With the ongoing debt crisis in Europe reaching its zenith, Obama, speaking at the White House, made it clear that Eurozone leaders have to make difficult decisions in order to restore financial stability.
In describing how the United States might be affected by Europe’s financial crisis, Obama said, “The European crisis matters to us, because Europe is our largest economic trading partner. If there’s less demand for our products in places like Paris or Madrid, it could mean less business for manufacturing in places like Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.” Obama also states that the United States would assist European leaders as they begin to make the ‘hard decisions’ required to deal with the debt crisis, which came across to experts as a stern lecture instead of an admonishing that he said he wasn’t doing in his address.
One of the steps that Obama mentioned would bring financial stability to the continent was to provide capital to weak banks as soon as possible yet was clear in saying that these decisions were in the hands of the European leaders themselves.
As for the US economy, he urged Congress to pass parts of his new jobs act so that they could protect the economy from possible shocks due to the financial crisis in Europe.
His recommendation was that while there is growth in the private sector, it is definitely important for the legislative body to pass this act so that hiring can begin in both the public sector as well as the construction industry.
With Romney criticizing the President for saying that the private sector is doing fine, Obama retorted by saying that the policies that his Republican opponents were following would weaken the economy.