Now, we all know in every way in life change is not always easy, but we have to decide whether we’re going to try to hold it back and hide from it, or reap its benefits.  And remember the big picture here:  while we’ve been entering into hundreds of new trade agreements, we’ve been creating millions of new jobs.  So this year we will forge new partnerships with Latin America, Asia and Europe, and we should pass the new African Trade Act.  It has bipartisan support.

I will also renew my request for the fast-track negotiating authority necessary to open more new markets, created more new jobs, which every president has had for two decades.

You know, whether we like it or not, in ways that are mostly positive, the world’s economies are more and more interconnected and interdependent.  Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect economies everywhere.  Recent months have brought serious financial problems to Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and beyond.

Now why should Americans be concerned about this?

First, these countries are our customers.  If they sink into recession, they won’t be able to buy the goods we’d like to sell them.

Second, they’re also our competitors, so if their currencies lose their value and go down, then the price of their goods will drop, flooding our market and others with much cheaper goods, which makes it a lot tougher for our people to compete.

And finally, they are our strategic partners.  Their stability bolsters our security.

The American economy remains sound and strong, and I want to keep it that way.  But because the turmoil in Asia will have an impact on all the world’s economies, including ours, making that negative impact as small as possible is the right thing to do for America, and the right thing to do for a safer world.

Our policy is clear:  no nation can recover if it does not reform itself, but when nations are willing to undertake serious economic reform, we should help them do it.  So I call on Congress to renew America’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund.

And I think we should say to all the people we’re trying to represent here, that preparing for a far off storm that may reach our shores is far wiser than ignoring the thunder ’til the clouds are just overhead.

A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.  A society rooted in responsibility must first promote the value of work, not welfare.  We could be proud that after decades of finger-pointing and failure, together we ended the old welfare system.  And we’re now replacing welfare checks with paychecks.

Last year, after a record four-year decline in welfare rolls I challenged our nation to move two million more Americans off welfare by the year 2000.  I’m pleased to report we have also met that goal two full years ahead of schedule.

This is a grand achievement, the sum of many acts of individual courage, persistence and hope.