president biden: thank you all very much. speaking of help for a long time, brand-new guy in town, the guy who i told him, being mayor is the toughest job in america. every time you walk in the grocery store, you get question

so congratulations, mr. mayor. [applause] mayor brandon johnson. there is a guy that helped me more than i can say on this occasion, helped me more than anybody in america elected last time, a single person, your governor. he stepped upcoming raise money raised support, governor, you are the best, thank you i really mean it. [applause] i like hang around heroines, like tammy duckworth, you are the best. my good friend dick durbin and he is a good friend. we worked together a long long time in the united states senate. is the single most effective senator at getting things done, that's not a joke he has made sure we have more judges appointed. we've appointed more african-american women to the

federal bench in any -- every other president combined. [applause] he got the best and brightest, justice ketanji brown. i want a black woman on the court and he got her on the court for me. you really are the best. when i have questions about anything at all, i still call him in for his advice so they. . representative danny davis, you get a good friend for a long time. [applause] he's always there and to members of congress, thank you and well for me to chicago. the first part of the 20th century, the poet carl sandberg describes chicago as the city of

big shoulders. he was describing the big shoulders of the working class american town who were building the city. at the same time, building the middle class. i'm in chicago today for the first part of the 21st century to talk about the economic vision in this country. economy grows from the middle out in the bottom up instead of just the top down. when that happens, everybody does well. everybody does well. [applause] the wealthy still do well. we all do well. this vision is a fundamental frick of the failed american middle-class for decades now. it's called trickle-down economics. fundamental economics, trickle-down, the idea was that we should cut taxes to the wealthy and some big corporations, their more

corporations in delaware than any other state in the union combined. i want them to do well but i'm tired of waiting for the trickle-down. it doesn't come very quickly. it's a belief that we should shrink look investment in infrastructure and public education. and we should let good jobs shipped overseas and we should have a tax policy that encourages going overseas to save money. we should all just let big corporations a mess money while we allow foreigners to join the union. i make no apologies for being the most pro union president in history. [applause] my predecessor, god bless his soul, my predecessor and acted the latest iteration of a theory, tax cuts for the wealthy come it was not pay for his tax

cut was $2 trillion. to fully and dollars. now they are at it again pushing tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy and adding trillions of dollars, trillions. let me say this clearly as i can, the trickle-down approach failed the middle last. it filled america. it blew up the deficit and increase in equity and we can their infrastructure. it stripped the dignity, right and hope of the communities one after another particularly through the midwest. people working as hard as ever couldn't get ahead because it's harder to buy a home and pay for college education and start a business, retire with dignity. first time in a generation the path of the middle class seemed out of reach and i don't think it's a myth, i think it's fact. whether you are republican, democrat or independent.

i knew we couldn't go back to the same policies so i determined to change the economic direction of this country. the move from trickle-down economics, what everyone in the bidenomics wall street journal called. i didn't come up with the name. bidenomics i climate but they are the ones are used at first. when i ask about bidenomics, you said you didn't know what it was. i said i didn't name it and economist in the wall street journal did. i'm happy to call it that. [applause] guess what? bidenomics is working. the pandemic was raging and supply chains were broken and millions of people unemployed, hundreds of thousands of small businesses on the verge of closing after so many had closed. hundreds of thousands.

today, the u.s. has the highest economic growth rate leading the world economy since the pandemic, the highest in the world. [applause] we have 13.4 million new jobs. more jobs in two years and any present has done in four years. folks, it's no accident. that's bidenomics in action, it's about building an economy from the middle out in the bottom up, not the top down. there are three fundamental changes we decided to make to help congress be able to do it. first, make smart investments in america. second, educating and empowering american workers to grow the middle-class and third, promoting competition to the lower cost to help small businesses. here's what i mean -- under trickle-down economics, didn't matter.

