Jon S. Corzine: “Today I rise to discuss a critical need for our Nation to unite in what I think is an immediate effort to strengthen our…”

“Today I rise to discuss a critical need for our Nation to unite in what I think is an immediate effort to strengthen our economy. This morning you probably saw that our Nation's unemployment rate jumped a full half of 1 percent to 5.4 percent--one of the largest increases in any given month in history. We lost 415,000 jobs over the last month. Within that context, there are many more layoffs in the offing, that have been announced by companies, yet to be executed. GDP has declined. Consumer prices, actually, within the GDP numbers, declined for one of the first times since the 1950s. Manufacturing indices and other statistics indicate that we are in a recession. Over 40 years ago, the brother of the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, President John Kennedy, issued a dramatic and now immortalized challenge to all Americans. He said: 'Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.' We are now having a debate about an economic stimulus program, about the state of our economy, and what we should do next.”