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President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Bill Baer – Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
• Marcilynn A. Burke – Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
• Joseph Jordan – Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
• John Norris – Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• Heidi Shyu – Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Department of Defense

The President also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Milton Irvin – Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• George B. Walker, Jr. – Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

President Obama said, “I am proud that such experienced and committed individuals have agreed to serve the American people in these important roles.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Bill Baer, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
Bill Baer is the chair of the Antitrust Practice Group at Arnold and Porter LLP.  He joined Arnold and Porter in 1980, becoming a partner at the firm in 1983.   In his practice, Mr. Baer represents a broad range of companies in U.S. and international cartel investigations, mergers and acquisition reviews, and in antitrust litigation.   From 1995 to 1999, he served as the Director for the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  Mr. Baer began his legal career in 1975 as a trial attorney for the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC.  Mr. Baer holds a B.A. from Lawrence University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Marcilynn A. Burke, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
Marcilynn A. Burke has served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior (DOI) since July 2011 and as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management since August 2009.   Prior to serving in these positions at DOI, Ms. Burke was a tenured Associate Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center where she taught natural resources, land use management, environmental, and property law.  Before she began her teaching career, Ms. Burke was an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, & Hamilton.  She earned her A.B. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from Yale University.

Joseph Jordan, Nominee for Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
Joseph Jordan is currently Senior Advisor to Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients, a position he has held since December 2011. Between 2009 and 2011, Mr. Jordan served as Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development at the Small Business Administration (SBA). Prior to joining SBA, Mr. Jordan was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.  At McKinsey, he specialized in developing purchasing and supply management strategies for clients across several industries. He also worked with the firm’s public sector practice, advising state governments on how to cut costs and capture efficiencies.   In 2000, Mr. Jordan helped build and manage operations of Backwire, a web-based publisher-marketer. When the company was purchased by Leap Wireless, he transitioned to become Leap’s project manager for strategic planning and product development. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Jordan worked as an Associate Producer on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.  Mr. Jordan received his B.A. from The College of the Holy Cross and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business Administration.

John Norris, Nominee for Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
John Norris is a Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a position he has held since December 2009.  Over the past 10 years, Mr. Norris has also been involved in numerous local, regional, and national energy related boards and organizations.  Before his appointment to FERC, he was Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Norris served as Chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB).   Prior to joining IUB, he served as Chief of Staff and Energy Advisor to Governor Tom Vilsack, Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Leonard Boswell, and owned and managed a restaurant in Greenfield, Iowa.  Mr. Norris received a B.A. in Political Science from Simpson College and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law.

Heidi Shyu, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Department of Defense
Heidi Shyu has served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ALT) since June 2011, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for ALT since November 2010.  Prior to joining the Administration, Ms. Shyu worked for the Raytheon Company from 1997 to 2010.  During that time, she held several leadership positions including Vice President of Technology Strategy for Space and Airborne Systems (2009-2010), Corporate Vice President of Technology and Research (2007-2009), Vice President and Technical Director for Space and Airborne Systems (2004-2007), and Vice President of Unmanned and Reconnaissance Systems (2002-2003).   Prior to working at Raytheon, Ms. Shyu worked for Hughes Aircraft Company (1992-1997), Litton (1990-1991), and Grumman Aerospace (1989-1990).  She began her career in 1978 as an Engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company.  Ms. Shyu holds a B.S. from University of New Brunswick in Canada, an M.S. from the University of Toronto, and an M.S.E.E. from University of California, Los Angeles.

