President talks auto industry, addresses economic "bumps on the road to recovery"
In this week's address, President Obama discussed manufacturing jobs in the auto industry. Speaking from a Chrysler auto plant in Toledo, OH, President Obama hailed the recent success of Chysler's ability to repay its federal loans, and discussed how jobs are coming back to the industry now that the major auto companies are regaining traction on the economic front:
"Today, each of the Big Three automakers - Chrysler, GM, and Ford - is turning a profit for the first time since 2004. Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency - and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule. And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake. And that means soon, Chrysler will be 100% in private hands.
Most importantly, all three American automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s. Chrysler has added a second shift at the Jefferson North plant in Detroit that I visited last year. GM is adding a third shift at its Hamtramck plant for the first time ever. And GM plans to hire back all of the workers they had laid off during the recession"
However, although news in the auto industry has been positive as of late, the President did acknowledged certain "bumps on the road to recovery" that the U.S. has experienced in other aspects of the economy:
"Now, we've got a ways to go. Even though our economy has created more than two million private sector jobs over the past 15 months and continues to grow, we're facing some tough headwinds. Lately, it's high gas prices, the earthquake in Japan, and unease about the European fiscal situation. That's going to happen from time to time. There are going to be bumps on the road to recovery."
Still, President Obama restated his belief in the American spirit and insisted that things will continue to make a turn for the better,
"We're a people who don't give up - who do big things, who shape our own destiny. And I'm absolutely confident that if we hold on to that spirit, our best days are still ahead of us."
As for concerns over "bumps on the road," the monthly jobs numbers for May, which saw an unemployment rate at 9.1%, served as a topic of discussion for White House officials on Friday. White House Economic Adviser, Austan Goolsbee, discussed the numbers with CNN's Eliot Spitzer, and cautioned against using one month of jobs numbers to characterize the entire economic recovery.
President Obama's Weekly Address:
