That benefits most the people who would usually be last in the line. But it is not enough. Although their economies have grown over the last decade, cities have not kept pace with the rest of the nation. One in five residents of our big cities lives below poverty compared to one in seven in the nation as a whole. Philadelphia County, for example, is home to only 12 percent of Pennsylvanians - but nearly half of its welfare recipients.
Big cities carry a much heavier share of the fiscal burden.
We are committed to bringing economic development to all of America's cities. This has to be a moral imperative of the highest order. Central to our efforts to support economic development in cities has been the idea of expanding access to capital. The First Lady likes to say that it takes a village to raise a child. And it takes capital to build a successful village.