The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama says he would make the US economy strong and competitive again by expanding opportunity outward rather than clamping down on outsourcing to countries like India and China.
"Revolutions in communication and technology have sent jobs wherever there's an internet connection; that have forced children in Raleigh and Boston to compete for those jobs with children in Bangalore and Beijing," he said outlining his vision of the economy in a speech on Monday.
"We live in a more competitive world, and that is a fact that cannot be reversed," Obama acknowledged as he kicked off his presidential election campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina by accusing his Republican rival John McCain of essentially endorsing President George Bush's flawed policies.
The US has faced such fundamental change before, and "each time we've kept our economy strong and competitive by making the decision to expand opportunity outward; to grow our middle-class; to invest in innovation, and most importantly, to invest in the education and well-being of our workers."
"We've done this because in America, our prosperity has always risen from the bottom-up," he said outlining his vision to build a "21st century economy that works for working Americans."
Obama said he too believed in the cause of free trade, as professed by Bush but with a difference. "There is nothing protectionist about demanding that trade spreads the benefits of globalisation as broadly as possible."
"Because we know that we can't or shouldn't put up walls around our economy, a long-term agenda will also find a way to make trade work for American workers."
"We do the cause of free-trade - a cause I believe in - no good when we pass trade agreements that hand out favours to special interests and do little to help workers who have to watch their factories close down," Obama said.
Courtesy - The Economic Times
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