We should not say you're not going to get a tax hike unless the wealthiest 2 percent get a tax cut.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

But what we should encourage are individual companies who provide incentives for wellness programs, smoking cessation programs, they're going to get a workout once in a while -- those things are something we should encourage.

WHITEHOUSE: Your Interview with the President

And it is likely either later this week or next week, people are going to get to decide whether we should have -- give more capital to small businesses to lend -- or to banks to lend to small businesses to create jobs, or not.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

And the fact that you've been able to organize around five key steps that, I think, you'd be the first to acknowledge isn't all that needs to be done, but are key areas where we should be able to generate some strong bipartisan agreement and get action going quickly, I think makes it really extraordinary.

WHITEHOUSE: Meeting of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness | The White House

They're candidates -- we don't know who's going to get the nomination -- they should be held to a high standard as well.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

And she denied this year's Queen's Speech would be a "party political manifesto", saying it was "the responsibility of government and we are going to get on with it, even if Nick Clegg thinks we should just clock-off".

BBC: Cancel Queen's Speech, says Clegg

Politicians have made us believe that buying new things is good - that we shouldn't be miserly and hang on to our old possessions, our old appliances and our old clothes, but that we should toss them out the second they get worn and buy new ones - to keep the economy going.

BBC: Viewpoint: The confessions of a late adopter