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Milton Irvin, Appointee for Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Milton Irvin is currently Chair of the Advisory Board for Castle Oak Securities, L.P.  In January 2012, Mr. Irvin retired from UBS AG where he had been a Managing Director and the Americas’ Head of Diversity and Inclusion since 2002.  Before working at UBS, Mr. Irvin served as President and COO of Imbot.com, from 2000 to 2002, and Blaylock & Partners L.P., from 1998 to 1999.  Mr. Irvin began his career as a corporate lending officer at Chase Manhattan Bank, and then spent 20 years at Salomon Brothers, holding numerous positions including Managing Director and Head of Generalist Sales.  Mr. Irvin currently serves on the Wharton Graduate Advisory Board, the Board of the Harlem School of the Arts, and LEAD, a non-profit that unites colleges and universities with corporations to encourage minority high school students to explore careers in business, science, engineering, and technology.  In 1994, President Clinton appointed Mr. Irvin to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for which he served as chairman from 1995 to 1997.  Mr. Irvin earned his B.S. from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Reverend George B. Walker, Jr., Appointee for Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The Reverend George B. Walker, Jr. is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Victory Institute (“Victory”), a position he has held since October 2011. From 2008 to 2011, Reverend Walker was the Vice President of Leadership Initiatives at Victory.  Before joining Victory, Reverend Walker worked at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy as the Development Director from 2006 to 2008; the Human Rights Campaign as Major Gifts Officer from 2004 to 2006; and the Center for Community Change, where he was Deputy Operations Director from 2003 to 2004 and Director of Evaluation from 2001 to 2003.  From 1994 to 1996, Reverend Walker worked as a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps.  He later served as Associate Director of the Peace Development Fund from 1998 to 2001.  Reverend Walker is the recipient of the U.S. Peace Corps’ Franklin H. Williams Award, the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and the Pipeline Project’s 21st Century Leadership Fellowship.  Reverend Walker holds a B.A. from Morehouse College and an M.Div. from the Divinity School at Duke University.

White House.gov Press Office Feed

Presidential Memorandum — Delegation of Authority Pursuant to Sections 110(d)(4) and 110(f) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as Amended

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Delegation of Authority Pursuant to Sections 110(d)(4) and 110(f) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as Amended

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby delegate to you the authority conferred upon the President by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Division A of Public Law 106-386), as amended (the "Act"), to determine, consistent with sections 110(d)(4) and 110(f) of the Act, with respect to Burma for fiscal year 2012, that assistance described in section 110(d)(1)(B) of the Act would promote the purposes of the Act or is otherwise in the national interest of the United States.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

White House.gov Press Office Feed

Devon Swezey: How to Bring Back U.S. Manufacturing Jobs

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out his election-year vision for restoring America’s global competitiveness. U.S. manufacturing figured prominently:

Think about the America within our reach…an America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs…we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back.

Last weekend, the New York Times ran a long and important piece on why one particular high-tech product, Apple’s iPhone, is manufactured in Asia and not the United States. The article is part of a renewed debate about how the United States can reinvigorate its manufacturing sector, or whether it even should.

A key part of the article is that there is a dearth of middle-income jobs in U.S. manufacturing. A combination of labor-saving technological improvements and the off shoring of more labor-intensive manufacturing has led to a sharp reduction in factory jobs that were once a pathway to the middle class for many Americans. Manufacturing employment on the factory floor may simply never reach levels of previous decades.

Nevertheless, as we have written previously, advanced manufacturing remains critical to U.S. prosperity in the 21st century for three key reasons:

• Advanced manufacturing drives productivity and innovation. Two-thirds of R&D investment occurs in industry and manufacturing is a core component of the nation’s innovation ecosystem that is key to creating new technological industries.
• Advanced manufacturing generates output and employment throughout the economy. It has the largest economic multipliers of any industry and large manufacturing facilities sustain entire communities. Even if manufacturing never supports as many direct jobs on the factory floor as it has in the past, restoring advanced manufacturing is thus essential to America’s long-term employment challenges.
• Manufacturing is critical to improve the nation’s trade balance and tackling our 0 billion cumulative trade deficit. Manufactured goods still comprise 57% of U.S. exports and closing the trade deficit will be difficult, if not impossible, without manufacturing playing a key role.

