Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

Special Report: Barack Obama: The 44th U.S. President

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Friday named a team of leading economists to help him on the stricken economy as he continued to push the Congress to quickly approve his massive stimulus plan.

    The new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, to be headed by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, will offer independent advice in regular briefings to the president, vice president and their economic team.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to establish the Economic Recovery Advisory Board in the East Room of the White House in Washington Feb. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan) Photo Gallery>>>

    Members will include former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, TIAA-CREF President-CEO Roger Ferguson and Harvard University professor Martin Feldstein.

    "I created this board to enlist voices to come from beyond the Washington echo chamber, to ensure that no stone is unturned as we work to put people back to work and get our economy moving," said Obama.

U.S. President Barack Obama (1st R) speaks before signing an executive order to establish the Economic Recovery Advisory Board in the East Room of the White House in Washington Feb. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan) Photo Gallery>>>

    "I'm not interested in groupthink, which is why the Board reflects a broad cross-section of experience, expertise, and ideology," he said. "We've recruited Republican and Democrats; veterans of government and the private sector; advocates for business and labor."

    He also joked that "these days everybody thinks they're an economist."

    "This new institution should send a signal of how seriously I take the responsibility of building an economic recovery that is broad and enduring," said the president, adding that these are "extraordinary times."

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) speaks as Economic Recovery Advisory Board Chairman and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker looks on in the East Room of the White House in Washington Feb. 6, 2009. President Obama signed an executive order Friday to establish the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan) Photo Gallery>>>

    Before Obama signed the executive order officially creating the board, he addressed the jobs numbers and brought home the individual pains behind those almost incomprehensibly large numbers.

    "Somewhere in America, a small business has shut its doors; a family has said goodbye to their home; a young parent has lost their livelihood, and doesn't know what's going to take its place," Obama said.

    The Labor Department reported earlier Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent in January, the highest level since 1992, as employers slashed 598,000 jobs.

    January's drop, far worse than the 524,000 jobs that economists expected, was followed revised declines of 577,000 jobs in December. The U.S. economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since December 2007, when the recession began. And about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months.

    Obama urged the Congress to quickly approve his massive stimulus plan, saying the current crisis could "turn into a catastrophe" if the Congress does not act swiftly.

    "We'll continue to get devastating job reports like today's -- month after month, year after year," he warned.

    "It's very important to understand that, although we had a terrible year with respect to jobs last year, the problem is accelerating, not decelerating. It's getting worse, not getting better," said the president. 

Obama imposes $500,000 cap on executive pay in bailouts

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Obama administration on Wednesday imposed a pay cap of 500,000 U.S. dollars for top executives at companies that receive the government bailout money to weather the current financial crisis.

    The new rule came out amid rising public fury about huge pay packages for executives at financial companies being propped up by federal tax dollars.  Full story

19 U.S. governors support economic recovery act

    LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined 18 other governors on Tuesday in voicing support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

    "We are writing to express our support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which passed last week in the House and is under consideration currently in the Senate," the governors said in a letter to President Barak Obama.  Full story

Obama pushes stimulus plan forth as Senate debate continues

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama worked hard to push his massive stimulus plan forward on Tuesday as the Senate continued the debate on the over 800 billion U.S. dollar spending bill.

    One day after expressing optimism that action on the massive plan will be finalized soon, Obama Tuesday accepted interviews with all five major U.S. television news outlets -- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News, a move to seek public support.  Full story

Obama says stimulus plan should not send protectionist message

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the United States cannot send a protectionist message to the rest of the world.

    He cautioned Congress that any protectionist provisions that could trigger a trade war should not be included in the final version of the economic stimulus plan.  Full story

Obama nominates Republican senator as Commerce Secretary

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Republican Senator Judd Gregg as commerce secretary in his cabinet.

    If confirmed, Gregg, a senator from New Hampshire in his third term, will become the third Republican Obama enrolled in his cabinet, following Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Full story

U.S. House passes Obama's economic stimulus plan

     WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved President Barack Obama's 819-billion-dollar economic stimulus plan, which melds new spending and tax cuts to jump-start the economy.

     The House measure combines roughly 275 billion dollars in temporary tax cuts for both individuals and businesses along with about 544 billion dollars for job-creating investment projects, health industry improvements, expanded aid for the poor and unemployed, and improving education.  Full story