United States President, Barack Obama has used his final State of the Union address to remind the country it has recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations.
Mr Obama says anyone saying the economy is in decline is peddling fiction.
In his speech, the president defended his legacy, saying his government has forged what he calls the "strongest, most durable economy in the world".
But he says big businesses are continuing to make their own rules, to the detriment of others.
"Food stamp recipients did not cause the financial crisis. Recklessness on Wall Street did. Immigrants aren't the principal reason wages haven't gone up, those decisions were made in the boardrooms. It's sure not the average family watching tonight that avoid paying taxes through offshore accounts."
US President Barack Obama has taken aim at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and accused critics of playing into the hands of Islamic State in a speech meant to cement his legacy and set a positive tone for his final year in office.
Obama, delivering his last annual State of the Union speech to congress, called for leaders to "fix" US politics and criticised candidates such as Trump for using anti-Muslim rhetoric that betrayed American values.
"When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesn't make us safer," he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber.
"It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals."
Trump, whom Obama did not mention by name in his speech, is leading the Republican field before the November 8 election of the next president.
The billionaire businessman, citing national security concerns, has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and a wall on the US border with Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, ideas the White House strongly opposes.
