Obama says his economic stimulus programme has 'put the brakes on recession'

Published on Saturday 1 August 2009 20:01

PRESIDENT Barack Obama, citing fresh evidence that the recession is winding down, said the country's future economic prosperity depends on building a new, stronger foundation and recapturing the "spirit of innovation."

"Innovation has been essential to our prosperity in the past, and it will be essential to our prosperity in the future," Obama said yesterday in his weekly radio and internet address.

The president cited Friday's Commerce Department report showing that in the last few months the economy overall has done "measurably better than expected". He credited his $787 billion economic stimulus programme for much of that progress.

"This and the other difficult but important steps that we have taken over the last six months have helped put the brakes on this recession," Obama said. He mentioned his administration's efforts to limit home foreclosures and unlock frozen credit markets to encourage lending to people and businesses, along with the mixture of tax cuts and spending included in the stimulus programme.

Obama reminded the nation that full recovery will not happen overnight, but rather will take many more months.

"Even as we rescue this economy, we must work to rebuild it stronger than before," he said. "We've got to build a new foundation strong enough to withstand future economic storms and support lasting prosperity."

That means having the best educated, highest-skilled workers in the world, a health care system that fosters innovation by holding the line on costs, building a clean energy economy and investing in research and development, Obama said.

Obama said he will discuss the foundation he wants when he makes a second visit to Elkhart, Indiana, on Wednesday. Layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry account for much of the job loss in northern Indiana, which is struggling with an unemployment rate near 17 per cent.

"For communities like Elkhart to thrive, we need to recapture that spirit of innovation that has always moved America forward," he said.

Senior administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, are likely to discuss those issues during meetings this weekend to assess administration progress at the six-month mark and plot a future course.

"It's an opportunity for the president and the vice president, senior White House staff and Cabinet officials all to get together and talk about the agendas, both past and forward," Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Gibbs said virtually every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has conducted a similar assessment. The meetings were taking place at Blair House, the government guest property across from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.

"It's not a mid-course correction or a report card," he said. "It's just an opportunity for everyone to get together on hopefully a little bit less hectic pace, rather than seeing each other at a meeting for 15 or 30 minutes."

Obama was headed to the Camp David presidential retreat for the weekend, and was not expected to participate in the sessions.

He lunched with the chief executives of four major companies on Friday to discuss healthcare and the economy, the White House said in a statement.

"They had a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the economy, healthcare reform and energy during the 75-minute lunch," the statement said. "The president and his economic team look forward to continuing to hold informal meetings with members of the business community to seek their input."