Obama Unveils Ambitious Economic Agenda

In Midst Of Crisis, President-Elect Urges Quick Action; Focuses On Job Creation, Clean Energy

(CBS/AP)  President-elect Barack Obama warned of dire and lasting consequences if Congress doesn't pump unprecedented dollars into the national economy, making an urgent pitch Thursday for his mammoth spending proposal in his first speech since his election.

"In short, a bad situation could become dramatically worse" if Washington doesn't go far enough to address the spreading crisis, Mr. Obama said as fresh economic reports showed an outlook growing increasingly grim.

Since his November election, he has deferred to President George W. Bush on foreign policy matters such as the Middle East. But, with the urgency of the economic crisis, Mr. Obama has waded deeply into domestic issues as he works to generate support for his plan to create jobs, jolt the economy and make long-term investments in other areas.

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

But he added, "The very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve. Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness."

Mr. Obama laid out goals of doubling the production of alternative energy over three years, updating most federal buildings to improve energy efficiency, making medical records electronic, expanding broadband networks and updating schools and universities.

Still, his remarks shed little new light on the details of his plan that could cost as much as $775 billion over two years in tax cuts and spending intended to jolt the economy and create new jobs.

And given the breadth of the problem implementing a recovery plan might be too daunting a task.

"It's just not that easy to figure out how to stimulate an economy in this condition," writes CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder. "In a normal recession, small tax cuts might boost savings, which, if the economy were growing, would be fine. But Obama needs Americans to spend, spend, spend, and not to save."

About $300 billion of Mr. Obama's package would be for tax cuts or refunds for individuals and businesses. But those tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs.

Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Mr. Obama's stimulus plan.

They were especially critical of a proposed $3,000 tax credit for companies that hire or retrain workers.

"If I'm a business person, it's unlikely if you give me a several-thousand-dollar credit that I'm going to hire people if I can't sell the products they're producing," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a member of the committee.

"That to me is just misdirected," Conrad said.

The speech marked Mr. Obama's highest-profile effort yet on an issue certain to define and dominate his early presidency.

"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," he said.

Governors of six states and mayors of 14 cities - a bipartisan audience that came from as far away as Minnesota and Utah to be among the few hundred in attendance - listened to the speech that lasted less than a half hour. Included were Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City.

Mr. Obama asked Congress to work day, night and on weekends if necessary to pass a revival plan within the next few weeks so that it can be ready for his signature shortly after he takes office on Jan. 20.

"There are signs in Washington that this stimulus package is getting bogged down a bit," said CBS News correspondent Chip Reid. "He wants the American people to understand how bad things are. It is potentially catastrophic and he wants to light a fire under Congress and get them to do this and do it quickly."

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Click here for analysis by chief political consultant Marc Ambinder
Click here for more analysis from the CBS News team.
Click here for a full transcript of President-elect Barack Obama's speech

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The speech came amid a grim economic backdrop. The Labor Department reported Thursday that total unemployment claims jumped to around 4.6 million last week, even though the number of new claims dropped unexpectedly.

For all of 2008, employers probably slashed payrolls by at least 2.4 million. And some economists predict a jump in the jobless rate from 6.7 to 7 percent in December, which would be the highest in more than 15 years, reports CBS News correspondent Priya David. The Labor Department will release the latest unemployment figures Friday.

Of the 3.2 million jobs that the Obama administration says will be saved or created, a million of those jobs will come from a $25 billion investment in infrastructure - building and renovating roads, bridges and schools while making a long-term investment in renewable energy and "green" initiatives, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace.

On Wednesday, news of an unparalleled federal budget of $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year was revealed, according to a Capitol Hill aide briefed on new Congressional Budget Office figures.

Mr. Obama acknowledged the new stimulus spending will "certainly add to the budget deficit." He also acknowledged some sympathy with those who "might be skeptical of this plan" because so much federal money has already been spent or committed in an attempt - largely unsuccessful so far - to get credit, the lifeblood of the American economy, flowing freely once again.

Such statements are coded to appeal to budget hawks in both parties, whom Mr. Obama wants to win over so that approval of a package draws wide, bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Congress.

Mr. Obama also pledged to keep his stimulus plan free from pork barrel spending, telling Congress that "this must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests."

[rusure5]

Re: "Obama Urges "Dramatic Action" On Economy"

While sandwiched in by two leading members of the Bush criminal kleptocrat family.

How appropriate.

[hackerpc]

the drama of Obama....

[longtree-2009]

obama you don''t need to lead american citizens since we are suffering, know the causes. it''s congress you need to lead to serve the nation first, then congress can serve their state and pet earmark programs. the nation should come first. wondering how you giving stimulous to education is going to help the rest of us. education is full of corruption, just like corporations. out here a school superintendent makes 6 figure salaries but buildings are falling apart. principals, have assistants, assistants have assistants, a nightmare. parents are asked to volunteer in the classroom, and do, but teachers don''t come to my office after their shift to help me, they don''t volunteer to help me in the office when they are off for the summer or countless other holidays during the school year. education is corrupt, greedy.