So there is a strong rationale for renewed government efforts to help strengthen this vital sector of the economy, but how?

The fact is that global manufacturing has fundamentally and irreversibly changed in recent decades in ways that has altered the structure of national economies. In essence, the production system has become globally fragmented. In a new paper on this subject, economist Richard Baldwin calls this globalization’s “second unbundling.”

The “first unbundling” occurred with the introduction of steam power, which led to a sharp reduction in shipping costs. Production was no longer tethered to local consumption; factories could produce for internal markets that could now be reached by rail or foreign markets by steamships. Yet production was still local. It tended to cluster within factories and in industrial districts, both to increase the scale of production and to coordinate closely with other actors within a particular industry.

The “second unbundling” occurred with the rapid advance and diffusion of information and communications technologies, beginning in the mid 1980′s and accelerating in the late 90′s, which led to an unprecedented reduction in coordination costs both within and across national economies. For the first time, it became economical not just to geographically separate consumption from production but separate different stages of the production process. Today, coordination is still necessary for production, but that coordination has become increasingly internationalized into global supply chains with key components being produced in regional networks.

Apple’s production process epitomizes this transformation. As the New York Times story notes, the iPhone is designed in the United States, but includes semiconductors manufactured in Germany and Japan, memory from Korea and Japan, display panels and circuitry from Korea and Taiwan, chips from Europe, and rare metals from Africa and Asia. The final device is assembled in China. All told, just 10 percent of iPhone components are manufactured in the United States.

It’s important to note that it’s not simply lower labor costs that are behind the iPhone story:

It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

Just as important is that China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan are part of a competitive regional electronics supply chain cluster that is self-reinforcing. As Ryan Avent writes, “After some level of Asian development and integration, it became more attractive for manufacturers to locate there as more manufacturers located there.” Manufacturing firms are sustained by operating within a cluster of related firms and suppliers and drawing on pools of specialized labor and other resources. This phenomenon is known as “economies of agglomeration,” and it is an increasingly important feature of the 21st century global economy.

Despite the era of globalization, geography still matters — just in new ways. Even as supply chains have globalized, proximity has retained an importance in manufacturing. This is particularly true for just-in-time manufacturing, where businesses seek to reduce inventory and waste and improve productivity by closely balancing the supply chain with product demand. If changes are made to the product design, proximity is important to reduce time lags in production. The rise of just-in-time production therefore means that the time it takes to ship supplies and components to assembly can be a much more important factor than the dollar costs of shipment itself.

This means that it would likely be difficult to bring manufacturing of key iPhone components back to the to the United States. Many of the key components of the supply chain — memory, consumer electronics batteries, flat screens, even semiconductors — have been progressively or completely off shored, and economies of agglomeration have taken over. So “bringing these jobs back,” as President Obama says, would take more than simply closing the labor cost gap through either lower wages or higher productivity in U.S. manufacturing. It would also require a long effort to build our own regional manufacturing agglomerations around key components here in the United States, and that could prove costly.

Instead, a better strategy is to indentify the industries where we still have supply chain component ecosystems, particularly those at the higher end of the value chain, where policy and targeted investments can help retain and expand our competitive edge. We should also indentify emerging technology industries that have the potential to be a source of high growth, and ask what we can do to build new industry agglomerations and foster the commercialization and competitive production of those technologies in the United States.

We don’t need to look far for recent examples of this strategy in action. The bailout of America’s auto companies has been maligned as overreaching “industrial policy,” but the logic of the move was clear. If GM and Chrysler had gone bankrupt, the entire industrial ecosystem and supply chain that supported the automakers in the United States would have collapsed, creating not just massive unemployment but also undermining America’s future auto production capacity. Once lost, the network of parts suppliers could have been gone for good. From this perspective, the auto bailout efforts worked. As the President noted in his State of the Union, GM is again the world’s top automaker, Chrysler is rebounding fast, and the auto industry added 160,000 jobs since the end of 2009.

