by Brai Odion-Esene

WASHINGTON (MNI) – President Barack Obama on Friday said the raging
sovereign debt and banking crisis in the euro area is beginning to seep
across the Atlantic and “cast a shadow” on the U.S. economy.

“Our economy is still facing some serious headwinds,” Obama said in
remarks at the Honeywell Golden Valley Facility in Golden Valley,
Minnesota, where he renewed calls for Congress to act on his “To Do
List” to aid growth.

He pointed to the spike in gasoline prices a few months ago, which
— although now on a downward trend — “are still hitting people’s
wallets pretty hard.”

And more recently, the crisis in the eurozone “is having an impact
worldwide and is starting to cast a shadow on our own as well,” Obama
said.

The economy is growing again “but it’s not growing as fast as we
want it to grow,” the president said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday reported that private
businesses added 82,000 jobs last month, and overall non-farm payroll
employment rose by 69,000. The unemployment rate saw a slight increase
from 8.1% in April to 8.2% in May.

Obama said the May employment data underlined that the economy is
still not creating jobs “as fast as we want.”

So there is still a lot of work to be done before the country gets
to where it needs to be, he said.

“All these factors have made it even more challenging — not just
to fully recover — but also lay the foundation for an economy that’s
built to last over the long term,” Obama said. “We knew the road to
recovery would not be easy, we knew it would take time.”

Still, “We will come back stronger, we do have better days ahead,”
the president declared.

Obama’s words echoed those of his top economic adviser, who earlier
Friday cautioned that the problems in the job market will not be solved
overnight.

Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger said following
the release of the jobs data that the economy is growing but “it is not
growing fast enough,” and also cited the eurozone crisis and the sharp
rise in gas prices as “serious headwinds” to the economy.

“It is critical that we continue the President’s economic policies
that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by
the severe recession,” Krueger said.

** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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