keywords: president barack obama, compact power inc., ground breaking ceremony, holland michigan
Synopsis: President Barack Obama joins in the ground breaking ceremony for Compact Power, Inc. a maker of advaced batteries for green vehicles located in Holland, Michigan... (read more)
Pres. Obama - Ground Breaking Ceremony Compact Power
Now, I want to say what everyone here in Holland and everybody here in Michigan knows too well, which is that these have been some pretty tough times. A brutal recession came on top of what was already a lost decade for the middle class, especially for manufacturing towns here in the Midwest. Even before this recession cost so many jobs, incomes had been flat, jobs were moving overseas, while the price of everything from health care to college tuitions were skyrocketing.
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 who were cutting corners were rewarded with lavish bonuses and 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 else. An on top of this 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 a number of difficult decisions that we had to make and make quickly. Some, including shoring up U.S. automakers, weren’t real popular, as you will recall.
But with millions of jobs at stake, with the future of so many families and businesses on the line, we acted to prevent the country from slipping into an even deeper crisis. And that’s why, when my administration began, we cut taxes for small business owners and for 95 percent of working families here in Michigan and across the country. We 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 will soon be pouring concrete where we are standing. Because of a grant to this company, a grant that’s leveraging more than 150 million private dollars, as many as 300 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 is going to lead to growth at local businesses like parts suppliers and restaurants. It will be a boost to the economy of the entire region.
Now, this is the ninth advanced battery plant to begin construction because of our economic plan. These plants will put thousands of people to work. This includes folks who were working at a couple of facilities being built in Michigan by another battery technology company called A123. And in every case, we’ve been guided by a simple idea -- government can’t generate the jobs or growth we need by itself, but what government can do is lay the foundation for small businesses to expand and to hire, for entrepreneurs to open up shop and test new products, for workers to get the training they need for the jobs of the 21st century, and for families to achieve some semblance of economic security. So our goal has never been to create a government program, but rather to unleash private sector growth. And we are seeing results. There are 4.5 million unemployed workers already hired whose employers are eligible for a payroll tax exemption, a tax break that I signed into law earlier this year.
And by the way, these aren’t just any jobs. These are jobs in the industries of the future. Just a few years ago, American businesses manufactured only 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles -- 2 percent. But because of what’s happening in places like this, in just five years we’ll have up to 40 percent of the world’s capacity -- 40 percent. So for years you’ve been hearing about manufacturing jobs disappearing overseas. You are leading the way in showing how manufacturing jobs are coming right back here to the United States of America. For example, the workers at this plant, already slated to produce batteries for the new Chevy Volt, learned the other day that they’re also going to 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 here in Holland, Michigan. So when you buy one of these vehicles, the battery could be stamped “Made in America” -– just like the car.