The Obama Administration’s investments in advanced battery technology for vehicles are an example of forward-looking policy to build an ecosystem in an industry that is in its early stages. It took .4 billion in stimulus grants to 48 different companies, but the Administration’s efforts have helped to build a critical mass of advanced battery manufacturers, many of them clustered across Michigan and the American rust belt. Here, they may become a critical contributor to a globally competitive advanced vehicle production cluster, including the factories of the retooled “Big Three” automakers.

In this effort to identify key manufacturing opportunities, we also need to determine which industries are particularly important to sustaining a broader high-tech innovation ecosystem. Harvard Business School professors Willy Shih and Carl Pisano have made a persuasive case that a hollowing out of some high-tech supply chains in the Unites States have harmed the nation’s ability to innovate and produce next-generation technologies. The consequences of losing these supply chains thus means more than losing the jobs of today; it could mean losing entire industries of tomorrow.

The new reality of global supply chains requires a new debate about manufacturing in the United States, one that recognizes that manufacturing has irreversibly changed, yet has become even more essential to sustaining American prosperity in the 21st century. The president is right to stake much of his vision for America’s economic future on renewed American leadership in advanced manufacturing. But realizing that vision will require new strategies and new thinking.

For more reading, see “Manufacturing Growth: Advanced Manufacturing and the Future of American Prosperity,” by Breakthrough Institute and Third Way

Business on HuffingtonPost.com

Top 5 U.S. Dividend Stocks For 2012

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

By Double Dividend Stocks:

To find out which will be the top dividend stocks in 2012 for cash payouts, we looked back to see which dividend paying stocks paid out the most cash in dividends in 2011. This year’s group are all large cap Dow dividend stocks, which is logical, since market cap is an important part of this equation.

These 5 stocks paid out from over billion to billion-plus in 2011, and appear likely to increase those amounts in 2012, given their historic and recent dividend growth rates. (Even though GE lowered its dividends in 2009, it began increasing them again in 2010):

click to enlarge

Upcoming Dividends: All of these stocks pay quarterly dividends, and 3 of them are listed in our High Dividend Stocks By Sectors Tables. The projected dividends listed below are based upon the most recent quarterly payout:

Except for GE, these stocks were rewarded by investors

Complete Story »

Double Dividend Stocks – Seeking Alpha

New Sony CEO Faces Historic Losses and Global Challenges

Posted on 03. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

Sony Corp. announced grim projections for the fiscal year on Thursday in Tokyo, reporting .2 billion in operating losses for the third quarter and a projected .9 billion loss for the year.  The bleak figures highlight the challenge ahead for Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai, who will take the helm of the struggling electronics and entertainment giant, [...]
Business

Statement by the Press Secretary on Aerial Bombardments in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

The United States strongly condemns the bombing by the Sudanese Armed Forces of civilian populations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States in Sudan.  Aerial attacks on civilian targets are unjustified and unacceptable.  Such attacks are a violation of international law and compound the ongoing crisis in these areas. 

We continue to be deeply concerned by the ongoing fighting and lack of humanitarian access in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States in Sudan, which is causing tremendous human suffering, death, and displacement.  In particular, we urge the Sudanese government to grant immediate and unconditional humanitarian access to civilian populations in need in these areas.  More than 500,000 people are affected by this conflict, and without humanitarian access by March, the situation in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile will reach Stage 4 of a humanitarian emergency, one step short of full-scale famine.  We believe that this conflict can only be resolved by dialogue, not through violence, and we encourage all parties to negotiate a peaceful settlement.

White House.gov Press Office Feed

Senate Passes Bill To Ban Lawmaker Insider Trading

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

WASHINGTON — Insider trading by members of Congress, their top staff and executive branch officials would be banned by legislation that passed the Senate on Thursday.

Although insider trading is illegal for anyone, some had argued that the STOCK Act, which passed 96 to 3, was needed to close loopholes that let lawmakers and lobbyists profit from “political intelligence.”

