WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Saturday that he was crafting an aggressive, two-year stimulus plan to revive the troubled economy, warning that swift action was needed to prevent a deep slump and a spiral of falling prices.
"If w More..e don't act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," Obama said in prepared remarks for the weekly Democratic radio and video address.
"We now risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further," he said.
A day after U.S. stock markets rallied on his apparent choice of Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary, Obama gave a bleak assessment of the economy in his most detailed comments on the subject since winning the Nov. 4 election.
Obama in October called for a $175 billion stimulus measure, but his comments in the radio address on Saturday signaled he was prepared to push for a much larger package, though he did not give a price-tag.
The economic recovery plan being developed by his staff aims to create 2.5 million jobs by January 2011, and he wants to get it through Congress quickly and sign it soon after taking office.
He called the plan "big enough to meet the challenges we face" and said that it will jump-start job creation but also "lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy. "
The proposal for a two-year stimulus plan further indicated a sizable effort. Most such plans are aimed at covering a one-year period.
The number of Americans on the unemployment rolls surged to the highest in 16 years, up more than 540,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
'Ignored for far too long' Obama said his plan would rebuild roads and bridges and modernize schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.
"These aren't just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis; these are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long," Obama said.
A trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — have badly damaged the economy, and financial analysts have projected the country's economic hardships will continue through much of 2009.
Obama acknowledged Saturday that evidence is growing the country is "facing an economic crisis of historic proportions." He noted turmoil on Wall Street, a decrease in new home purchases, growing jobless claims and the menacing problem of deflation.
He said he was pleased Congress passed an extension of unemployment benefits this week, but added, "We must do more to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. "
He cautioned, "There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better." But Obama said Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, "is our chance to begin anew. "
Obama said getting congressional approval for his broad economic plan will not be easy.
"I will need and seek support from Republicans and Democrats, and I'll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle," he said. "But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action. "
Across the country, Americans "are lying awake at night wondering if next week's paycheck will cover next month's bills," people are showing up at work to clear out their desks and retirees are watching their life savings disappear, Obama said.
In this country's darkest hours, the American people have risen above their divisions to solve their problems, he said.
"We have acted boldly, bravely, and above all, together," Obama said. "That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come. It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will. "
Obama seeks to create 2. (who is he trying to kid?) 5m jobs
US President-elect Barack Obama says he wants his economic team to find ways to generate 2.5 million new jobs during his first two years in office.
In a weekly address on the internet, Mr Obama said he wanted to sign the plan soon after taking office on 20 January.
The message came as unemployment claims rose by 540,000 in the US, taking the total to 1.2 million jobs lost in 2008.
Mr Obam More..a, said to have chosen Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, is due to name his economic team on Monday.
Mr Geithner, currently chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been deeply involved in the efforts to cope with the current financial crisis.
He previously worked in the Bill Clinton White House, where he worked through the fallout of the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.
US shares rose sharply on Friday as word spread of Mr Obama's reported choice, calming investor fears.
Building jobs
Talking about his desire to put job-creation at the heart of the economic policy of the incoming administration, Mr Obama said new unemployment figures reinforced the impression of an economic crisis of "historic proportions".
He hailed congressional approval of a boost in unemployment benefits, adding that the latest gloomy figures had only reinforced his determination to revitalise the economy.
"We must do more to put people back to work, and get our economy moving again," the president-elect said.
He said his economic priority would be a two-year, nationwide effort to "jumpstart job-creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy".
Ageing public infrastructure would be rebuilt, Mr Obama said, adding that his administration would look quickly at developing and building sources of renewable energy, such as wind farms, designed to "free" the US from its "dependency" foreign oil.
He suggested he would need cross-party support to get his plan through, despite his Democratic party holding a majority in both houses of Congress.
"Right now there are millions of mothers and fathers who are lying awake at night wondering if next week's pay check will cover next month's bills.
"There are Americans showing up to work in the morning only to have cleared out their desks by the afternoon. These Americans need help and they need it now," Mr Obama said.
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