US needs ‘a regime change’: Analyst

An American analyst says the US economy “is in deep distress” and only “a regime change” can ensure the fundamental changes to how the US is governed.

US Congress has passed a bill that would suspend the US debt ceiling until March 2015, making sure that the Treasury would not default on its more than $17 trillion debt.

The passage of the legislation came after the US government hit its debt limit again last Friday when a temporary suspension of the debt ceiling ended.

US lawmakers’ move also followed a government shutdown last year which was the direct result of a political stalemate over raising the debt limit.

However, Mike Harris, a financial editor at Veterans Today, says suspending the US debt limit would not resolve America’s economic problems and fundamental changes are needed.

“First of all, Congress was compelled [to suspend the debt limit]; it didn’t have a choice. They had to raise the debt ceiling or else the government would stop functioning,” said Harris in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday. However, “the problem is that we spend more than we collect.”

“It’s time for some draconian cuts in defense spending. It’s time for some restructuring of how our basic economy works,” he added.

Harris also said that the free-trade agreements are “an unmitigated disaster for the US economy” and they are actually “biased trade” not free trade.

“The US is in deep distress and we need some fundamental structural changes in how this country is governed and I for one would advocate a regime change. Everyone who’s in office needs to be turned out now because they created this mess, they’re not going to fix this mess, they’re owned by special interests groups, and they have forgotten that they are representatives of the people,” Harris indicated.