“We are entrusted with a profound responsibility to the American people to look out for their best interest, not for our own financial interest,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), one of the lead sponsors on a measure that garnered rare bipartisan support, including from Republican senators such as Maine’s Susan Collins and Massachusetts’ Scott Brown.

“Bottom line, members of Congress have to live by the same laws everyone else does,” said Brown. “With approval ratings of Congress at an all-time low, this bill represents an opportunity to build some trust with the American people.”

The three senators who opposed the bill were Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). The two Republicans both argued that the measure was unnecessary and that the law already bars insider trading.

“Senator Burr voted against cloture on the bill because there are already laws in place to address this critical issue,” said Burr spokesman David Ward. “Members of Congress are elected to serve the people, not make money for themselves, and any Member or staff member who breaks the already existing insider trading laws should be held responsible.”

The Senate legislation also requires lawmakers and senior staffers to declare within 30 days if they sell a significant financial asset, in theory letting constituents know if a legislator might have had a financial interest in a measure.

A number of attempts to do other things with the bill, including banning earmarks, failed.

One amendment that aimed to make it even harder for lawmakers to profit from inside information also failed. Offered by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), it would have required legislators to divest stock holdings that could create conflicts of interest or to put them in blind trusts.

“Baseball players can’t bet on their games. We should not be able to hold stock in individual companies and then bet on — then vote on issues that affect our holdings,” Brown said.

His colleagues, however, thought that went too far.

“This will be the first time that I’m aware of that in the legislative branch we would require divestment of personal holdings,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), one of the bill’s lead sponsors. “For that reason, I oppose the amendment.”

Lieberman argued that the transparency created by the bill would keep people honest.

The bill now must be passed by the House, where Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he would bring it up by the end of the month. It was not clear, however, that it would be the same measure passed by the Senate, meaning the legislation could still be tied up in a struggle between the two chambers. President Obama has said he would sign the Senate version.

After the Senate passed the bill, the president said, “Last week, I called on Congress to pass a bill that makes clear that Members of Congress may not engage in insider trading. No one should be able to trade stocks based on nonpublic information gleaned on Capitol Hill. So I’m pleased the Senate took bipartisan action to pass the STOCK Act. I urge the House of Representatives to pass this bill, and I will sign it right away.”

Lucia Graves contributed to this report.

Business on HuffingtonPost.com

Remarks by the President at the National Prayer Breakfast

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.

9:10 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Please, please, everybody have a seat.  Well, good morning, everybody.  It is good to be with so many friends united in prayer.  And I begin by giving all praise and honor to God for bringing us together here today.

I want to thank our co-chairs Mark and Jeff; to my dear friend, the guy who always has my back, Vice President Biden.  (Applause.)  All the members of Congress –- Joe deserves a hand –- all the members of Congress and my Cabinet who are here today; all the distinguished guests who’ve traveled a long way to be part of this.  I’m not going to be as funny as Eric — (laughter) — but I’m grateful that he shared his message with us.  Michelle and I feel truly blessed to be here.

This is my third year coming to this prayer breakfast as President.  As Jeff mentioned, before that, I came as senator.  I have to say, it’s easier coming as President.  (Laughter.)  I don’t have to get here quite as early.  But it’s always been an opportunity that I’ve cherished.  And it’s a chance to step back for a moment, for us to come together as brothers and sisters and seek God’s face together.  At a time when it’s easy to lose ourselves in the rush and clamor of our own lives, or get caught up in the noise and rancor that too often passes as politics today, these moments of prayer slow us down.  They humble us.  They remind us that no matter how much responsibility we have, how fancy our titles, how much power we think we hold, we are imperfect vessels.  We can all benefit from turning to our Creator, listening to Him.  Avoiding phony religiosity, listening to Him.  
    
