US economy getting stronger: Obama

Claiming that the US economy is getting stronger, President Barack Obama, has said it is time that businesses move back their manufacturing from China, as he hit's the campaign trail this week.

"The economy is getting stronger and businesses are starting to invest again. In fact, you're starting to see companies that had moved to places like China recognisng why would we abandon the largest market in the world?" Obama said at a campaign event in Seattle, on Thursday.

"Wages are going up in China and workers are getting more productive here -- let's start bringing companies and businesses back," Obama said, adding the country is still got headwinds.

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"Europe is still in a difficult state -- partly because they didn't take some of the decisive steps that we took early on in this recession. Gas prices are still pinching a lot of folks. The housing market is still very weak all across the country.

But the good news is that we have weathered the storm and are in a position now to make sure that the 21st century is the American Century just like the 20th century was," said the US President, who is seeking re-election in November presidential elections.

"But in order to do that, we've got to make good choices. And when I ran in 2008, I did not run just to get the country back to where it was before the crisis -- because there had

been problems that had been building for decades," he said.

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"So the question was, were we finally going to take on some of these core challenges that had been holding us back for far too long?

And that's the reason why, even as we were trying to manage the auto bailout, even as we were trying to deal with the banks and the fact that credit was locked up, even as we were trying to make sure that we could immediately put people back to work, we were also looking at what are the long-term things that are going to make a big difference in the life of this country?" Obama asked.

On Thursday, Obama attended two fundraisers in Seattle, Washington. The first event was a fund-raising brunch with 70 supporters at a private residence. Tickets for this event cost USD 17,900 per person.

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Later, he delivered remarks at a fund raising reception with 1,800 people at the Paramount Theatre. This featured a musical performance by Dave Matthews.

Tickets for this event started at USD 1,000 per person. Later in the evening Obama travelled to Los Angeles to attend a fund-raising dinner at the home of actor George Clooney.

There were 150 supporters at this event, including grassroots supporters Beth Topinka and Karen Blutcher, who were selected to attend the event after donating online for the Dinner with Barack and Clooney contest.

Beth is a science teacher from Manalapan, New Jersey and Karen is a communications coordinator for a local utility company from St. Augustine, Florida.

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Their husbands also attended the dinner. Tickets for the dinner cost USD 40,000 per person.

Proceeds from the events will go to Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee authorized by Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

"If people ask you what this campaign is about, you tell them it's still about hope. You tell them it's still about change. You tell them it's still about ordinary people who believe that in the face of great odds, we can make a difference in the life of this country," Obama said at another campaign event in Seattle.