President-elect Barack Obama yesterday outlined his plan to create 2.5 million jobs with public works programmes that will rebuild roads and bridges, modernise schools and create alternative energy sources.
"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 in the weekly Democratic radio address.
The economic recovery plan being developed by his staff aims to create millions of new jobs by January 2011, and he wants Congress to approve it quickly so he can sign it shortly after taking office on January 20.
Jump-starting job creation
He called the plan "big enough to meet the challenges we face" and said that it will jump-start job creation and lay the foundation for a strong economy.
Obama outlined the recovery plan a day after senior Democratic officials disclosed that he intends to name Timothy Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary.
The announcement of Geithner's appointment could come as soon as Monday, they said. The news sent the US stock market soaring on Friday.
If nominated and confirmed by the Senate, Geithner, 47, would assume chief responsibility for tackling an economic slowdown and credit crunch that threaten to create the deepest recession in more than a generation.
In his current post in New York, Geithner has played a key role in the government's response to the financial crisis and has worked closely with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
As a Treasury Department official during the administration of former president, Bill Clinton, Geithner dealt with international financial crises and played a major part in negotiating assistance packages for South Korea and Brazil.
Word of Geithner's likely selection emerged as Clinton's wife, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in line to become secretary of state, said through a spokesman that discussions were on track for her appointment but no final arrangement had been made.
Historic economic crisis
In his radio address yesterday, Obama acknowledged 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, January 20, "is our chance to begin anew".