Obama unveils plan to fuel economy

Hello and Happy New Year. This is a UPI White House Weekly.

President-elect Barack Obama is calling for urgent action on a plan to jumpstart the economy. At a news conference today, Obama announced his idea that he says would save or create more than 3 million jobs and invest in health, energy and education. Republicans say the plan would only deepen the nation's enormous debt. They say it should focus more on tax cuts than spending. Obama addressed his critics saying that at this time, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift the U.S. from a recession.

As part of Obama's plan to stabilize the economy, the President-elect created a new position. Obama announced this week that he has chosen Nancy Killefer to be his chief performance officer. Killefer is a senior director at a management consulting firm and was an assistant secretary of the treasury in the Clinton administration. She will be responsible for restoring fiscal order and reforming government.

The President-elect is facing heavy criticism over his choice to head the CIA. Obama is reportedly set to nominate former Congressman and Clinton aide Leon Panetta to the post, but he has little intelligence experience. He also failed to consult Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee before news was leaked on Monday. The President-elect apologized and defended Panetta's management and political skills. He also promised that he was putting together a top-notch intelligence team. Despite the drama, Panetta's confirmation is not expected to draw strong opposition.

Obama said goodbye to Chicago and officially moved to Washington, D.C this week. The future First Family is staying at the famous Hay Adams Hotel. The Obamas will move into the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20. Meanwhile, Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, started school on Monday at Sidwell Friends, a place that has been teaching children of U.S. presidents since the days of Teddy Roosevelt.

That's all for now. Thanks for watching this UPI White House Weekly.

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News & Politics

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• Obama
• economy
• Democrat
• Republican
• UPI
• jobs
• debt
• tax
• Panetta
• CIA
• Hay Adams
• Sasha
• Malia
• inauguration

[kstompaint]

When a politician says "invest" it makes me cringe. It's code for "we need more of your money."

[jasonla85]

Health care and health coverage are far from the equvalent. Even Canada's, and England's own media reports on the scores of people who are terminally ill and have to wait months to get treated. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, it gets a whole lot worse. America has a much higher fataility rate among the younger population as a result of accidents, murders, ect. but when it comes to prolonging life for the elderly, America is head and shoulders over every other country.

[heartlessvietboy]

We need to stop the Gasoline Fuel efficiency mandates and incorporate Electric Vehicles. All this Gasoline mandate will just cause a road block for the Electric Car.

[BaneOfFreeSpeech]

to add on to my comment, germany isnt anything like america. You walk into a bestbuy and get swarmed with people to help you, you walk into a Saturn(same as bestbuy) and you have to break something to get someone to notice you or come to assist you. Everyone takes their time with everything over here. Not all germans are lazy but its so slow compared to america and being in the army where fast is slow and things are suppose to be done an hour ago it kills me. I am just glad I will have tricare

[BaneOfFreeSpeech]

I live in germany as a U.S. Soldier. Our base is so small that we don't have a hospital and all our healthcare is done from a clinic and anything past that we have to schedule an appointment for the germany hospital still paid for by the army via tricare. My wife had to get back surgery and it took her 8months to get that after waiting in line. Job security for Germans is so amazing here that its easier to make a person want to quit then to fire them but their healthcare is rubbish.

[lollipopfop]

@jwh30385 Europe is leaning more towards capitalism all the time. In Europe everyone has far less then what Americans do. In England an English friend hurt his knee. We took him to a hospital. No one came to put him into a wheelchair like how they do here. We asked many people, and finally were told where to go wait. By then he was bleeding through his jeans. We had to help him walk. I was afraid he would die, so we him back to hotel, and paid for the private hotel doctor to take care of him.

[lollipopfop]

@BaneOfFreeSpeech A good example. The reason that you won't know enough about socialism unless you have lived it is that it can look good on paper. Just like a car with good gas mileage, but gets a flat every mile, or stalls. In socialist health care everyone has health care, and it might cut down costs, but no one tells you about the quality. The doctors practicing now would not stay in that system. Instead you get ones like teachers in a public school, demoralized and underqualified.

[jwh30385]

btw, you make it sound like if you get guaranteed healthcare for everyone, healthcare technology is gonna simply disappear.. don't worry, it's not.

[jwh30385]

The US ranks among the highest in advanced medicine etc, yes. But is this really the category that "matters"? I'd say if you're comparing health category, I'd want to rank highest in life expectancy, lowest in infant mortality rates, general health of the public.. Put it this way, what's the point of having advanced medicine if the population overall has the same life expectancy and infant mortality rates as Cuba and Slovenia?

[jasonla85]

The world health org. rated America first in all the categories that matter; such as advanced medicine, prompt medical care, ect. But then they ranked the U.S. lower over-all, I guess America was not socialist enough for them, at least not yet. Not until we become like all of those other countries who have been banging down doors to get over here for several decades.