As President
Barack Obama outlined his agenda during his State of the Union address, critics
believe the president stretched the truth on a range of issues mostly the state
of the U.S. economy.
“I was disgusted
by the statements from our president, well our so-called president, I think the
country is on the verge of collapse and it’s up to the American people to stand
up and say we are not going to be debt slaves to the criminals that run our
country anymore,” Chris Dorsey, political economist from Richmond,
Virginia said in an interview on Wednesday.
President Obama
addressed many issues on Tuesday but jobs and the economy made the nub of
his speech. He said that after a grueling recession, the economy has turned
around and job numbers were rising. “Together, we have cleared away the rubble
of crisis, and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is
stronger,” he said.
Dorsey said that
was far from the truth. “The idea that the economy is turning around is
ludicrous. It is an insane statement and flies in the face of all facts known to
the American people: More Americans are living under poverty, more Americans are
requiring government assistance to eat.”
He pointed out
that the real unemployment rate in America hovers around 25 percent as opposed
to the official figure which puts it at 7.9 percent
The president’s
call for action on issues ranging from taxes to gun control to climate change
appeared to have landed in the laps of the Republicans he needs to persuade to
pass his agenda.
Hours after the
president’s State of the Union address, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said
Obama lacked “guts” and the “courage” to act on the deficit. Many other key
Republicans reacted in the same manner.
Despite this
display of division in public, Dorsey said there is “bipartisan support” in
Washington when it comes to the financial agenda of the Federal Reserve Bank and
that of the international military industrial complex.
“Any dispute
between Republicans and democrats… is just a diversionary tactic and it’s not
accurate because the Republicans and Democrats are both bought and paid for by
the same interest, they are both under the control of the international banking
cartel,” he said.
HJ/HJ