THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, hello!  Hello, Schenectady!  (Applause.)  It is good to be in New York.  (Applause.)  Now let me just begin, if I’m not mistaken, Governor Cuomo -- who is going to be an outstanding governor -- (applause) -- he tried to give me a Jets hat.  (Laughter.)  I had to refuse it.  I had Secret Service confiscate¹（没收，充公） it.  (Laughter.)  But I will say both the Jets and the Bears I think are slight underdogs, so we’re going to be rooting for the underdogs on Sunday.  (Applause.) 

In addition to Governor Cuomo, I just want to acknowledge Lieutenant² Governor Bob Duffy is here.  (Applause.)  Two great friends of mine and great champions for New York in the United States Senate -- Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are here.  (Applause.)  Members of the congressional delegation³ from up this way -- Paul Tonko, Chris Gibson, and Richard Hanna are all here.  (Applause.) 

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is here.  (Applause.)  The outstanding mayor of Schenectady who flew up with me because we had an event down at the White House for mayors and he was on Marine⁴ One and Air Force One and he looked like he was having a pretty good time -- (laughter) -- Brian Stratton is here.  (Applause.)  And from Albany, Mayor Jerry Jennings is here.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

Now, Jeff, thank you for the outstanding introduction, and thank you, GE.  It is great to be here.  I just had a chance to see some of the high-tech⁵ steam turbines and all kinds of fancy stuff that’s being made here, being manufactured here at this plant.  And it is unbelievably impressive and it’s part of a proud tradition, because GE has been producing turbines and generators⁶ here in Schenectady for more than a century.

A lot has changed since those early days.  We’ve seen technologies transform the ways we work and the ways we communicate with one another.  We’ve seen our economy transformed by rising competition from around the globe.  And over the years, in the wake of these shifts, upstate New York and places like it have seen more than their fair share of hard times.

But what has never changed –- we see it right here at this plant, we see it right here at GE –- is that America is still home to the most creative and most innovative⁷ businesses in the world.  We’ve got the most productive workers in the world.  America is home to inventors and dreamers and builders and creators.  (Applause.)  All of you represent people who each and every day are pioneering the technologies and discoveries that not only improve our lives, but they drive our economy.

Across the country, there are entrepreneurs opening businesses.  There are researchers testing new medical treatments.  There are engineers pushing the limits of design and the programmers poring over lines of code.  And there are workers like you on assembly lines all across the country, eager to create some of the best products the world has ever seen.

There are students training to take new jobs by their side.  In this community, GE is building one of the world’s most sophisticated manufacturing facilities to produce state-of-the-art batteries.  (Applause.)  Last year, you opened the headquarters of your renewable energy operations, and you created 650 jobs on this campus.  (Applause.)

So our challenge, especially as we continue to fight our way back from the worst recession in our lifetimes, is to harness（治理） this spirit, to harness this potential, the potential that all of you represent.

Our challenge is to do everything we can to make it easier for folks to bring products to market and to start and expand new businesses, and to grow and hire new workers.  I want plants like this all across America.  You guys are a model of what’s possible.

And that’s why, as part of the tax cut compromise（妥协，和解） that I signed at the end of the year, we provided incentives⁸ for businesses to make new capital investments -– and in fact GE is investing $13 million in advanced manufacturing at this plant, taking advantage of some of these tax breaks.

We also extended a program that GE says its customers have used to invest $6 billion in clean energy production across this country –- driving demand for the company’s wind turbines.  And I saw one of those big turbines on the way in.  So we know we can compete.  Not just in the industries of the past, but also in the industries of the future.

But in an ever-shrinking world, our success in these efforts will be determined⁹ not only by what we build in Schenectady, but also what we can sell in Shanghai.  For America to compete around the world, we need to export more goods around the world.  That’s where the customers are.  It’s that simple.  (Applause.)