Economic worst still to come, says Obama

At the same time, Obama said he planned a second news conference in as many days on Tuesday to discuss the need “to scour our federal budget, line-by-line, and make meaningful cuts and sacrifices as well.”

Obama named New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner the next treasury secretary at a Monday press conference, where he said the United States faces a “crisis of historic proportions” and played down expectations his administration could put the brakes on quickly.

“This will not be easy. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and the economy is likely to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “Full recovery will not happen immediately.”

“Most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year,” he said.

Obama ordered his team over the weekend to work on a program to create or save 2.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. He would not put a figure on how large a stimulus package he wants from Congress, saying only that it would be “costly,” but Democratic lawmakers speculated the price tag could reach $700 billion over two years.

At his Monday news conference, Obama was critical of the country’s top three automakers, saying he was surprised they did not have a precise plan for their future before asking Congress last week to approve $25 billion in emergency loans. But, he said, once he sees a plan, he expected “to be able to shape a rescue.”

Obama also named Lawrence Summers as director of his National Economic Council. Summers was treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton and is a former president of Harvard University.

Obama said the economic and financial crisis confronting the United States and the world demanded the “sound judgment and fresh thinking” his new team would bring to bear on problems as great as any since the Great Depression in the 1930s.