United States President-elect Barack Obama yester-day said the deepening American recession could stretch years into the future if Congress fails to act quickly on his call to pump hundreds of billions of federal dollars into the nation's economy.

In a speech at George Mason University in Virginia, near Washington, DC, Obama cast blame on "an era of profound irresponsibility" that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington.

Unemployment

However, failing to right those wrongs could have grave implications for all Americans, Obama said. He warned the country could face double-digit unemployment and US$1 trillion in lost economic activity if the government fails to act at once.

"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. "A bad situation could become dramatically worse."

Obama's speech, an extraordinary move for a president-in-waiting, reflected the grim urgency of the times and a potential slip in congressional support.

Plan' s criticised

Not long after Obama spoke, some senators from his own party publicly criticised his plan to include tax cuts.

Emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, several Democrats expressed scepticism that the kind of business and individual tax cuts Obama has been discussing would do much to create jobs or increase consumer spending.

The address marked the fourth day running that Obama has urged fast action on huge spending in response to the worst US economic slide since the 1930s Great Depression. It was his first appearance directly aimed at taxpayers and the highest-profile pitch for the giant spending plan.