Oregon Must Win the National Competition for Jobs

Imagine if Obama had delivered the revised speech below last week.  If it sounds silly to hear the president talking about Oregon "winning the national competition for new jobs and industries," that's because it is pretty silly.  But it's equally silly to talk about the county "winning the global competition for new jobs and industries," because it's based on flawed "zero-sum," "fixed pie" thinking, i.e. there's only a fixed number of jobs and for us to "win jobs," some other country has to "lose jobs."  Here it is: Weekly Address: To Win the Future, America Oregon Must Win the Global National Competition in EducationPORTLAND – In this week’s address, President Obama said that the United States Oregon needs the best trained and best skilled workforce in the world country to win the global national competition for new jobs and industries.  I’m speaking to you from just outside Portland, Oregon where I’m visiting Intel, a company that helped pioneer the digital age.  I just came from a tour of an assembly line where highly-skilled technicians are building microprocessors that run everything from desktop computers to smartphones.  But these workers aren’t just manufacturing high-tech computer chips.  They’re showing us how America Oregon will win the future.For decades, Intel has led the world nation in developing new technologies.  But even as global national competition has intensified, this company has invested, built, and hired in America Oregon.  Three-quarters of Intel’s products are made by American Oregonian workers.  And as the company expands operations in Oregon and builds outsources a new plant in to Arizona, it plans to hire another 4,000 people this year.Companies like Intel are proving that we Oregon can compete – that instead of just being a nation state that buys what’s made overseas in other states, we can make things in America Oregon and sell them around the globe country.  Winning this competition among the states depends on the ingenuity and creativity of our private sector in Oregon – which was on display in my visit today.  But it’s also going to depend on what we do as a nation state to make America Oregon the best place on earth in America to do business.If we want to win the global national competition for new jobs and industries in Oregon, we’ve got to win the global national competition to educate our people in Oregon.  We’ve got to have the best trained, best skilled workforce in the world country. That’s how we’ll ensure that the next Intel, the next Google, or the next Microsoft is created in America Oregon and hires American Oregonian workers.The truth is, we have everything we need to compete in Oregon: bold entrepreneurs, bright new ideas, and world-class colleges and universities.  And, most of all, we have young people in Oregon just brimming with promise and ready to help us Oregon succeed.  All we have Oregon has to do is tap that Oregonian potential. That’s the lesson on display at Intel.  And that’s how America Oregon will win the future.Thank you.