jobs and industries and overseas. for cheaper labor. supply chains in key product moved overseas like china and much of asia. entire towns and communities, all the way through the midwest were shut down and hollowed out. there were literally hollowed out. all over the country, all elected officials had to say to their children, i lost my job. we can't live anymore. we have to move. trickle-down also meant slashing public investment on things that helped drive long-term growth helped america lead the world in innovation. 2% of our gross thomistic product is what we spent in research and development. by the time i came to office, that was down to 27%. we used to be number one in the world in research and

development as we were known for. now we rank number nine in the world. china decades ago was number eight in the world, now it's number two in the world. other nations are closing in fast. we sat the best infrastructure in the world, roads and bridges etc. but then we fell to 13th and now there is investment in infrastructure. how can you have the best economy in the world without the best infrastructure in the world? how do you get product from one place to another? i was in pittsburgh recently, the city of bridges, bridges collapsing across the nation and you see on television, railroad bridges correct -- collapsing. bidenomics is turning us around. we are supporting targeted investments, we are securing our national security and our climate security.

i designed and we signed a bipartisan infrastructure law. it's already announced and some of the speakers before were touting it. 35,000 projects a been announced across the country. nearly a century ago, franklin roosevelt's rural electrification act bringing electricity to millions of americans of rural america years ago, dwight eisenhower launched the interstate highway system with the largest infrastructure system to date and that's with bipartisan infrastructure law does. it grew air grandkids and kids only bigger and we announced our plan to bring affordable high-speed internet to end a decade of unaffordable and inaccessible internet to every home in america, every small business in america. [applause]

it's no surprise we got some converse. people strenuously opposed voting against it when we had this going on. they said this would bankrupt america. a guy named super bowl from alabama -- tuberville who was supposed to legislation and here's what he said -- great to see alabama receive critical funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts. [applause] [laughter] we are replacing every single leadpipe in this country and putting our children's health back. 400,000 schools, 10 million homes. [applause] building bridges and getting -- upgrading our power grid. you can talk about how important that is for the great lakes as well. last week, we opened i-95 back

where i live in you go up the east coast, it's one of the most important lengths in the entire east coast. guess what? the guy driving a truck not down the whole bridge and block four lanes of the highway. i went up there and i said we are going to get this to be the number one project. within one week of my being there, two weeks of it happening, tanker trucks crashed and caused this overpass to collapse as 150,000 vehicles travel on it every day 14,000 trucks. it's critical to our economy. did it with union workers. [applause] used all american products, all-american material. we federal infrastructure projects, made in america. not a slogan, it's actually happening. when roosevelt passed

legislation in the 30's about unions being able to be engaged, he said we should encourage unions. there was a little provision there that few presidents pay attention to. it said buy american that meant if a president was given money by the congress to build new aircraft carriers or whatever, he or she was supposed to use 100% american labor one of the percent american products. it hardly happened. exceptions were down to 30% and i changed all of that. we are not investing in key industries of the future, making targeted investments to promote domestic production of semiconductors, batteries, electric cars and clean energy. under trickle-down economics, the public investment would discourage private investment. it me a break. we want to see a whole lot of major corporations were more or less likely than the government

invests, overwhelmingly. they said we are more likely to invest but public investment declined at home and industries we invented started to move overseas like semiconductors. i want to remind you that americans invented these chips. small can shooter -- small computer chip the size of your finger affects everything in your life. whether it's her cell phone functions or automobile functions, refrigerators, it goes on and on even sophisticated weapons systems. without that computer chip, we've got a real problem. over time, we went from producing 40% of those chips down to 10%. not anymore. bidenomics is going to grow right here at home. i mean it [applause] it's not a joke. under bidenomics we have already

had over 400 $90 billion in private investment. $490 billion. from u.s. companies. they are companies around the world coming to the united states of america. we are using our global partners and americans are investing in clean energy and reducing carbon emissions and continue to lower the cost with windfarms. it's already cheaper. wind and solar are significant cheaper than coal and oil. you will not see anybody building a new coal-fired plants in america, not just because i passed a lot to say that but it's too expensive. it doesn't work anymore. solar power is not just here but around the world we used to be the center of building the solar panels. we are coming back and doing it again. america will lead again. [applause]

