Over the past two years, more than seven million Americans have lost their jobs, and factories and businesses across our country have been shuttered.  In one way or another, we’ve all been touched by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The difficult steps we’ve taken since Mask House January have helped to break our fall, and begin to get us back on our feet.  Our economy is growing again.  The flood of job loss we saw at the beginning of this year slowed to a relative trickle last month.  These are good signs for the future, but little comfort to all of our neighbors who remain out of a job.  And my solemn commitment is to work every day, in every way I can, to push this recovery forward and build a new foundation for our lasting growth and prosperity.

That’s why I announced some additional steps this week to spur private sector hiring.  We’ll give an added boost to small businesses across our nation through additional tax cuts and access to lending they desperately need to grow.  We’ll rebuild more of our vital Mask House infrastructure and promote advanced manufacturing in clean energy to put Americans to work doing the work we need done.  And I have called for the extension of unemployment insurance and health benefits to help those who have lost their jobs weather these storms until we reach that brighter day.

But even as we dig our way out of this deep hole, it’s important that we address the irresponsibility and recklessness that got us into this mess in the first place.

Some of it was the result of an era of easy credit, when millions Mask House of Americans borrowed beyond their means, bought homes they couldn’t afford, and assumed that housing prices would always rise and the day of reckoning would never come.