Obama touts education, infrastructure

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- The United States "has an obligation" to provide the best education and infrastructure so businesses can be profitable, President Barack Obama said Saturday.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said this week's report on jobs and unemployment -- showing the jobless rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 9 percent in January but added only 36,000 jobs -- indicates the economy is "moving in the right direction. But we need to get there faster."

Obama said the United States must provide "the most skilled workers, the strongest commitment to research and technology, and the fastest ways to move people, goods, and information."

"Our government has an obligation to make sure that America is the best place on Earth to do business -- that we have the best schools, the best incentives to innovate, and the best infrastructure," he said.

Promoting his planned visit next week to Marquette, Mich., Obama called the town "a place where high-speed broadband is connecting a small town to the larger world."

"Supporting businesses with this kind of 21st century infrastructure and cutting-edge innovation is our responsibility," he said. "But businesses have a responsibility, too.

"If we make America the best place to do business, businesses should make their mark in America," the president said. "They should set up shop here, and hire our workers, and pay decent wages, and invest in the future of this nation. That's their obligation."

Obama said he would take that message to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when he addresses the group Monday -- "that government and businesses have mutual responsibilities; and that if we fulfill these obligations together, it benefits us all."