it's a win for the united states in a win for the world. were building on my decision to join the debt rejoined the parrot -- the paris climate agreement the first day on the job. [applause] by the way, i predecessor talked a lot about increasing manufacturing. we became infrastructure week, it never happened. we get infrastructure done right off the bat. [applause] in reality, construction manufacturing facilities on u.s. soil is growing 2% under my predecessors watching for years. my watch it's grown nearly 100% in two years. 100%. [applause] members of congress are here. in west virginia, and the

beginning of this century, there were thousands of good paying jobs that were lost. today, we have the inflation reduction act in new plants are being built, building iron air batteries which will help store energy in these batteries will help store energy. it's being built in the same exact site, bringing back 750 good paying jobs, bring back a sense of pride and hope for all the people in the surrounding areas. i believe every american willing to work hard should be able to say where they grew up and stay where they grew up. that's bidenomics. my dad used to have an expression, he said joey, he was a well read guide and got to go to college was a hard-working gentleman. we had dinner and conversations my dad used to say remember,

jobs are about more than a paycheck. a lot more than a paycheck, joey, it's about your dignity. it's about pride, it's about being able to look your kid in the eye and saying honey, it will be ok. in the literal sense, think about that. it's about your dignity, how you are treated being able to make a living and it will be ok. the second big part of bidenomics is empowering american workers. when i took office, unemployment was over 6%. the american rescue plan was going directly to working-class families and our economy came roaring back and unemployment went below 4% by the end of my first year in office. now it's below 4% for the longest stretch in 50 years in american history. [applause] i must admit i concentrated with

the help of jesse jackson a lot of other people here. we have seen record low unemployment for african-americans. and hispanic workers with disabilities. lowest unemployment rate in 70 years for american women and you make up half the economy , probably2/3. think about it. [applause] when i was trying to -- name it time when you thought any democrat get the endorsement within a week, every single environmental group at their. the afl-cio, the women's groups -- here's the deal -- when i set with the afl-cio and i set the bab w diagram last time, i said here's the deal, i'm going to be the most pro-american, prounion

president in history but you got to employ more women coming that would attract more african-americans and you've got to attract more minorities. they have. [applause] in every industry anyway -- i go to the.sites where they train other thing i told labor guys who have to brag a little bit more about what do. to get to be an electrician in this town come you got to go to for years college. you have to go through an apprenticeship that takes you four years or you cannot get a job. get paid a little bit but you cannot get your license to be an electrician until that happens. they for low-wage workers has brought the fastest pace in over two decades. full employment means workers especially low-wage workers have more bargaining power to demand good pay and secure good jobs.

this is the thing that is consistent with moving the right direction. job satisfaction based on every poll is at a 30 year high. more people are satisfied with their job than any time 36 years. the shame of working age americans in the workforce, it's the highest been in 20 years. they say the biden policies not working and they say he's paying people not to work. guess what? every single day in four years, before i took office, you may remember, took a lot of criticism and republicans were encouraging people to not work. they were wrong. the evidence is clear, americans are back to work and they want to come back. we will continue this progress make sure every american has the training and education to participate in this new economy. we've increased pell grant, paid

landmark investments in historic like universities then invested more in registered apprenticeships and career and technology education programs than any previous administration in american history. because of this new economy, we don't need everyone to have a four year degree. we are trying to make it easier to get one but you don't need to get a good paying job. how many of you are member going back to high school they had shop class and classes where people can learn if they were interested in working with their hands? they don't have them all around the country anymore. my wife teaches at a community college full-time still. she has an expression, she said any country that out competes us and out educates us will outcompete us. we will not let that happen. that's why we are investing significantly in education. i'm determined to keep fighting for universal pre-k and free community college.

