English subtitles for clip: File:2014-09-06 President Obama's Weekly Address.webm

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The Vice President: Ladies
and gentlemen,

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this is Joe Biden, I'm filling
in for President Obama,

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while he addresses the NATO
summit in Wales.

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When the President and I
took office

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in January of 2009, this nation
was in the midst

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of the greatest economic crisis
since the great depression.

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Our economy had plummeted
at a rate

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of 8% in a single quarter - part
of the fastest economic

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decline any time in
the last half century.

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Millions of families were
falling underwater

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on their homes and threatened
with foreclosure.

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The iconic American
automobile

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industry was under siege.

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But yesterday's jobs
report was another

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reminder of how
far we've come.

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We've had 54 straight
months of job creation.

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And that's the longest
streak

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of uninterrupted job growth in
the United States' history.

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We've gone from losing 9
million

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jobs during the financial crisis
to creating 10 million jobs.

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We've reduced the
unemployment rate

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from 10% in October of 2009
to 6.1% today.

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And for the first time
since the 1990s,

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American manufacturing is
steadily adding jobs -

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over 700,000 since 2010.

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And surveys of both
American and foreign

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business leaders confirm
that America

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once again is viewed as the best
place in the world

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to build and invest.

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That's all good news.

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But an awful lot of middle
class Americans

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are still not feeling the
effects of this recovery.

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Since the year 2000, Gross
Domestic Product -

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our GDP - has risen by 25%.

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And productivity in
America is up by 30%.

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But middle class wages
during that same

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time period have gone up by
only fourteen cents.

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Folks, it's long past time

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to cut the middle class back
into the deal, so they

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can benefit from the economic
growth they helped create.

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Folks, there used to be a
bargain in this country

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supported by Democrats and
Republicans,

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business and labor.

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The bargain was simple.

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If an employee contributed
to the growth

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and profitability of the
company,

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they got to share in the profits
and the benefits as well.

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That's what built
the middle class.

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It's time to restore the
bargain,

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to deal the middle class back in.

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Because, folks, when the
middle class does well,

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everybody does well - the
wealthy get wealthier

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and the poor have a way up.

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You know, the middle
class is not a number.

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It's a value set.

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It means being able to
own your home;

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raise your children in a safe
neighborhood;

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send them to a good school where
if they do well

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they can qualify to go to
college and if they get accepted

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you'd be able to find a
way to be able

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to send them to college.

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And in the meantime, if
your parents need help,

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being able to take care
of them,

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and hope to put aside enough
money so that your children

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will not have to take care of you.

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That's the American dream.

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That's what this
country was built on.

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And that's what we're
determined to restore.

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In order to do that, it's
time to have a fair tax

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structure, one that values
paychecks

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as much as unearned income and
inherited wealth,

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to take some of the burden off
of the middle class.

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It's time to close tax
loopholes so we can

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reduce the deficit, and invest
in rebuilding America -

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our bridges, our ports, our highways,

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rails, providing good jobs.

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With corporate profits
at near record

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highs, we should encourage
corporations

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to invest more in research and
development

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and the salaries of
their employees.

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It's time for us to invest
in educational opportunity

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to guarantee that we have
the most highly skilled

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workforce in the world,
for 6 out of every

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10 jobs in the near term is
going to require

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some education beyond high school.

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Folks, it's long past due
to increase the minimum

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wage that will lift
millions of hardworking

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families out of poverty
and in the process

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produce a ripple effect that
boosts wages

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for the middle class and spurs
economic growth

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for the United States of America.

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Economists acknowledge
that if we do these

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and other things, wages will go up and we'll increase

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the Gross Domestic Product
of the United States.

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My fellow Americans, we
know how to do this.

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We've done it before.

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It's the way we used to do
business and

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we can do it that way again.

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All the middle class in
this country

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want is a chance.

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No guarantee,
just a chance.

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Americans want to work.

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And when given a fair
shot, the American worker

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has never, ever, ever,
let his country down.

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Folks, it's never a good
bet to bet against

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the American people.

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Thanks for listening.

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May God bless you, and may
God protect our troops.