Saturday January 10, 05:27 PM
Obama says economy will get worse before it gets better
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US president-elect Barack Obama sought to cool down expectations from his incoming administration Saturday, saying the most serious crisis since the Great Depression gripping the United States will probably get worse before the economy starts to improve.
But he expressed confidence Americans will overcome the current difficulties.
"Recovery won't happen overnight, and it's likely that things will get worse before they get better," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
"But we have come through moments like this before ... And I am confident that if we come together and summon that great American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write the next great chapter in our American story."
The comments came as new data released Friday showed US unemployment surged to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent as a deepening recession pushed employers to shed a massive 524,000 jobs in December, capping a yearly loss of 2.6 million.
Obama said his first job after moving into the White House on January 20 would be to and get the US economy moving forward again.
He said a report compiled by a team of economists he had assembled showed that his economic plan will help save or create three to four million jobs, 90 percent of them in the private sector.
According to the president-elect, nearly half a million jobs will be created by investing in clean energy and committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs, he added, will be created by improving health care and transitioning to a nationwide system of computerized medical records that prevent medical errors.
Obama expects that hundreds of thousands more jobs will appear in education through equipping tens of thousands of schools with 21st century classrooms, labs and computers "to help our kids compete with any worker in the world for any job."
About 400,000 people will be put to work, according to his plan, by repairing the US infrastructure - crumbling roads, bridges and schools.
"They'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term," Obama said of his plan.
On Thursday, Obama proposed tax cuts and a rapid dash to green energy as part of a massive stimulus package that he said was essential to avert economic disaster.
"I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible," Obama said in his first set-piece speech since his election triumph.
"If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years," he said, in an appeal to both Congress and the public 12 days before his inauguration to back a stimulus bill expected to total at least 775 billion dollars.
Republican lawmakers are balking at the costs and question how much of the money will actually stimulate growth to haul the world's largest economy out of its year-old contraction.
But Obama said the economic price of not launching a huge stimulus package would be far worse, despite a budget deficit forecast to top one trillion dollars this year.
He repeated the warning Saturday, saying that if nothing was done, "the unemployment rate could reach double digits - and they warn that our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world."
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