[applause] i want to make childcare more affordable because one benefit is it opens up significant opportunities for parents to be of the go back and join the workforce. [applause] we are also making it easier to empower workers by making it easier to join the union. i promise those just i am the most pro-union president history. are union workers of the best in the world. it takes four or five years at an apprenticeship. it's like going to college. they will do the right job on time, long-term cost for businesses less. addressing the 40 year decline in unionization in the labor agreement, collective bargaining -- bargaining, that's the reason american support unions and the support is the highest in 60 years. by the way, at the business

roundtable, they asked what i was prounion i said because it helps you. think about it. total cost of the major project goes down when you have the best workers in the world doing it. it's not a joke. it's true. it lasts longer and you don't have to worry about whether that socket will work. young people are organizing new companies and industries. i've indicated to labor that they must expand the ranks. i said more women, more minorities. and that's what they have to do the third part of bidenomics is promoting competition. when companies have to compete on a level playing field, they have to work harder to attract customers. they recruit and train workers. business people know that well. under trickle-down economics, three quarters of industries grew more concentrated.

i think i didn't go to mass. [laughter] they were moving to competition. that may have been for big corporations. for everybody else, made harder and more expensive. for small business it to compete, they stable immigration reduced wages for workers. it made our supply chains more vulnerable. so folks, that's the republican plan so far. good for big business and better everyone else not even that good for big business anymore. when i came to office, it was a different plan. a limited concentration of power at the expense of consumers. the cops are back on the be forcing antitrust -- and forcing antitrust laws and we are cracking down what we used to call noncompete agreements. these prevent 30 million americans from security guards

to retail workers from walking across the street to the same kind of business to get the higher pay, getting five or 10 bucks more a week. noncompete agreement? it's one thing to have it with trade secrets but it's another thing when you're doing the same thing like flipping a hamburger and you get five cents more by walking across the street to a different place. we have promoted and supported small businesses. vice president harris is providing capital for small business owners including rural minorities and women and entrepreneurs including a brand-new program that's already helping deliver millions of dollars in growth capital to small business in every state. we've seen a record 10.5 million applications, 10.5 million applications for folks looking to start a small business. that's just in the last two years. everyone of those applications is an application of hope.

competition also means lowering the cost of the consumers, bringing down inflation remains one of my top priorities today and inflation is less than half of what it was a year ago. inflation caused by russia and the war in ukraine and what's going on, we knew we need to head -- we needed to do more. there is one way to bring down costs. another expression my dad used to use, he said joey, at the end of the month, a few hey your bills and you have a little left , just a little less for breathing. all your bills paid and if you have anything left, inflation eats into that. guess what, bringing down the cost of medication goes a long way and gives you more. that's why the inflation reduction act, we gave medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices like the v.a. does now. [applause]

we've been trying to get this done for decades. this time, we finally beat big pharma for the first time. [applause] same drug made by the same american company sold in chicago is more expensive than that same drug sold in toronto, great britain, france, germany, any city you can name for real. now seniors on medicare are paying as much as -- that were paying $400 per month are now paying the dollars per month. [applause] guess what, do you know how much it cost to make that drug? $10, maybe 12 total and the guy who invented it didn't ask for a patent. he wanted everybody to have

access to it. we're just finishing the first round of negotiating these prices. we will say to taxpayers this year, we will save $160 billion. [applause] that's like a tax cut. lower the cost of prescriptions and it lowers the federal deficit as well. we are expanding health care coverage to more americans through the affordable care act. [applause] you know how we are doing that? we are prepped to strengthen that act, saving average families $800 per year on their health care premiums. we also are fighting junk fees. most people don't think of it that way. they can add up 100s -- hundreds of dollars per month per family with an extra fee when you want your child to sit next to me when you travel to the west coast. they are listening now.

hotel resort fees, you don't realize, you're not told -- that add on television that mine is to hunt dollars in his is $108. when the father's me the most is overdraft fees. banks made $7.7 billion per year on overdraft fees. you overdraft of check, you get a penalty. it's one of the leading bank presidents that's passed away, he had a yacht in the name of the yacht was overdraft. [laughter] i swear to god. guess what? there will be no more overdraft fees. [applause] doing all this, reducing the deficit at the same time, and my first two years in office, my team and i have reduce the deficit by $1.7 trillion. just in two years.

