President Obama used his weekly address to talk about energy. He mentioned his recent speech at the United Auto Workers meeting, and reminded us that if nothing was done about the auto industry, “Detroit would have gone bankrupt. “I refused to let that happen, the President said, “these jobs are worth more than just a paycheck – they’re a source of pride and a ticket to the middle class.”
Mr. Obama also mentioned that over the last two and a half years, over 200,000 more jobs were created in the auto industry.
Today, GM is the number one automaker in the world. Chrysler is growing faster in America than any other car company. Ford is investing billions in American plants and factories, and plans to bring thousands of jobs back home. All told, the entire industry has added more than 200,000 new jobs over the past two and a half years.
He also spoke of new fuel efficiency standards put in place by his administration, that would require automobile producers to build vehicles capable of 55 miles per gallon. This, the President says, would save the typical consumer over $8000 over time.
And although the new fuel efficiency standards are a step in the right direction , the President spoke about an “all the above strategy” where fossil fuel wouldn’t be our main source of energy.
While we consume 20 percent of the world’s oil, we only have 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves. We’ve got to develop new technology that will help us use new forms of energy. That’s been a priority of mine as President. And because of the investments we’ve made, our use of clean, renewable energy has nearly doubled – and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.
