Well, that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time, on some other day. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. In other words, we have lived through an era where too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our Government, than ever before. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy, yet we import more oil today than ever before. The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight, nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. I say this not to lay blame or to look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament. Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities as a Government or as a people. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history, we still possess in ample measure. They exist in our laboratories and our universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest working people on Earth. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this Nation. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.īut while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. It's the job you thought you'd retire from but now have lost, the business you built your dreams upon that's now hanging by a thread, the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. It's the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. You don't need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day.
If you haven't been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has: a friend, a neighbor, a member of your family. I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others, and rightly so. I have come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great Chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States-she's around here somewhere:
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