Obama calls for urgent measures
06-12-2008
The US president-elect, Barack Obama, has called for urgent measures to stimulate the American economy and get people back to work. Mr Obama was speaking as the US government reported half a million job losses in November - the biggest monthly rise in unemployment in the US for 34 years. Reacting to the gloomy unemployment data, the president-elect said that now was the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work. In a statement, Mr Obama said that each of the jobs lost represented a personal crisis for an American family and he warned that the US economy would get worse before it got better. "There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better," Mr Obama said. For his part President George W. Bush acknowledged that the US was in recession. Speaking at the White House, Mr Bush said: "This is in large part because of severe problems in our housing, credit and financial markets."
