago, American businesses manufactured only 2 percent of the world's advanced batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. But because of what's happening at places like this, in just five years, we'll have up to 40 percent of the world's capacity. For years, we've heard about manufacturing jobs disappearing overseas. You are showing us how manufacturing jobs can come back.

For example, the workers at this plant, already slated to produce batteries for the new Chevy Volt, learned the other day that they will also be supplying batteries for the new electric Ford Focus as soon as this operation gears up. That means that by 2012, the batteries will be manufactured in Holland, Michigan, instead of South Korea. So when you buy one of these vehicles, the battery could be stamped "Made in America" — just like the car.

And here's another benefit. Because of advances in the manufacture of these batteries, their costs are expected to come down by nearly 70 percent in the next few years, which will make electric and hybrid cars and trucks more affordable for more Americans. And that, too, will mean more jobs — not to mention less dependence on oil.

Taken together, these are the efforts that will create jobs and help build a stronger economy for the long run. And I want to express my appreciation to the Michigan leaders in Congress who supported the economic plan that has made this possible. As a result of the steps we took, an economy that was shrinking rapidly is now growing. We were bleeding jobs at a rate of more than 750,000 each month when I took office; but now the economy is adding private-sector jobs, and has been for six straight months.

This doesn't mean we're out of the woods — not by a long shot. But it does mean that there are small business owners who've been able to get the loans they need to hire a few more people. It means there are salespeople with a few more dollars in their pockets because their customers are buying again. It means there are innovators and entrepreneurs finally able to take a chance on a new idea. And it means there are construction workers heading to the jobsite each day — like many of you — because our country is slowly coming back from this vicious recession.

Yes, the progress we have made so far is not nearly enough to undo the enormous damage the recession caused. As I said since the day I took office, it is going to take time to reverse the toll of the deepest downturn in generations. And I won't be satisfied as long as even one person who needs a job can't find one. But what is absolutely clear is that we are headed in the right direction — and that the surest way out of the storms we've been in is to keep move forward, not to go backward.

I know there are some who want to go back — who think we should return to the policies that actually led to the recession. And some of them have made the political calculation that it's better to obstruct than lend a hand. They said no to the tax cuts, to the small business loans, to the clean energy projects. Of course, it hasn't stopped many of these same people from turning up at ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings just like this one.

But that's OK. That's their right. I just want them to explain to all of you — to the workers here — why our country would be better off if your jobs didn't exist. They should head to any of the two-dozen battery technology plants coming online — that are going to be able to stamp "Made in America" on their products — and explain to those workers why it's better for these things to be manufactured in other countries. And they should explain it to the people I've met at solar plants and wind turbine factories and biorefineries across America.

Because these folks — these workers and entrepreneurs — they know that we're not yet in the clear. But they also know that we're heading in the right direction. And they don't want to go backward. They want to move forward.

Yes, these have been a tough few years. But this nation has been through hard times before. And at our best, we've risen to the challenges we've faced by tapping the drive and talent and ingenuity that has always been at the heart of America's success. That's what's happening across our country today. And that's not only how we're going to emerge from this period of turmoil — that's how we're going to come out stronger than before.

Thank you.