Obama on Economy: My Job Starts Now

When it comes to the economy, Barack Obama says his work begins “right now.” Obama introduced his economic team today; as expected, he designated Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers as director of the National Economic Council. The president-elect said they would begin work immediately on a huge stimulus package, which could be signed almost immediately after his inauguration, the Hill reports.

Obama declined to talk numbers regarding the stimulus, but “it’s going to be costly,” he said. Revitalizing the economy, Obama said, was more important than the ballooning deficit, and economists of all stripes are in rare agreement that a big stimulus is the way to do that. Obama said the stimulus will be linked to plans to add 2.5 million jobs to the economy. (More President Obama stories.)