Obama unveils economic team
His economic team arrayed behind him on stage, President-elect Barack Obama declared today that the country must act "swiftly and boldly" to prevent millions of job losses.
"We are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions," Obama said at a press conference in Chicago. "We know this won't be easy."
But it can be resolved with a "spirit of optimism" and a "new direction," he said. He said he wanted to bring in the best minds with both a combination of fresh thinking and experience.
The first job of his economic team, he said, will be to craft an economic stimulus plan to create or save 2.5 million jobs in the first half of his administration.
There are estimates that the package could be $350 billion a year -- twice the size of the $175 billion plan he proposed during the campaign.
"I don't want to get into numbers right now," Obama said, saying he wants to await a recommendation from his economic team.
But he noted that there is a "rare consensus" among liberal and conservative economists for a large stimulus package to "jolt" the economy back in shape. "We have to put people back to work," he said.
Obama said he would also await a recommendation from his economic team about how to implement his tax proposals. During the campaign, Obama vowed to rescind the Bush tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000 annually and to cut taxes for the middle class instead.
But Obama could avoid raising taxes during a recession by letting those tax cuts expire, as scheduled, on Dec. 31, 2010.
He said will honor public commitments made by the outgoing Bush administration, but wants the new Congress to enact a new "aggressive economic recovery plan" immediately after it convenes Jan. 6, in hopes that a package could be ready for his signature soon after he takes office on Jan. 20.
"We do not have a minute to waste," Obama said, arguing that the country is caught in a "vicious cycle" where Wall Street problems are spilling over to Main Street, but then worsening the woes of Wall Street firms, and on and on.
"Despite all this, I am hopeful about the future," he said.
Obama also said that while the federal government can't allow the auto industry "to vanish," it also can't just write a "blank check" without a promise of change.
He said he was surprised that the Big Three auto executives who pleaded last week for $25 billion in loans did not have a "better thought-out plan" and that Congress did the right thing by requiring them to come back next month with a restructuring plan before it gives more money.
"My attitude is we should help the auto industry," he said, but in a way that restructures the industry in a long-term sustainable way, and that does not just kick "the can down the road."
The mini-biographies of the economic team announced today are below:
Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury
Timothy Geithner currently serves as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he has played a key role in formulating the nation’s monetary policy. He joined the Department of the Treasury in 1988 and has served three presidents. From 1999 to 2001, he served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. Following that post he served as director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund until 2003. Geithner is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council
Lawrence Summers is currently the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University. Summers served as 71st Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006. Before being appointed Secretary, Summers served as Deputy and Under Secretary of the Treasury and as the World Bank’s top economist. Summers has taught economics at Harvard and MIT, and is a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded to the American economist under 40 judged to have made the most significant contribution to economics. Summers played a key advisory role during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Christina D. Romer, Director of the Council of Economic Advisors
Christina Romer is the Class of 1957 Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has taught and researched since 1988. Prior to joining the faculty at Berkeley, Romer was an assistant professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Romer is co-director of the Program in Monetary Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research and has been a visiting scholar at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Melody C. Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council
Melody Barnes is co-director of the Agency Review Working Group for the Obama-Biden Transition Team, and served as the Senior Domestic Policy Advisor to Obama for America. Barnes previously served as Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress and as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee from December 1995 until March 2003.
Heather A. Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council
Heather Higginbottom served as Policy Director for Obama for America, overseeing all aspects of policy development. From 1999 to 2007, Higginbottom served as Senator John Kerry’s Legislative Director. She also served as the Deputy National Policy Director for the Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign for the primary and general elections. After the 2004 election, Higginbottom founded and served as Executive Director of the American Security Project, a national security think tank. She started her career as an advocate at the national non-profit organization Communities in Schools.
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While I understand the role of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Globe may want to explain the role of all of all of the positions outlined. Whether we should feel sanguine about the personnel choices, and their associated biographies, depends on what is actually required of the job.
the current president and pres-elect speak on the same day about the same topic,money.wounder if hoover and pres-elect rosevelt had the same approach to the economic calamity that there admin.'s had to deal with.