[applause] the budget agreement i negotiated without having to give away any consequence reduce the deficit by another trillion dollars. reversing 40 years of just republican trickle-down economics will take some time. we are in a place where some pieces are moving in the direction where we can get more done and people see it. i knew i would have to do this. all those major legislations we passed, it takes time to get it out in the field and it takes time to be seen. i'm not here to declare victory on the economy. i'm here to say we have a plan of turning things around incredibly quickly. we have more work to do. for example, this anyone think the federal tax system is fair? raise your hand. no matter how much money you make. we will make it fair by closing loopholes.

big oil made 200 billion dollars last year. they got a $30 billion tax break. we will get billionaires to pay a minimum tax. when we began, there was 750 b -- seven other 50 billionaires in america now there were 1000. you know how much their average tax is? 8% tax. no billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a schoolteacher, firefighter or cop. [applause] i'm not talking about the old days of 70% tax, on talking about a fair shot. they just paid the top tax rate. it's lower than 30% now. we made billions of dollars. we lowered the deficit, allowing us to pay for so much more. that's the next stage of this

fight, making the tax code fair for everyone. making the wealthy and super wealthy and big corporations begin to pay their fair share without raising taxes at all on the middle class. i made a commitment when i got elected, no one in america making under $400,000 should have to pay a single penny more in federal taxes as long as i'm president. [applause] $400,000 is a lot of money right come from. when i came to office, at a fundamental decision to make. if we are going to continue trickle-down economics is a policy, that's failed time and again, and group inequality and so jobs go overseas and towns were hollowed out. i round promise i would end this and that i would begin to build an economy from the middle out in the bottom half. we are not going to continue

this circle down path. this is the moment. we are planning to make a break and move away from an economy that has existed in a fundamentally different direction. this is the simple truth about trickle-down economics -- it represented the best of american capitalist for a long time. it represented a moment where we walked away and how many in this country, from how this country was built, how the city was built. bidenomicsbidenomics, is about the future and await essay restore the american dream. it didn't work before. it's rooted in what we've always worked best at this country, investing in america, investing in americans. when we invest in our people, we strengthen the middle class, we see the economy grow and that benefits all americans. that is the american dream. 40 years of trickle-down limited

that dream except for those at the top. too many for too long have suggested there was only available if you have a four-year college degree you can work at a tech center. these new factories that are opening for semiconductors, without a college degree, you will make $130,000 per year working there. $100,000-$130,000 per year. [applause] i believe every american willing to work hard to get a job no matter where they are in the heartland or in small towns, anywhere in this country to raise a good paycheck and keep the roots where they grew up. that's bidenomics.i think the economic philosophy will not restore the american dream we have now but this new one will. it's going to help lessen the division in this country by bringing us back together.

it makes it awful hard to demagogue something when it's working although they do it all the time. i have long said -- i was on a plateau with jeezy and peng -- with xi jinping and i spoke with him and it started when i was vice president and president hu was the president and we knew he was going to be successful. it was inappropriate for barack obama to spend time with him but i spent a lot of time with and it was just he and i and a simultaneous interpreter 68 times, 60 hours, more than 68 hours. i turned in all my notes, by the way. [laughter] [applause] but he asked me, can you define americans for me? i said yes in one word and i

meant it -- possibilities. possibilities. we are a land of possibilities. it's almost never been a good bet to bet against america, never. [applause] i've never been more optimistic about america's future. i've never been more optimistic. we just have to remember who we are. we are the united states of america. there is nothing beyond our capacity if we work together from god bless you all and god protect our troops, thank you, thank you, thank you. ♪ [hail to the chief] ♪