US still has the edge but other countries catching up: Obama

"I've travelled all around the world and I've looked at all the economic data. If you had a choice of which country you'd want to be, you still want to be the United States of America," Obama said in his remarks on economy in Fairfax in Virginia.

"We still have a huge competitive edge and we've got the best workers in the world.  And we've got the most dynamic economy in the world. We've got the best universities, the best entrepreneurs in the world," Obama said.

"But we've got to tackle these longstanding problems that have been getting in the way of progress, and we've got to do it now. We can't wait another 20 years or another 30 years because other countries are catching up. That's what we've been trying to do over the last two years," Obama said urging his countrymen not to have lackluster approach as other countries are trying to fast catch up with US' advantage.

"They cause great consternation. When we tried to get some common-sense rules in the financial sector, for example, that means billions of dollars that were going to profits to some of the banks are not going to be going there because you're getting a better deal on your credit card, and they’re not happy about it. So that ends up creating a lot of drama on Capitol Hill. And it means that we've had some very contentious debates," Obama said.