US President-elect Barack Obama has said he is crafting an aggressive, two-year stimulus plan to revive the troubled economy, warning that swift action was needed to prevent a deep slump and a spiral of falling prices.
‘If we don't act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year,’ Mr Obama said in prepared remarks for the weekly Democratic radio and video address.
‘We now risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further,’ he said.
A day after US stock markets rallied on his apparent choice of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, Mr Obama gave a bleak assessment of the economy in his most detailed comments on the subject since winning the election.
Yesterday it was reported that the incoming president would announce the rest of his economic team, including ex-UN ambassador Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary, on Monday.
It has also been reported that Hillary Clinton has agreed to serve as Secretary of State in Mr Obama's cabinet.
Mr Obama announced tonight that close aide Robert Gibbs would be White House press secretary.
Ellen Moran will serve as director of communications and Dan Pfeiffer will serve as deputy director of communications.
