English subtitles for clip: File:2009-10-24 President Obama's Weekly Address.ogv

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The President:
All across America, even
today, on a Saturday,

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millions of Americans
are hard at work.

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They're running the mom and
pop stores and neighborhood

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restaurants we know and love.

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They're building tiny startups
with big ideas that could

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revolutionize an industry, maybe
even transform our economy.

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They are the more than half
of all Americans who work at a

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small business, or
own a small business.

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And they embody the
spirit of possibility,

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the relentless work ethic, and
the hope for something better

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that is at the heart
of the American Dream.

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They also represent a segment of
our economy that has been hard

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hit by this recession.

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Over the past couple of years,
small businesses have lost

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hundreds of thousands of jobs.

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Many have struggled to get the
loans they need to finance their

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inventories and make payroll.

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Many entrepreneurs can't get
financing to start a small

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business in the first place.

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And many more are discouraged
from even trying because of the

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crushing costs of health care --
costs that have forced too many

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small businesses to
cut benefits, shed jobs,

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or shut their doors for good.

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Small businesses have always
been the engine of our economy,

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creating 65% of all new jobs
over the past decade and a half,

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and they must be at the
forefront of our recovery.

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That's why the Recovery Act
was designed to help small

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businesses expand
and create jobs.

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It's provided $5 billion
worth of tax relief,

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as well as temporarily reducing
or eliminating fees on SBA loans

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and guaranteeing some of
these loans up to 90%,

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which has supported nearly $13
billion in new lending to more

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than 33,000 businesses.

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In addition, our health reform
plan will allow small businesses

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to buy insurance for their
employees through an insurance

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exchange, which may offer better
coverage at lower costs --

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and we'll provide tax credits
for those that choose to do so.

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And this past week, I called on
Congress to increase the maximum

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size of various SBA loans, so
that more small business owners

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can set up shop and
grow their operations.

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I also announced that we'll be
taking additional steps through

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our Financial Stability plan to
make more credit available to

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the small local and community
banks that so many small

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businesses depend on --
the banks who know their borrowers,

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who gave them their first
loan and watched them grow.

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The goal here is to get credit
where it's needed most --

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to businesses that support
families, sustain communities,

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and create the jobs
that power our economy.

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That's why we enacted the
Financial Stability Plan in the

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first place, back when many of
our largest banks were on the

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verge of collapse; our
credit markets were frozen;

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and it was nearly impossible for
ordinary people to get loans to

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buy a car or home
or pay for college.

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The idea was to jumpstart
lending and keep our economy

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from spiraling
into a depression.

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Fortunately, it worked.

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Thanks to the
American taxpayers,

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we've now achieved the stability
we need to get our economy

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moving forward again.

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But while credit may be more
available for large businesses,

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too many small business owners
are still struggling to get the

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credit they need.

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These are the very taxpayers who
stood by America's banks in a

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crisis -- and now it's time
for our banks to stand by

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creditworthy small businesses,
and make the loans they need to

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open their doors, grow their
operations, and create new jobs.

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It's time for those banks 
to fulfill their responsibility

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to help ensure a wider recovery,
a more secure system,

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and a more broadly
shared prosperity.

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And we're going to take
every appropriate step to encourage

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them to meet those responsibilities.

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Because if it's one
thing we've learned,

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it's that here in America,
we rise and fall together.

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Our economy as a whole can't
move ahead if small businesses

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and the middle class
continue to fall behind.

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This country was
built by dreamers.

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They're the workers who took
a chance on their desire to be

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their own boss.

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The part-time inventors
who became the fulltime entrepreneurs.

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The men and women who have
helped build the American middle

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class, keeping alive that
most American of ideals --

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that all things are
possible for all people,

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and we're limited only by the
size of our dreams and our

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willingness to work for them.

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We need to do everything we can
to ensure that they can keep

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taking those risks,
acting on those dreams,

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and building the enterprises
that fuel our economy and make

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us who we are.

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Thanks.