[creeper00]

Obama''s planning on giving us another handout. The last two didn''t work. Why does he think this one will.

More stale ideas from the guy who promised change. They go well with all the recycled bureaucrats who will be working for him.

[clancy49]

This is a nightmare photo. Barrack Obama between the two most evil men in the world and they are all smiling. I get goosebumps running up and down my spine as if I feel these men walking over my grave. My advice to this dire mire we are in? My daddy always said, "Never put water in a bucket with holes is it. Fix the holes first."

[spinproof]

President-Elect Says Recession Could "Linger For Years" If Congress Doesn''t Act Now

The U.S. does need to act and move in an urgent manner but not so urgent that we get ripped off for another $700 billion like we did by not dotting all the i''s and crossing all the t''s with the bailout for banks. Someone needs to read and be responsible and accountable for the small print! The "small print" is usually that included language that preempts the large print, like the small print that caught many home buyers off guard with those variable rate mortgages that is contributing to our financial nightmare.

[DragQueenWhatDragQueen]

I pray to God asking for one gift. To live long enough to spit on those TWO EVIL IMPS FROM HELL graves.

Those Bush''s aren''t even HUMAN nor BEAST. They''re SATAN''S HENCHMEN leaving a path of DEATH and DESTRUCTION throughout time.

[DragQueenWhatDragQueen]

creeper00 you sound bitter.

[u-r-right]

Welcome to Politico Radio....All Bush, all the time.

[evian_ycnan]

The Bush family is proof that American society is very much like a stew... it needs to be stirred or else the scum rises to the top.

Regards,

[greeneyes222]

"Dramatic Action" is a buzzword for "don''t look too closely at the details, America. Just give me what I want."

And if/when it fails, well, blame Bush.

This man is every bit as bad as Bush if not worse. He hasn''t even taken office and already "hope" is starting to fade.

[evian_ycnan]

You nailed it Greeneyes - "Dramatic Action" is code for the Federal Gov. stepping in and seizing control of the private economy.

Posted by ritewingman at 08:12 AM : Jan 08, 2009

Dramatic Action is code for correcting Stupid Inaction.

Get used to it. Undoing 8 years of monkeyshines will have many dramatic actions.

[huupuh]

Bush is to blame look at what has happened to this country somebody has to try something maby it will work but one thing for sure what "BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS HAVE DONE DID NOT WORK"

[likeitis5050]

Obama looks so cute...adorable...***.y...doesn''t matter where you put him...he''s the breath of fresh air, and the change this thirsty world is aching to get its hands on...wooooo hooooo....let the good times roll!!!

[likeitis5050]

oooops...didn''t do enough to get around the software....Obama is s..e..x..y...now s.crew with that.

[exusmcsgt]

He isn''t brilliant, in fact he is an unqualified leader....

Posted by peace4321 at 08:24 AM : Jan 08, 2009

Well, condemning the man before he even takes the chair is hardly objective.

I assume that you think Bush was qualified even though he proved otherwise to the entire world....

[rafterman1]

===Aw, blaming 8 years on Bush/Republicnas is short sighted..Did you forget that Pelosi and her Dem Congres ran the show and screwed all of us just as much? Try to see the big picture..and if you need to blame anyone as much blame Reid, Pelosi and now Obama.===
Posted by peace4321

Yeah, see the big picture you dumb f***. Repubs ran the show in Congress for 12 of the last 14 years, had the presidency for the last eight and have appointed 90 percent of the federal judiciary. Yet, in your pea brain, two years of a very slight Dem Congressional majority with no veto override under a hostile president equals *** us "just as much" as 14 years of Repub rule.

YOU are the reason the country is in so much trouble, thanks to your blind partisian stupidy.

[huupuh]

Bush and the Republicans had it all yes "ALL" for six of the last eight years since Bush took office Bush and the Republicans pushed through 11 trade agreements not counting "COMMUNIST CHINA" the big tax breaks for the rich should be over. The "TRIKLE DOWN ONLY WORKS FOR THE RICH".

[rafterman1]

===Bush did not create the mess, he did not veto anything Congress set forward- Congress was Democratic. It takes two to tango.===
Posted by peace4321

WRONG. Bush THREATENED to veto many bills on several occasions (for example, twice on military funding bills), forcing Dems to change the bill to HIS demands. In addition, he vetoed two or three Dem bills (he vetoes none while Repubs had the majority).

Stop changing history.

[huupuh]

peace4321 are you trying to tell people the REPUBLICANS did not run the show for 6 of the last years.

