Now, that sounds simple.  But I recognize the difficulties involved.  I know that it is not easy for the Congress to act.  But the fact remains that on the energy legislation, we have failed the American people.  Almost 5 years after the oil embargo dramatized the problem for us all, we still do not have a national energy program.  Not much longer can we tolerate this stalemate.  It undermines our national interest both at home and abroad.  We must succeed, and I believe we will.

Our main task at home this year, with energy a central element, is the Nation’s economy.  We must continue the recovery and further cut unemployment and inflation.

Last year was a good one for the United States.  We reached all of our major economic goals for 1977.  Four million new jobs were created, an alltime record, and the number of unemployed dropped by more than a million.  Unemployment right now is the lowest it has been since 1974, and not since World War II has such a high percentage of American people been employed.

The rate of inflation went down.  There was a good growth in business profits and investments, the source of more jobs for our workers, and a higher standard of living for all our people.  After taxes and inflation, there was a healthy increase in workers’ wages.

And this year, our country will have the first $2 trillion economy in the history of the world.

Now, we are proud of this progress the first year, but we must do even better in the future.

We still have serious problems on which all of us must work together.  Our trade deficit is too large.  Inflation is still too high, and too many Americans still do not have a job.

Now, I didn’t have any simple answers for all these problems.  But we have developed an economic policy that is working, because it’s simple, balanced, and fair.  It’s based on four principles:  First, the economy must keep on expanding to produce new jobs and better income, which our people need.  The fruits of growth must be widely shared.  More jobs must be made available to those who have been bypassed until now.  And the tax system must be made fairer and simpler.

Secondly, private business and not the Government must lead the expansion in the future.

Third, we must lower the rate of inflation and keep it down.  Inflation slows down economic growth, and it’s the most cruel to the poor and also to the elderly and others who live on fixed incomes.

And fourth, we must contribute to the strength of the world economy.

I will announce detailed proposals for improving our tax system later this week.  We can make our tax laws fairer, we can make them simpler and easier to understand, and at the same time, we can, and we will, reduce the tax burden on American citizens by $25 billion.

The tax reforms and the tax reductions go together.  Only with the long overdue reforms will the full tax cut be advisable.