Obama's full 2013 state of the union address

Obamas Full of the Union Address Summary Obama in his February presidential address argued that he had already taken enough steps toclear the problems of global financial crisis. Hard work and dedications of millions of Americans have not been rewarded yet. America needs to produce more jobs to tackle the unemployment problem. Manufacturing sector is the key for economic growth and solving unemployment problems. America’s oil production has been increased a lot in recent times and it helped the government to lower the energy costs both to the consumers and manufacturers. Science and mathematics education were given more emphasize to prepare an employment force capable of meeting the challenges in the manufacturing industry. Minimum wages were raised to $ 9 as a social security measure. Gun control laws will be strengthened. War on terror will be ended in soon and America will take only a supporting role in future in Afghanistan.
Description of the economic principles
Obama seems to be particular about the development of manufacturing sector as a measure to boost America’s economic progress. In his opinion, manufacturing sector is the key in reducing unemployment and directing the country towards prosperity. Obama seems to believe in the economic principle of produce more and develop rapidly.
My reaction to the content of the address
In my opinion, Obama has used this opportunity to give more emphasize to the actions taken in the past to boost America’s progress. He had not said much about his future plans. Some of his claims in the speech were slightly exaggerated. For example, he proudly announced that minimum wages were raised to $ 9 per hour. However, he had forgotten that this slight increase in minimum wages is nothing considering huge expenditure an average family faces daily. Moreover, he announced that the oil production has increased a lot in the recent past. However, still America is the second largest importer of oil resources from external countries. China like countries has already implemented big efforts to exploit renewable energy sources such as solar energy. However, Obama is still reluctant in spending much on developing renewable energy sources. It should be noted that China is the number one exploiter of solar energy at present and their progress is causing big concerns to America. However, Obama has not said anything about the challenges from China and India like Asian countries.
Even though Obama talked about war on terror and withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, he said not much about America’s foreign policies on Middle East issues. Even though plenty of people expected a public declaration of new foreign policy towards Middle East, Obama deliberately kept silence on those issues.
My question as a result of listening the address
Obama stressed the importance of manufacturing sector for the development of American economy. My question is; Is it possible for America to produce more goods and compete effectively in the global market in terms of price? China and India like countries are cheap labour oriented countries and the goods produced in these countries are extremely cheaper than that produced in America. Under such circumstances, boosting of manufacturing industry in America may solve the unemployment problems up to certain extent. But, the competitive power of America as a country might not be increased much because of the above measure.
Works Cited
“ Obamas Full 2013 State of the Union Address – SOTU 2013”. Web. 19 February 2013.