[windmaster12]

Bush Sept. 08
"The fundamentals of our economy are sound"

He must have meant for the upper3%

However, what we do need is a different tax structure!!

I think we need to go to a flat income tax of 12%
A capital gains tax of 15%
An import duty of 8% on all imported goods
And a National sales tax of 5% on all products

Simplify the stupid Tax system
Get rid of all the loopholes

A 15% capital gains would spur business --
Increasing domestic spending and Manufacturing.

Since we are no longer a major export nation,
An Import duty would bring in Trillions
To a Gov''t that''s cash starved --

And in the end changing the tax structure would
even the playing field.

We need something new that''s for sure
Steve Forbes has it right.

[opedanderson]

I dont like Obama. I did not vote for him. I find him a slick talking scumbag that had he been a white candidate, he would have never gotten the nomination. His is vague and mysterious about his associations (something we have not heard the last about by the way) I feel that the media was not only in the tank for him but also allowed sexism reign to embarassing levels in 2008 completely eradicating the woman who should have been President and not Secretary of State.

Having said that, this country is screwed up. Bush, who I have been ranting against for 8 years, has done to this country what he has done to everything he has touched his entire life.

Obama needs our support. He needs all of us who dont like him or trust him to cross our fingers and give him the leeway and support that he is going to need. Don''t do it for him. Do it for yourself and our children.

We really have no choice anyway......

[huupuh]

Rafterman1 peace4321 has blinders on.

[rafterman1]

===Bush did not create the mess, he did not veto anything Congress set forward- Congress was Democratic. It takes two to tango. Stop the idolizing and start waking up to the fact your Messiah is not your answer. Americans don''''t need bigger government, and yet, the Democrats are creating that right under your noses and you don''''t see that.===
Posted by peace4321

The govt increased to three times its size under Bush than it was under Clinton.

The "messiah" stupidity was not created by Dems, it was invented by Repubs to mock Obama. Repubs then claimed Dems are the ones who think Obama is a "messiah". But Dems never thought that. We just think Obama is way more competent than Bush. But then, so is a tree stump.

[rafterman1]

===His is vague and mysterious about his associations (something we have not heard the last about by the way)===
Posted by opedanderson

There''s nothing "vague" about Obama and his associations. Repubs went on fishing expiditions. To them, Obama being in the same room as someone made them his "close friend" or "mentor". When Obama refused to play to their stupidity and desperation, he suddenly was "vague".

Obama is a politican. So he doesn''t hang out with nuns and Sunday school teachers. But his associations are no more questionable than any other politicians'' associations. But a black man with a funny sounding name made the paranoia come out in droves for people.

[rafterman1]

===can obama fix the economy? yes or no?===
Posted by jamesm12341

Don''t know, we''ll see.

[ddaryl1]

can obama fix the economy? yes or no?

Posted by jamesm12341

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yes... but if people are expecting overnight end of 2009 success then there will be dissapointment. This mess will take the 1st 4 years just to get things rolling and another 4 years to see the plan through... It''s going to take a long time ot actually declare it fixed.

personally I like what i see in Obama. I don''t understand why people do not trust him... but only time will tell... 50% + voted fo rBush twice so they must hav etrusted him. problem is he never once struck me as th ekind of guy who could be trusted or even qualified... In the end I was proven more then right... But I have the exact opposite feeling about Obama based upon the way he gpoes about his business.

[huupuh]

I will start to worry if Obama starts hanging out with Republicans.

[omega40]

The elephant in the room is labor arbitrage or what our politicians laughingly call "free trade". It is undeniable that shipping the better paying jobs overseas results in smaller GDP, bigger trade deficits, less money in the US economy, less tax revenue, inflation and falling wages. Both parties continue to wear their blinders and pretend these policies are not only not damaging but somehow helpful. The economy will continue to decline until this issue is dealt with and any amount of money printed and spent is not going to help things and in fact will only make matters worse.

[huupuh]

I hope Obama and the democrats can fix things but we sure know who broke it the "REPUBLICANS" YES THE "REPUBLICANS"

[rafterman1]

===it takes more than the president to fix the economy...it takes all of us....as long as people live their lives worrying about who or what is to blame for problems...they will never be fixed.===
Posted by jamesm12341

There are many variables to how strong an economy works. But the president sets the example. Confidence (or lack of) in a president is enought to influence stocks and spending.

And please stop with the "blaming someone isn''t productive" stuff. If a Dem was in the last eight years, the blame would be flowing a-plenty from the right, so let''s not act holier than though. And people don''t "spend their lives" worrying who was at fault. These boards are mostly political discussion about politicians. What do you expect us to talk about? Gardening? So we talk about politicans and their f-ups.

[rafterman1]

===what does it matter at this point?===
Posted by jamesm12341

Knowing what went wrong (and who did it) allows us to try and do it better next time.

[whitemale08]

Unless Obama throws away the Keynesian economic text books he used in college he will not succeed.

