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Edited on Tue Jan-23-07 08:38 PM by derby378
Here ya go, folks. I'll transcribe whatever I can. Hillary's words are in the italicized paragraphs.
...I think that we need to make our Union stronger than it is right now. I'm sure the President will put the best face on it from his perspective, but if we're honest, we know that we are facing very dangerous and difficult situations in Iraq and with Iran and North Korea and all the terrible problems in Darfur, and disease and so many, you know, difficulties that we have to confront. And here at home, I know very well that in places like Corning, New York, where there are a lot of wonderful, hard-working people, it is a more difficult task to have a middle-class lifestyle and afford health care and education and all the other costs. So I think the President has his work cut out for him. Now, I will be listening for any overture that he makes to the Democratic Congress, because I believe in getting things done...We've had the retirement system really ripped out from under Americans; you know, the kind of defined benefit pensions that previous generations counted on are really a vanishing breed, the defined contribution. We have to make it easier for people to invest, and we have to put more information into the marketplace so people can make good decisions and plan for the future. We also need to be sure that we start to tackle energy costs; you know, it's something that is not gonna go away, and we have to help families by giving them better tools to conserve and be more efficient and make better choices in the marketplace. There is really a lot that can be done at the governmental level, but I want to add another factor here. For a lot of our hard-working families, I think they feel kind of let down, even betrayed, by their employers. You know, there's not that sense that we're all in this together, and too many of our corporate leaders are not really sharing the wealth with their employers <sic>. Productivity is up; that means Americans are working harder (we actually work harder than people anywhere on the world on average) and profits are up for our companies, but where are the wage increases? Where are the, you know, the benefits that should accrue to hard-working Americans? So I would really like to call on corporate leadership to do more, and I want to support in every way I can the union movement in our country, because a strong union movement has really been part of the American dream and one of the pillars of the American middle class. We're gonna try in this Democratic Congress to make it easier for people who want to join unions to do so. We're gonna try to make it easier to bargain, because we've gotta get back to a balance of power. If all the power is on one side of the economic equation (namely, you know, with the employers) and employees can't really, you know, get their fair share of the wonderful wealth and benefits that are being created for people at the higher end of the income spectrum, you know, that doesn't work for America; because with all due respect, America was not built and become a great country because we have rich people; you can find rich people anywhere in the world - we're a great country because of families like yours. And I hope that we're gonna get back to more of a balance and provide some of those building blocks again that will give you and your family a leg up on a better future.
Whew. More later. My fingers are really tired right now. I think Dragon Naturally Speaking would be a great birthday gift idea for me...
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