Remarks by the President at Milwaukee Laborfest
Henry Maier Festival Park

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1:49 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Thank you! Oh, it’s good to be back in Milwaukee. Give Chris a big round of applause for that great introduction. (Applause.)

Happy Labor Day, everybody. Happy Labor Day. (Applause.) Today is a day that belongs to you –- the working men and women who make America the greatest country on Earth. So thank you to the working folks who are here today, and the unions who’ve always had your back. (Applause.) Thank you to the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, to the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. (Applause.)

It’s good to be back at Laborfest. I hope you don’t mind, I brought a friend with me, somebody who is fighting for American workers every day -- America’s Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez, is in the house. (Applause.) And I just found out Tom’s wife is from Milwaukee, so his father-in-law is here. So I just told his father-in-law he’s doing a really good job, because you always want to make a guy look good in front of his father-in-law. (Laughter.)

We’ve got some other friends I want to acknowledge. First of all, your Congresswoman, Gwen Moore, is here. (Applause.)

Your mayor, Tom Barrett, is in the house. (Applause.) We’ve got one of my favorites, Mary Kay Henry from the SEIU. (Applause.) Newly elected Lily Garcia from NEA. (Applause.) My pal -- not a Packers fan, he’s a Steelers fan, but he’s a good guy anyway -- Leo Gerard from USW, Steelworkers. (Applause.) Billy Hite from UA; Joe Hansen from UFCW. (Applause.)

To all the other labor leaders who are here, we are so glad to have you. And we’re here because of the things all too often we take for granted. Anybody who’s got a seat, feel free to sit down. I don’t want anybody fainting; it’s all hot out here. I might get you back up on your feet at some point.

But we’re here to celebrate something that sometimes the American people take for granted -- the 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, a minimum wage, weekends like this one. All that didn’t happen by accident. It happened because America’s workers organized for it, fought for it. History shows that working families can get a fair shot in this country, but only if we’re willing to fight for it.

Now, the first time I came to Laborfest was -- I was still a candidate back in 2008. (Applause.) And during that campaign,I promised if you sent me to the White House, I’d stand with you in that fight. (Applause.) Now, two weeks later, our financial system collapsed. A recession almost became a depression. And in the years since, our country has faced a choice.

There are some folks who wanted to place an even bigger bet on top-down economics, the kind of economics that helped cause the crisis in the first place -– more tax cuts for those at the top, fewer rules for big banks and corporations, this blind faith that maybe prosperity would finally trickle down on the rest of us if folks up at the top just kept on doing better and better.

But, you know what, Milwaukee, I didn’t run for President to double down on top-down economics. I ran for President because I believed in bottom-up economics. I believed in middle-out economics. I placed a bet on you. I placed a bet on America’s workers. (Applause.) I put my money on American workers and the belief that our economy grows best when everybody has got a shot -- when folks who are willing to work hard can get into the middle class and stay in the middle class. And I’ve come back to Laborfest to say that because of your hard work, because of what we’ve been through together, that bet is starting to pay off.

America is stronger because of the decisions we made to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation asking the simple question, is this good for ordinary Americans, is this good for working people -- not just a few, but for everybody.

And over the past 53 months, our business have created nearly 10 million new jobs. (Applause.) We’re on a streak where,the last six months, we’ve created more than 200,000 jobs each month -– that’s the first time that’s happened since 1997.(Applause.)

Construction is rebounding. Energy and technology are booming. American manufacturing is steadily creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. Our businesses export more goods made right here in America to the rest of the world than ever before. (Applause.)

America is stronger because we saved the American auto industry and more than one million jobs that depend on the auto industry. (Applause.) Today, our workers are building more cars than any time since 2002 -- and, by the way, they’re really good cars. The auto industry is adding jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s.

America is stronger because we invested in homegrown energy. The world’s number-one oil and gas producer -- it’s not Russia, it’s not Saudi Arabia -- it’s the U.S. of A. We are the largest producer. (Applause.) And for the first time in nearly 20 years, America now produces more oil than we buy from other countries. But we’re also producing more clean energy, putting folks back to work. We’ve tripled the amount of wind power that creates energy. We’ve increased by 10 times the amount of solar power we create. And all of that is creating tens of thousands of good jobs all across the country. (Applause.)

America is stronger because we set our schools on a race to the top. We helped more middle-class families afford college. Today, thanks to outstanding teachers, our high school graduation rate is at a record high. (Applause.) More young people are earning their college degrees than ever before. (Applause.)