Now, in the long run -- all that's in the short term.  That's still part of the emergency effort to help build the economy and grow it coming out of the recession.  But in the long run, we need to invest in the technologies and innovation that will lead to the jobs and the industries of tomorrow.

So I want to introduce to everybody who’s here -- we’ve got Dan Ustian, who is the president of Navistar.  Dan, stand up.  (Applause.)  Now, Navistar is a company that sometimes does business with K Neal International.  And for months, Navistar’s Indiana manufacturing plant has been working on an electric delivery truck that’s fueled entirely¹ by plug-in power.  In fact, I visited the plant before it had produced its very first truck. And my understanding, Dan, is --

MR. USTIAN:  We’re ready to go.

THE PRESIDENT:  We’re ready to go.  Thanks to the investments that we made in the Recovery Act, it just delivered its first truck a few weeks ago.  Now, this is a plant that gave jobs to unemployed² factory workers, and they’re now part of a cutting-edge industry that will create even more jobs and businesses in the months and years ahead.

That’s what the future can look like.  If we keep on making investments in research and development, in technology and clean energy, products and industries that we haven’t even imagined yet can find a home right here in the United States of America.  And if we provide our citizens with the education and training they need to do these jobs, we’re again going to see rising incomes and a growing middle class.  That’s what we can do to make this economy stronger, rebuild it even stronger than it was before.

And I have to say that Joe Biden oversaw³ the execution of our Recovery Act and hasn’t gotten a lot of credit for it, but it has been scandal free, the money has been spent on time.

I was just talking to Stephen, and as he indicated, what the Recovery Act did was to help during a bad winter, during a tough time, helped him to keep that business, if not growing, then at least stable.  And it helped him keep folks on the job that otherwise might have lost their jobs.  (Applause.)  And Joe deserves a lot of credit for that, so give Joe Biden a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

By the way, Joe says he used to be able to drive some of these trucks.  (Laughter.)

THE VICE⁴ PRESIDENT:  That’s true.

THE PRESIDENT:  But I would suggest he not -- not to lend him a car -- that was a long time ago.  (Laughter.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, man.

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, let me tell you what we can't do.  We can't go backwards⁵.  What we can't do is go back -- now that we're starting to climb out of this hole that was dug for us, we can't go back to the very same policies that failed us in the last decade; the same policies that led us into that hole.

Think about it.  We've already tried scaling back（相应缩减） our investments in clean energy and education and innovation so that we could give tax breaks（税收减免） to the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations, and that didn’t work.  We already tried putting industry insiders in charge of oversight⁶ -- didn’t work. We already tried stripping away rules and regulations that kept Wall Street banks and oil companies in bounds.  We let them play by their own rules instead, and it didn’t work.

So we already know where these ideas led us.  And we're going to have a choice as a nation moving forward.  We're going to be able to return, if we want, to the failed economic policies of the past; policies that gave us record deficits⁷ and declining incomes and sluggish⁸（萧条的，迟钝的） job growth even before the recession; policies that led, in fact, to us almost going into a depression. We can take that road again.  Or we can decide we want to move forward.  We can keep building a stronger economy.  We can keep pursuing the policies that have started to create jobs again; policies that invest in companies like K Neal; policies that invest in companies like Navistar; policies that invest in our people and in our future.

So I don't know about you, I don't want to go backwards.  I want to move forward.  (Applause.)  And I believe that the American people want to move forward as well.  This economy hasn’t returned to prosperity（繁荣，成功） yet, but we’re heading in the right direction.  There are going to be some ups and downs.  There are going to be some months where people start worrying that maybe we're not out of the hole yet.  But if we remain determined⁹, if we stick to it, if we stay the course of investing in our people and businesses like K Neal that are the heart and soul of America, then I'm absolutely positive we can succeed.

And with your help -- with the hard work and ingenuity¹⁰（心灵手巧，独创性） of workers and entrepreneurs like the ones at this company -– I'm absolutely positive we're going to have a brighter future.

So, thanks for the great work you do.  Thanks to Joe Biden for the great work that he does.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
9:56 A.M. EDT