This is especially important right now, when we’re facing some big challenges as a nation.  Our economy is making progress as we recover from the worst crisis in three generations, but far too many families are still struggling to find work or make the mortgage, pay for college, or, in some cases, even buy food.  Our men and women in uniform have made us safer and more secure, and we were eternally grateful to them, but war and suffering and hardship still remain in too many corners of the globe.  And a lot of those men and women who we celebrate on Veterans Day and Memorial Day come back and find that, when it comes to finding a job or getting the kind of care that they need, we’re not always there the way we need to be.

It’s absolutely true that meeting these challenges requires sound decision-making, requires smart policies.  We know that part of living in a pluralistic society means that our personal religious beliefs alone can’t dictate our response to every challenge we face. 

But in my moments of prayer, I’m reminded that faith and values play an enormous role in motivating us to solve some of our most urgent problems, in keeping us going when we suffer setbacks, and opening our minds and our hearts to the needs of others. 

We can’t leave our values at the door.  If we leave our values at the door, we abandon much of the moral glue that has held our nation together for centuries, and allowed us to become somewhat more perfect a union.  Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Abraham Heschel — the majority of great reformers in American history did their work not just because it was sound policy, or they had done good analysis, or understood how to exercise good politics, but because their faith and their values dictated it, and called for bold action — sometimes in the face of indifference, sometimes in the face of resistance.

This is no different today for millions of Americans, and it’s certainly not for me.

I wake up each morning and I say a brief prayer, and I spend a little time in scripture and devotion.  And from time to time, friends of mine, some of who are here today, friends like Joel Hunter or T.D. Jakes, will come by the Oval Office or they’ll call on the phone or they’ll send me a email, and we’ll pray together, and they’ll pray for me and my family, and for our country.

But I don’t stop there.  I’d be remiss if I stopped there; if my values were limited to personal moments of prayer or private conversations with pastors or friends.  So instead, I must try — imperfectly, but I must try — to make sure those values motivate me as one leader of this great nation.

And so when I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren’t discriminating against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren’t taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody.  But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  I know the version of that Golden Rule is found in every major religion and every set of beliefs -– from Hinduism to Islam to Judaism to the writings of Plato. 

And when I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone.  And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.

But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.”  It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.

When I talk about giving every American a fair shot at opportunity, it’s because I believe that when a young person can afford a college education, or someone who’s been unemployed suddenly has a chance to retrain for a job and regain that sense of dignity and pride, and contributing to the community as well as supporting their families — that helps us all prosper. 

It means maybe that research lab on the cusp of a lifesaving discovery, or the company looking for skilled workers is going to do a little bit better, and we’ll all do better as a consequence.  It makes economic sense.  But part of that belief comes from my faith in the idea that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper; that as a country, we rise and fall together.  I’m not an island.  I’m not alone in my success.  I succeed because others succeed with me.

And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure.  It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these –- for the poor; for those at the margins of our society. 

To answer the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”  And for others, it may reflect the Jewish belief that the highest form of charity is to do our part to help others stand on their own. 

Treating others as you want to be treated.  Requiring much from those who have been given so much.  Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper.  Caring for the poor and those in need.  These values are old.  They can be found in many denominations and many faiths, among many believers and among many non-believers.  And they are values that have always made this country great — when we live up to them; when we don’t just give lip service to them; when we don’t just talk about them one day a year.  And they’re the ones that have defined my own faith journey. 

And today, with as many challenges as we face, these are the values I believe we’re going to have to return to in the hopes that God will buttress our efforts.

Now, we can earnestly seek to see these values lived out in our politics and our policies, and we can earnestly disagree on the best way to achieve these values.  In the words of C.S. Lewis, “Christianity has not, and does not profess to have a detailed political program.  It is meant for all men at all times, and the particular program which suited one place or time would not suit another.” 

