Obama: Economic Recovery Possible By 2010
But "if we get things right," he said, such improvement could take place by 2010.
"Now, you know, I don't have a crystal ball," the president said. "And as I said, this is an unprecedented crisis. But my hope is that after a difficult year – and this year is going to be a difficult year – that businesses start investing again, start making decisions that, you know, in fact, there's money to be made out there."
Mr. Obama said he also hoped that after this year "customers or consumers start feeling that their jobs are stable and safe, and they start making purchases again."
"If we get things right, then, starting next year, we can start seeing significant improvement," he said.
The president added that "the biggest measure of success is whether we stop contracting and shedding jobs and we start growing again."
Video: "If you delay acting on an economy of this severity," he sayd, "then you potentially create a negative spiral that becomes much more difficult for us to get out of."