US economy losing to rising powers

US President Barack addresses a Joint Session of Congress while delivering his State of the Union speech

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162006.html

Painting a grim picture of the financial trials in the US, President Barack Obama has called on authorities to gear up in order to meet challenges from rising economies.

In his State of the Union address before Congress on Tuesday, Obama said America is at the risk of losing out to rapidly developing economies, such as China and India, in the global market.

Listing areas where the United States had fallen behind the rest of the world, the US president said Americans had lost to South Korea in internet penetration, to Europe in infrastructure and to China in trains and airports.

He then called for a return to the American traditions of innovation and risk-taking to keep up with the rising powers from the East.

We need to “out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world,” the US president pointed out.

Obama also spoke of investments in education and research as the way to provide a more sound economic base and accelerate employment and development in the country.

“Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school degree. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren't even finishing high school,” the US president warned.

But finding the money for programs to create a competitive economy is the problem.

That is why during his nationally televised speech, Obama urged rival politicians in the Republican and the Democratic camps to ditch partisanship for a unified push for a better future.

"We will move forward together," he said, "or not at all."

In other comments, Obama also urged US colleges to allow military recruiters and officer training programs back on campuses.

The president also proposed a three-year partial freeze on civilian programs and a $78 billion cut in military spending.

On the war in Afghanistan, he said that a tough fight is ahead, but repeated his plans to bring some US troops back home in July.

However, he pledged to continue attacks on what he called 'al-Qaeda' in Pakistan.