barack obama at their stations. when asked if that were a political statement, the teller told me, no, we are giving them away to people who open new accounts. well that certainly is a political statement or at least an amazing example of @@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @r consider whether t.a.r.p. strategies are working and determine if we are taking the right steps going forward. i will be especially interested to hear whether our witnesses believe larger banks like citi turned the corner. after the public confidence inspired by the stress test and subsequent earnings reports, our larger institutions still in need of t.a.r.p. support? does the return of many larger institutions to profitability signal a return to sustainability in their business model or are temporary trading gains masking continuing weaknesses and losses in loan portfolios. citigroup has engaged in serious realignment and reorganization efforts, both through the creation of citi holdings and in dives
closer today. i wanted to remind our colleagues to focus in time just over a year ago this congress passed the american recovery and reinvestment act. as a result of that, more than two million jobs were saved or 2 r this january we lost 20,000 jobs. we don t want to lose any jobs. we want to be on the upside. we want to be creating jobs. the point is following the passage of the american recovery and reinvestment act and other initiatives taken by the boirks and this congress obama administration and this congress, a difference of over 250,000 jobs. 779,000, january, 2009. 25,000, january, 2010. in the final quarter of 2008, in the final quarter of 2008, the final quarter of 2008 before president obama took office, america s g.d.p. shrank by 6.2%. g.d.p. for that quarter was negative 6.2%. just one year later, the g.d.p. grew in the same period by 5.9%. over 12% change in the growth of g.d.p. thanks to the american recovery and reinvestment act and, again, other actions