Anglo central banker Maynard Keynes was an idiot and this is why Wall Street/City of London doesn''t get it.

You cannot have private-central-banking systems built upon 0% interest rates that force people to borrow/consume instead of rewarding production/savings.

Our economy has to be reconfigured once a treaty agreement with the major countries of the world under a New Bretton Woods fixed-exchanged-rates system is implemented.


Milton Friedman was an idiot and it should be obvious now. So was British fool Adam Smith and his ''invisible hand''.

The ''invisible hand'' was code word for ''looting'' the economy by ''speculating debt''.

Let''s stop this krap and go back to an American system of economics before it''s too late.

larouchepac.com
The whole idea that our economy has to be based on the ''speculation of debt'' is ridiculously stupid and should be rejected by the world community.

[whitemale08]

''Debt'' is what gives fiat-currency its life under a British Maynard Keynese system.

I thought our ancestors came here to get away from the British and their oligachial ways of financial-imperialism.

Obama has to reject the British and their evil ways of economics and go back to an American system by nationalizing our currency, agree with other nations to a fixed-exchange rate and cancel over a quadrillion in worthless derivative-swap-krap garbage.

[huupuh]

Thanks Mr. Bush and the Republicans for all the trade agreements you people got passed and best of all was COMMUNIST CHINA SEPT 19 2000 THAT WAS A GREAT ONE.

[evian_ycnan]

He (Obama) isn`t brilliant, in fact he is an unqualified leader... Posted by peace4321 at 08:24 AM : Jan 08, 2009

I suppose you too have been editor and president of the Harvard Law Review? And that you too taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School for 10 years? A community activist? State Senator? Senator?

Oh, no? Then Bush must have been all that and not just the manager of a failed baseball team, or a failed oilman, and a drunk?

Actually Obama''s credentials would better suit him for the US Supreme Court than to have to clean chimp s#it off the chairs in the Oval Office.

[huupuh]

We all have had it now "ROWDY" is going to tell us how it works in Texas maby not for the rest of the country but in Texas

[chgogreg1]

The guy is not even president yet! How about we actually give him a chance and see what he can do? At least, he acknowledges that there is a problem and that it needs to be fixed. That is something that our current "Idiot in Chief" didn''t even do until he had no other choice. Bush failed at everything that he tried to run including our country. Obama came from a underprivileged beginning and worked his way up without the benefit of family connections. Let''s give the guy a chance!

[whitemale08]

Until Obama cancels the quadrillions in the derivatives market the ''real economy'' will only get worse.

[takebackusa]

so, a person who can''''t spell a simple word like "thou" is an expert on the economy?

Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:42 AM : Jan 08, 2009

Oh, I don''t know jimmyboy. We''ve ALL caught you making spelling errors.

[whitemale08]

You cannot even print a quadrillion dollars to monetize the derivatives market.

So why try?

Put the financial system through bankruptcy and start over.

[takebackusa]

I don''''t claim to be an expert on the economy. Name one word I did not spell right.

Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:49 AM : Jan 08, 2009

A couple weeks back, if you recall, you were chastizing someone for their bad spelling and user ''to'' instead of "too". In the same post, you used "dont" instead of "don''t". When it was brought to your attention, as usual, you ran.

[takebackusa]

As usual you are wrong. No surprise.

Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:55 AM : Jan 08, 2009

Not really, jimmyboy. But I guess someone as perfect as you is incapable of making mistakes. I can repost if you like. I saved it. We all had a good laugh after you ran away.

[huupuh]

I am glad we got one thing right the Republicans cased this mess.

[rafterman1]

===Where did the economy expert rafterman go after posting "holier than though"?===
Posted by jamesm12341

What, are you the spelling police? And you don''t need to be an economy expert when you have eyes and ears to see how things work.

[takebackusa]

Seriously? You''''re responding to your own posts? How''''s that workin'''' for ya?

Posted by earache4 at 10:06 AM : Jan 08, 2009

Jimmyboy is very needy. He comes here for the attention he doesn''t get from his parents. Apparently, we don''t give him enough attention either, so he gives it to himself. LOL

[huupuh]

jamesm12341 you do no get it do you just get a grip everyone knows what the REPUBLICANS are "CROOKS"

[huupuh]

jamesm12341 we as in about 75% of this country thinks Bush was wrong.

[credibility2]

Obama is using a scare tactic to force bloated government and spending on his so-called stimulus package. This is no different than Bush scaring us into war with Iraq. The so-called intelligence for both can be argued as flawed. Chicken little roaming around and free-basing.

[hackerpc]

Obama:Long recession if aid package delayed
BUSH: Long recession if aid package delayed
Obama:Long recession if aid package delayed
BUSH: Long recession if aid package delayed
WE''VE BEEN BAMBOOZLED!!!!