President To Announce Special Economic Recovery Panel Friday

Friday, February 6, 2009
Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President Barack Obama will announce on Friday a new panel of experts headed by former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker to help his administration fix the economy.
Obama is scheduled to speak from the East Room of the White House at 11:15 am ET. He will be joined by Volcker and other members of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
The President had announced the creation of the board on Nov. 26. The panel will initially serve for two years and will regularly brief the administration's economic team. Members are from outside government so they "would be candid and unsparing in their assessment" of the economic programs of his administration.
Volcker was a campaign adviser and member of Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board. He was widely reported as a contender for Treasury secretary, a post that went to Tim Geithner. The President had praised Volcker, saying during his announcement, "[He has] a deep understanding of financial markets, extensive experience managing economic crises... Paul has served under both Republicans and Democrats and is held in the highest esteem for his sound and independent judgment."
Austan Goolsbee, a longtime Obama adviser, will serve as staff director and chief economist of the board. Goolsbee is "known for his path-breaking work on tax policy and industrial organization," the president-elect said. The 39-year old economist is a University of Chicago professor and one of "100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow" according to the World Economic Forum as well as one of six "Gurus of the Future" named by the Financial Times.
The administration is currently trying to pass a nearly $1 trillion stimulus in Congress. The Senate continued debate on Thursday for the fourth day, with Republicans making gains in including their amendments to increase tax cuts. The House passed its own version of the bill, worth $819 billion and without a single Republican vote, last week.
The nation has been inundated in recent weeks with news of the continued collapse of the economy. The Labor Department said on Thursday first-time unemployment claims rose to a 26-year high at 626,000 in the week ended Jan. 31. The agency reported last week that total jobless claims had hit 4,776,000, the highest level on record. The same week, the Commerce Department said the nation's gross domestic product shrank by 3.8 percent the last quarter, the biggest contraction in nearly three decades.
The President has been vigilant in calling for swift passage of the stimulus. On Wednesday, he gave what was his toughest rhetoric to date about the need for Congress to act promptly.
Announcing new rules on executive pay under the government's financial bailout program, Obama said, "In the past few days I've heard criticisms of this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis - the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can ignore fundamental challenges like energy independence and the high cost of health care."
"I reject that theory, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. So I urge members of Congress to act without delay. No plan is perfect, and we should work to make it stronger," he added.