David Muir.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m curious what you would say to Americans back home who’ve watched their 401(k)s recover largely when the bailout seemed a certainty, and then this week with the brand new political tumult¹ in Greece, watched themselves lose essentially² what they had gained back.  You mentioned you’re confident in the bailout plan.  Are you confident this will actually happen, and if so, that it will work?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, first of all, if you’re talking about the movements of the U.S. stock market, the stock market was down when I first took office and the first few months I was in office about 3,000 points lower than it is now.  So nothing has happened in the last two weeks that would suggest that somehow people’s 401(k)s have been affected³ the way you describe.

Am I confident that this will work?  I think that there’s more work to do.  I think there are going to be some ups and downs along the way.  But I am confident that the key players in Europe -- the European political leadership -- understands how much of a stake they have in making sure that this crisis is resolved, that the eurozone remains⁴ intact（完整的） , and I think that they are going to do what's necessary in order to make that happen.

Now, let's recognize how difficult this is.  I have sympathy for my European counterparts.  We saw how difficult it was for us to save the financial system back in the United States.  It did not do wonders for anybody's political standing⁵, because people's general attitude is, you know what, if the financial sector⁶ is behaving recklessly or not making good decisions, other folks shouldn't have to suffer for it.

You layer on top of that the fact that you're negotiating with multiple parliaments, a European parliament, a European Commission -- I mean, there are just a lot of institutions here in Europe.  And I think several  -- I'm not sure whether it was Sarkozy or Merkel or Barroso or somebody, they joked with me that I'd gotten a crash course in European politics over the last several days.  And there are a lot of meetings here in Europe as well.  So trying to coordinate⁷ all those different interests is laborious⁸（勤劳的） , it's time consuming, but I think they're going to get there.

What is also positive is -- if there's a silver lining⁹ in this whole process, it's the fact that I think European leaders recognize that there are some structural¹⁰ reforms, institutional modifications¹¹ they need to make if Europe and the eurozone is to be as effective as they want it to be.

I think that what this has exposed is that if you have a single currency but you haven't worked out all the institutional coordination¹² and relationships between countries on the fiscal¹³ side, on the monetary¹⁴ side, that that creates additional vulnerabilities.  And there's a commitment on the part of European leaders, I think, to examine those issues.  But those are long term.  In the short term, what they've got to do is just make sure that they're sending a signal to the markets that they stand behind the euro.

And if that message is sent, then I think this crisis is averted¹⁵, because some of this crisis is psychological.  Italy is a big country with a enormous industrial base, great wealth, great assets, and has had substantial debt for quite some time -- it's just the market is feeling skittish¹⁶ right now.  And that's why I think Prime Minister Berlusconi's invitation to the IMF to certify¹⁷ that the reform plan that they put in place is one that they will, in fact, follow is an example of the steady, confidence-building measures that need to take place in order for us to get back on track.

Norah O'Donnell.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  The world leaders here have stressed growth -- the importance of growth.  And yet growth back at home has been anemic（贫血的） , the new jobs report today showing just 88,000 jobs added.  The Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they're going to block your jobs bill because they believe the tax hikes in it hurt small businesses.  At what point do you feel that you declare stalemate to try and reach common ground?  And do you feel like you have been an effective leader when it comes to the economy?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, first of all, wherever Republicans indicate an interest in doing things that would actually grow the economy, I'm right there with them.  So they've said that passing trade bills with South Korea and Panama and Colombia would help spur growth -- those got done, with significant bipartisan support.  They've suggested that we need to reform our patent laws -- that's something that was part of my long-term program for economic growth; we've got that done.  What I've said is all those things are nice and they're important, but if we want to grow the economy right now then we have to think bigger; we've got to do something bolder and more significant.

So we put forward the American Jobs Act, which contains ideas that are historically supported by Democrats¹⁸ and Republicans -- like rebuilding our infrastructure¹⁹, our roads and our bridges; putting teachers back in the classroom; providing tax credits to small businesses.

You say, Norah, that the reason they haven't voted for them is because they don't want to tax small business.  Well, actually, that's not -- if that's their rationale then it doesn't fly, because the bill that they voted down yesterday -- a component²⁰ of the American jobs bill -- essentially said we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, making America more competitive, and the entire program will be paid for by a tax not on millionaires but people making a million dollars a year or more, which in the United States is about -- a little over 300,000 people.

Now, there aren't a lot of small businesses across the country that are making that kind of money.  In fact, less than 3 percent of small businesses make more than $250,000 a year.  So what they've said is, we prefer to protect 300,000 people rather than put hundreds of thousands of people back to work and benefit 300 million Americans who are hurting because of low growth.

So we're going to keep on pushing.  Now, there are steps that we can take absent congressional action.  And the refinancing proposal that we put forward in Las Vegas is an example of that -- helping²¹ students with student loans.  We're going to keep on rolling out administrative²² steps that we can take that strengthen the economy.  But if we're going to do something big to jumpstart（安装，引进） the economy at a time when it's stabilized²³ but unemployment is way too high, Congress is going to need to act.

And in terms of my track record on the economy -- well, here's just a simple way of thinking about it:  When I came into office, the U.S. economy had contracted by 9 percent -- the largest contraction²⁴ since the Great Depression.  Little over a year later, the economy was growing by 4 percent, and it's been growing ever since.

Now, is that good enough?  Absolutely not.  We've got to do more.  And as soon as I get some signal from Congress that they’re willing to take their responsibilities seriously, I think we can do more.  But that’s going to require them to break out of the rigid²⁵ ideological²⁶ positions that they’ve been taking.  And the same is true, by the way, when it comes to deficit²⁷ reduction.
 
We can solve all our problems.  We can grow our economy now, put people back to work, reduce our deficit.  And you get surprising consensus²⁸ from economists²⁹ about how to do it, from both the left and the right.  It’s just a matter of setting politics aside.  And we’re constantly remembering that the election is one year away.  If we do that, there's no reason why can’t solve these problems.

All right?  Thank you, everybody.