It looks like Obama is seeking a diversity of opinion. I am encouraged thst the ideas coming from this administration will attract legislators from both sides of the isle.
Thank god you told us Obama was the second from the right. If not I would have thought he transformed into a 55 year old white woman.
We are not idiots even though you think we are
What the heck is "The Office of the President-Elect" ??????
This guy's ego dwarfed only by his stupidity.
Remember when the Boston Globe practically led the campaign to get Summers fired? Must be a huge conflict of interest now. On one hand, they love Obama and have ignored every major issue about him. On the other hand, they hate Summers because a couple of hens got upset when he quoted from an actual study suggesting men and women might be different.
Good luck with this one Boston Globe. Maybe you can blame Summers comments on Sarah Palin.
I agree with dhs on the Globe outlining briefly the positions outlined. It is especially important since many who are interested in politics right now and who is appointed to these positions may not have the knowledge of the actual positions.
So far I think Obama has done a commendable job in his picks for his administration.
In Obama We Trust
Yep...best case scenario: These folks from different sides of the political divide realize how serious our situation is, leave their egos at the door, and come together to help get us out of this mess...
Worst case scenario: Once the doors are shut, people start bickering, and Obama has to discipline the children...
After Summer's gaffs about women at Harvard, I have to chortle a bit that he's going to have to work with two very strong, very smart women! Ain't karma grand??
'AreYouKiddingMe' - you are an idiot and need to pack your bags along with George Bush and get the *@ck out. Your comment is as useless as George Bush.
Seeing that Socialism has never and will never work, it doesn't surprise me at all that he had to pick people from academia instead of people with "real" experience.
Those are some very scary selections.
Is he still using that "Office of the President-Elect" seal? What is it with this guy?
As for the picks, a collection of former Clinton and Reagan administration officials, proponents of globalization and free trade, and certainly not "change" in the slightest. In short, these picks contradict every principle Obama claimed to run on and every reason those who voted for him did so. Obamabots - are you beginning to feel like you have been lied to?
Suckers.
Change you can believe in!
I love how it's ok for him to appoint someone who believes that men are smarter than women - how would it be had he espoused that Caucasians are smarter than non-Caucasians?
I continue to hope that all the Obama haters like the McCain haters will stuff their personal attacks where they belong and grow up.
He could have done much worse. Though I wouldn't call them a strongly diverse set of opinions, at least there aren't any Krugman style partisan hacks among them
thank you for pointing out where Barack Obama is in your picture. i never knew he was African American. thank you Globe for pointing this out as I'm sure the media has overlooked this phenomenon.
This guy is the most arrogant, self-indulgent moron that has ever been elected.
Obamabots.....wake up and smell the coffee. This guy is a marketing creation and nothing more. He promised he would not fund his campaign with private money, until he found out that the brainwashed minions would donate tens of millions of dollars. To put it in simple terms that liberals can understand. He lied.
I just can't get over "The Office of the President-Elect". I mean, come on. This guy must stare at himself in the mirror every morning for at least an hour.
But already the Great Liar is already starting to tick off the people he promised things to. Why ? Because he knows he can't deliver the goods. But the tragic part is that he ALWAYS knew that.
Obama will be gone and forgotten after 4 years of the Jimmy Carter sequel.
This is great, these comments....in one you have NoNoNobama decrying the fact that he chose people from other administrations that have experience saying "thats not change!" and in another you have UGH who decries the fact that these picks are "academia and have no real experience"
Its hysterical to me and only goes to show that you hate the man for reasons other than his ability to lead and govern.
well, in this new administration of TALK TALK TALK, hopefully this administration will actually DO something!!
AreYouKiddingMe....you should really slither back under your rock! You have a miserable attitude! Maybe you should take a happy pill....it might help!
krystyn, i'm confused. when has he 'led and governed'? it's not hate. he is the wrong man (gender neutral so not to offend) for the wrong time. i'm willing to give him a chance, no choice. but so far it's all BS. we'll see.
