no doubt, thanks to the steps that we took early on to rescue our economy, and to rebuild on a newfounddationwe're entering into the new year with new confidence that america is coming back. [applause] now, you don't have to take my word for it. the facts are the facts. let's face it. a lot of times the media doesn't like reporting on good news. but every once in a while it is important for us to hear some good news. not to make us complacent, but to give us confidence that if we work harder we can make even more good news. so here is how we begin this year. last year, 2014 was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s, since the 1990s. [cheers and applause] we have now had a 57-month streak of private sector job creation. we've created nearly 11 million new jobs. that is the longest stretch in our history of private sector, uninterrupted job creation. [applause] here is another way of thinking about it, since 2010, we america, have put more people back to work than europe, japan, and every other advanced economy combined. combined. [applause] and let me tell you what's leading the wa