Tag: Address to Congress

Obama’s Speech And The Absence Of Substance

Thomas Palley is a Yale Ph.D. in Economics, has published in numerous academic journals, and written for The Atlantic Monthly, American Prospect and Nation magazines. Dr. Palley was formerly Chief Economist with the US – China Economic and Security Review Commission. Prior to joining the Commission he was Director of the Open Society Institute’s Globalization Reform Project, and before that he was Assistant Director of Public Policy at the AFL-CIO.

After President Obama’s address to Congress last night, Palley spoke with Real News CEO Paul Jay with his interpretations and analysis of what Obama had to say, and concludes that:

“we’ve heard nothing about trade, we’ve heard nothing about globalization… worker rights and labor markets, we’ve heard nothing about corporate power. You’re seeing here the absence of issues that deal with the structural problems… in the U.S. economy.”



Real News – February 25, 2009 – 15 minutes

Palley: Obama’s speech didn’t mention unions nor tackle the structural problems within the U.S. economy