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♫ Music ♫

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In this country, broad-based

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prosperity has never trickled down from the

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success of a wealthy few.

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It has always

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come from the success of a strong and growing middle class.

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That's how a generation

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who went to college on the G.I. Bill, including my

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grandfather, helped build the most prosperous

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economy the world has ever known. That's why a CEO like Henry Ford

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made it his mission to pay his workers enough

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so they could buy the cars that they made.

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And yet for much of the last century, we have

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been having the same argument with folks [br]

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who keep peddling

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some version

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of trickle-down economics.

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They keep telling us that if we'd convert

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more of our investments in education and research and health care

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into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, [br]

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our economy will grow stronger.

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Now the problem for advocates of this theory

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is that we've tried their approach.

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At the beginning of the last decade, the

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wealthiest Americans received a huge tax cut

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in 2001, and another huge tax cut

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in 2003. We were promised that

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these tax cuts would lead to faster job growth.

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They did not. The wealthy got wealthier,

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but prosperity sure didn't trickle down.

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Instead, during the last decade we had

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the slowest job growth in half a century.

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There was a period when insurance companies

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and mortgage lenders,

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and financial institutions

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didn't have to abide by strong enough regulations.

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And what was the result?

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Profits for many of these companies soared.

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But so did people's health insurance premiums.

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Patients were routinely denied care, often when they needed it most.

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Families were enticed and sometimes just plain tricked into

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buying homes they couldn't afford.

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Huge, reckless bets were made with other

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people's money on the line.

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And our entire financial system was nearly destroyed.

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So we've tried this theory out.

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And you would think that after the results of this experiment,

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that the proponents of this theory

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might show some humility. You'd think they'd say,

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"You know what? Maybe some rules and regulations

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are necessary to protect the economy!"

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"Maybe just maybe, at a time of growing debt

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and widening inequality,

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we should hold off on giving the wealthiest Americans

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another round of big tax cuts!"

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But that's exactly the opposite of what they've done.

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Instead of moderating their views even slightly,

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the Republicans running Congress right now have doubled down.

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This is what they're running on!

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(Shouts): Hooray!!

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This larger debate that we'll be having

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about the size and role of government;

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this debate has been with us since our founding days.

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But no matter what we argue, or where we stand,

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We have always held certain beliefs as Americans:

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We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms

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and pursue our own happiness, we can't just think about ourselves.

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We have to think about the country that made

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those liberties possible.

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We have to think about our fellow citizens,

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with whom we share a community.

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We have to think about what's required

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to preserve the American dream for future generations.

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And if we keep that in mind, and uphold our obligations to one another

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and to this larger enterprise that is America,

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then I have no doubt that we will continue our

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long and prosperous journey as the greatest nation on Earth.

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Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.

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(Applause/Clapping)

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Thank you.

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(Man hammering nails on a table)