'Don't let political dysfunction effect economic progress'

'Don't let political dysfunction effect economic progress' Washington: Arguing that the country's economy is poised for progress in 2013, the US President Barack Obama has asked the Congress not to let "political dysfunction" affect this.


During his address, Obama asked the Congress to approve legislation to replace at least some amount of the USD 85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to hit the government on March 1.

"For all the drama and disagreements that we've had over the past few years, Democrats and Republicans have still been able to come together and cut the deficit by more than USD2.5 trillion through a mix of spending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy," he said.

"A balanced approach has achieved more than USD2.5 trillion in deficit reduction. That's more than halfway towards the USD4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties believe is required to stabilise our debt. So we've made progress. And I still believe that we can finish the job with a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform," he said.

The US President said in order to achieve the full USD4 trillion in deficit reductions, which is the stated goal of economists and the elected leaders, the modest reforms in the social insurance programs have to go hand-in-hand with a process of tax reform, so that the wealthiest individuals and corporations can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans.


"If we're serious about paying down the deficit, the savings we achieve from tax reform should be used to pay down the deficit, and potentially to make our businesses more competitive," he argued.