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President Obama said Tuesday "there are no quick fixes" to pull the economy out of recession, but he insisted the country will recover.
President Obama says the country "will recover from this recession."
In his second prime time news conference, Obama called on Americans to look to the future with a "renewed confidence that a better day will come."
"We will recover from this recession," the president said.
"But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have toward each other -- that's when we succeed." Watch Obama's opening remarks »
Despite criticism from Republicans who have called his proposed budget -- expected to drive up the deficit over the next decade -- "irresponsible," the president pledged that his administration will cut the deficit in half over the next five years. Watch Obama promise to halve the deficit »
"I suspect some Republican critics have a short-term memory," Obama told reporters. "Because, as I recall, I am inheriting a $1.3 trillion annual deficit from them." Watch what iReporters would ask the president »
Obama said the budget he has proposed is "inseparable" from the overall strategy for economic recovery.
Obama told the country that his administration has put in place "a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts."
"It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress," he said. Watch: Obama says he sees progress »
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"The budget I submitted to Congress will build our economic recovery on a stronger foundation, so that we don't face another crisis like this 10 or 20 years from now," he said.
Asked whether he would sign a budget that doesn't include a middle-class tax cut, Obama said he has "emphasized repeatedly" what his expectations are.
"I haven't seen yet what provisions are in there," Obama said. "The bottom line is that I want to see health care, energy, education and serious efforts to reduce our budget deficit. And there are going to be details that still need to be worked out."
Obama's appearance comes on the heels of the unveiling of the Treasury Department's new bank rescue plan.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday announced a plan to remove troubled assets from banks' books by partnering with private investors.
The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of existing assets and loans, such as subprime mortgages that are now in danger of default.
Following the announcement of the plan, the stock market rallied, posting the biggest gains in months.
Obama said he supports Geithner's push to seize financial institutions whose failure would pose serious risks to the U.S. financial system.
"Keep in mind that it is precisely because of the lack of this authority that the AIG situation has gotten worse," Obama said, referring to the troubled insurance giant.
It was revealed last week that AIG doled out massive bonuses to executives after receiving more than $170 billion in bailout funds.
Pressed about why he waited three days to publicly speak out against AIG paying out the bonuses, Obama told reporters, "It took us a couple of days because I like to think about what I'm talking about before I speak."
Obama's prime time news conference marks the second of his administration. The president made the rounds on television this past week, with an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes."
On the morning of the news conference, Obama reached out to citizens of the world in an op-ed piece that ran in 31 newspapers around the world.
In the op-ed, Obama said there is an urgent need for worldwide economic cooperation and spoke about the upcoming G-20 meeting.
The G-20 meeting, in which leaders of the world's richest nations will discuss the global economic downturn, takes place next week in London, England.
In his first prime time news conference, the president used the national platform to make the case for his economic stimulus plan, which has since been passed by Congress and signed into law.
Obama took questions from 13 different reporters at the February news conference. Eight questions were about the economy, three were about foreign policy and one was about creating a truth and reconciliation committee to investigate the Bush administration
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President Obama went on the defensive Tuesday night over his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, dismissing criticism of the plan and insisting that historic investments be made in education, health care and energy in order to ensure an economic recovery.
The president, in his second prime-time press conference, faced tough questions about recent projections that his budget would create trillions of dollars in deficits over the next decade and potentially double the national debt.
But Obama argued that his budget proposal is a critical peg in a comprehensive plan to attack the economic crisis "on all fronts," and prevent another comparable crisis one or two decades from now.
"Let's make the investments that ensure that we meet our growth targets that put us on a pathway to growth as opposed to a situation in which we're not making those investments and we still have trillion-dollar deficits," he said. Obama said the biggest cause of long-term deficits is "huge health care costs," which his budget seeks to address.
And he said his budget, even by the most conservative estimates, would still cut the annual deficit in half in five years.
Despite growing concern that the proposed $3.6 trillion in spending is a recipe for financial instability, Obama took to the airwaves Tuesday to try to convince the public that his budget is an engine, not a hindrance, for economic growth.
"This budget is inseparable from this recovery because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity," Obama said.
Senate Democrats have reportedly already begun paring down the budget, by cutting domestic spending and allowing tax cuts to expire after 2010.
But the president signaled Tuesday he was not concerned that his proposed investments in health care, education and energy could be threatened.
"We never expected when we printed out our budget that they would simply Xerox it and vote on it. We assume that it has to go through the legislative process," Obama said. "I am confident that the budget we put forward will have those principles in place."