Our goal should not be to declare our policies as biblical.  It is God who is infallible, not us.  Michelle reminds me of this often.  (Laughter.)  So instead, it is our hope that people of goodwill can pursue their values and common ground and the common good as best they know how, with respect for each other.  And I have to say that sometimes we talk about respect, but we don’t act with respect towards each other during the course of these debates.

But each and every day, for many in this room, the biblical injunctions are not just words, they are also deeds.  Every single day, in different ways, so many of you are living out your faith in service to others. 

Just last month, it was inspiring to see thousands of young Christians filling the Georgia Dome at the Passion Conference, to worship the God who sets the captives free and work to end modern slavery.  Since we’ve expanded and strengthened the White House faith-based initiative, we’ve partnered with Catholic Charities to help Americans who are struggling with poverty; worked with organizations like World Vision and American Jewish World Service and Islamic Relief to bring hope to those suffering around the world.  

Colleges across the country have answered our Interfaith Campus Challenge, and students are joined together across religious lines in service to others.  From promoting responsible fatherhood to strengthening adoption, from helping people find jobs to serving our veterans, we’re linking arms with faith-based groups all across the country. 

I think we all understand that these values cannot truly find voice in our politics and our policies unless they find a place in our hearts.  The Bible teaches us to “be doers of the word and not merely hearers.”  We’re required to have a living, breathing, active faith in our own lives.  And each of us is called on to give something of ourselves for the betterment of others — and to live the truth of our faith not just with words, but with deeds.  

So even as we join the great debates of our age — how we best put people back to work, how we ensure opportunity for every child, the role of government in protecting this extraordinary planet that God has made for us, how we lessen the occasions of war — even as we debate these great issues, we must be reminded of the difference that we can make each day in our small interactions, in our personal lives.

As a loving husband, or a supportive parent, or a good neighbor, or a helpful colleague — in each of these roles, we help bring His kingdom to Earth.  And as important as government policy may be in shaping our world, we are reminded that it’s the cumulative acts of kindness and courage and charity and love, it’s the respect we show each other and the generosity that we share with each other that in our everyday lives will somehow sustain us during these challenging times.  John tells us that, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

Mark read a letter from Billy Graham, and it took me back to one of the great honors of my life, which was visiting Reverend Graham at his mountaintop retreat in North Carolina, when I was on vacation with my family at a hotel not far away.

And I can still remember winding up the path up a mountain to his home.  Ninety-one years old at the time, facing various health challenges, he welcomed me as he would welcome a family member or a close friend.  This man who had prayed great prayers that inspired a nation, this man who seemed larger than life, greeted me and was as kind and as gentle as could be.

And we had a wonderful conversation.  Before I left, Reverend Graham started praying for me, as he had prayed for so many Presidents before me.  And when he finished praying, I felt the urge to pray for him.  I didn’t really know what to say.  What do you pray for when it comes to the man who has prayed for so many?  But like that verse in Romans, the Holy Spirit interceded when I didn’t know quite what to say.

And so I prayed — briefly, but I prayed from the heart.  I don’t have the intellectual capacity or the lung capacity of some of my great preacher friends here that have prayed for a long time.  (Laughter.)  But I prayed.  And we ended with an embrace and a warm goodbye.

And I thought about that moment all the way down the mountain, and I’ve thought about it in the many days since.  Because I thought about my own spiritual journey –- growing up in a household that wasn’t particularly religious; going through my own period of doubt and confusion; finding Christ when I wasn’t even looking for him so many years ago; possessing so many shortcomings that have been overcome by the simple grace of God.  And the fact that I would ever be on top of a mountain, saying a prayer for Billy Graham –- a man whose faith had changed the world and that had sustained him through triumphs and tragedies, and movements and milestones –- that simple fact humbled me to my core.

I have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment — asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong.  I know that He will guide us.  He always has, and He always will.  And I pray his richest blessings on each of you in the days ahead.

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

END              
9:30 A.M. EST

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Why Facebook’s IPO Matters

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

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Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by admin in News

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