Everything Obama does just feels right. He's inspiring and just makes me feel comfortable and safe. I love everything he has done, not because he has any experience or because he is qualifed but because he gives me this euphoric feeling of peace. In Obama I trust. Change, hope, inspiration and euphoria will soon descend upon the world. I can't wait to have free healthcare, peace in the world and a free mortgage!!!!
Areyoukiddingme, I just am at a loss. What makes you get up in the morning?It surely can't be your stunning intellect.
Do you think Obama hand crafted the effing podium? He probably has no idea what it says. Secondly, he IS the President-elect. That's why his podium says 'president elect'. I'll bet George Bush had a similar podium. It doesn't matter. Who gives a flying f*** what the podium says? Go jerk off to pictures of Ronald reagan, that should make you feel better.
krystyn
You left out, AreYouKiddingMe. Everytime this person offers an opinion, my reaction is the same... "Are you kidding me?" Clearly, there are too many birds in his/her antenna.
No PE in history, besides Lincoln and Roosevelt, has inherited a bigger mess. And, as far as I know, no one has moved more swiftly, openly, or decisively to set up a transition team.
I agree with you Krystyn, AYKM, "hates the man for reasons other than for his ability to lead and govern". After all, Obama still two months away from actually taking the helm. Fact is, there are countless angry, frustrated people on the Right. Witness the behavior of Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, Malkin, Coulter, etc, etc. These people simply can't deal with either a democrat or a black in office. The combination of both is clearly more than they can handle.
The Office of the President Elect is right in the fact that we only have one President, but he is quick to claim the Presidetn-Elect title. Great leaders spread the credit and do not look for it, Obama is one continual infomercial and it makes it very hard to sit back and let him get ready to govern. I genuinely like most of his Clinton II team that he is creating as they were relatively centrist, but I'm concerned with his heavy dependence on academic theorists, in other words unproven left leaning policy wanne be wonks.
His economic policies that are gaining attention are a far cry from his campaign rhetoric, as they are out of McCain's economic plan, so I like them; no tax increases, admitting he's cutting back on his expansion plans (not quite a freeze, but it will do), and delaying the doubling of capital gains will help boost investment. Now those are the plans of a good fiscal conservative.
These are the end days of Capitalism, the world's last religion. Ever notice how all the religions were created before you were born? Most will be gone before you die, thank God! Communism died at a party it was throwing for itself, the walls came down and burn, baby burn, was invented as a phrase indicating, "having a good time." Now comes our turn. Of course, it won't be easy. you can hear the backlash starting already. we'll have to sell the Big 3 to their workers--about time--so they can quit complaining. and then develop a new grid for the windturbines to supply the electricity for those electric cars GM destroyed. Oh, the irony.
I love laughing at the Obamabots.....LOL. Look we have one idiot on here saying that conservative talk show hosts can't stand a black in the White House. Typical liberal, always playing the race card. Notice how it's always the Democraps that bring up race.
Get a new line will ya.
Obama is the biggest fraud ever elected, and it just shows how dumb a majority of the American electorate is,
Is this policy being discussed by the hynowheel-eyed ozombies? You're not discussing personality? Or the spine tingling you felt every time he recited the word "change" to you?
Only time will tell, history is a stern teacher when it comes to so called change! The so called free lunch and wealth share have been used before! But the so called enlightened will keep pushing untill they get what THEY want and so sad too bad for the rest of us. Look hard at the choices, say hello to the new boss same as the old boss! sound familiar. As john adams said "facts are stubborn things" dependence on academic theorists is a dangerous thing. good luck to us all.
As long as Summers doesn't mention that the women on the team don't have as high an aptitude for finance as men do, I think the team will do just fine.
Oh yea, hear yea, to the nay sayers commenting above. The office of the "president elect" quite clearly is a serious attemt to right the ship the President of the United States...(check the seal on "his" podium). It would appear that only the die hard 19% Neocon supporters of W are willing to negotiate a walk on the plank for the current President and cut the president elect off at the knees. Documented evidence of failed foreign policy, failed domestic policy, two wars lost or teetering, financial markets tanking and decades of upcoming massive debt must be of little concern to the Neocon party loyalists.. The truth hurts. It is time to consider the future, not the past.