The president, continuing to put a positive spin on the economic outlook, urged the public to have faith in an eventual turnaround.
"We will recover from this recession," Obama said. "But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other -- that's when we succeed."
The president said his economic agenda is already yielding "signs of progress."
He also accused his detractors of slamming his proposals without putting any alternatives of their own on the table.
Republicans have been especially critical of Obama's budget plan over the last few days, after a fresh estimate over the weekend found the plan would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade -- or $2.3 trillion more than the administration anticipated.
"They are taking the United States down the road of destruction with the debt and the interest on the debt that our children and our grandchildren are going to have to pay," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Tuesday.
The administration's political capital was also threatened in recent days as public outrage, as well as partisan finger-pointing, grew following revelations that bailed-out American International Group paid out $165 million in bonuses. The controversy distracted Washington for more than a week from the president's budget push.
Obama said Tuesday that he shares the outrage at AIG but that the public should not, going forward, "demonize" investors trying to make a profit.
He used the controversy over AIG, though, to push for new authority for the administration to seize struggling non-bank firms that could pose a threat to the rest of the economy.
Obama said such authority could have lessened the problems at AIG and that he anticipates "strong support" from the public and Congress for the new regulators powers.
Asked why he was initially slow to respond to the AIG bonus controversy, Obama quickly answered: "It took us a couple days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."
Obama, whose press conference was part of an intense public campaign to build support for his budget, has also planned an online town hall meeting for Thursday. The president also plans to meet with top bank CEO's Friday morning to discuss his economic recovery proposals.
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Obama told the country that his administration has put in place "a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts."
"It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress," he said. Watch: Obama says he sees progress »
Quiklilcav wrote:Spoiler, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were starting to see this man for what he really is.
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President Obama will call on Americans to look to the future with a "renewed confidence that a better day will come,"
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The White House says Obama will answer questions about the economy and other topics at WhiteHouse.gov on Thursday.
Jay T wrote:Well the people that voted him in is slowly realizing that he is full of crap and his "Change" BS has no meaning. He has no experience in doing anything except "Good Talk". His psychotic agenda is coming out and people is not liking it. Just I really really really hope I am wrong and he does get things back in good standings. Although from all the stuff he is doing shows otherwise.
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SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them. Senior Administration Officials notified reporters from Stars & Stripes, Univision and other news outlets that they should have question ready. Several reporters moved up in assigned seats as result...
Taetsch Z-24 wrote:No, he's mad that he missed out on getting to the mosk in time.
Chris
Taetsch Z-24 wrote:No, he's mad that he missed out on getting to the mosk in time.
Chris
Quiklilcav wrote:
KevinP (Stabby McShankyou) wrote:
and I'm NOT a pedo. everyone knows i've got a wheelchair fetish.
Harrington (Fiber Faber) wrote:Quiklilcav wrote:
This kind of thing cracks me up. How did the US actually pull it's self out of the great depression? I can bet you it wasn't a result of decreasing government spending and "fiscal responsibility". I was MASSIVE government spending during WWII. Granted you have to fix all the loop holes and underling problems that created the housing market problems first, but no matter how you shake it, to come out of the second great depression, there will, at some point, have to be massive government spending weather it be military spending, public works projects or both.
J03Y wrote:Harrington (Fiber Faber) wrote:Quiklilcav wrote:
This kind of thing cracks me up. How did the US actually pull it's self out of the great depression? I can bet you it wasn't a result of decreasing government spending and "fiscal responsibility". I was MASSIVE government spending during WWII. Granted you have to fix all the loop holes and underling problems that created the housing market problems first, but no matter how you shake it, to come out of the second great depression, there will, at some point, have to be massive government spending weather it be military spending, public works projects or both.
there is a difference between spending and printing money like it's going out of style.
KevinP (Stabby McShankyou) wrote:
and I'm NOT a pedo. everyone knows i've got a wheelchair fetish.
Quiklilcav wrote:Not to mention the fact that it was spending exactly like what we're seeing right now that made the depression last as long as it did. Also, we are in a position where fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. If the stimulus bill was just infrastructure spending, that would have had a very noticeable effect. However it was not, and nothing being proposed right now has any of that type of spending.
Another important matter of fact, is that the new bank bailout plan for toxic assets is exactly a repeat of what caused the housing crisis.
It didn't work then, why the hell should anyone believe that it will work now?