Obama fills economic team, says business will revive

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Completing his Cabinet a month before taking office, US President-elect Barack Obama named officials to oversee transportation, labor, trade and small business policy Friday but warned that economic recovery won't be nearly as swift. "It will take longer than any of us would like - years, not months. It will get worse before it gets better. But it will get better if we are willing to act boldly and swiftly," Obama said - and he promised to do just that. He noted his speed in putting his full economic team in place, saying he had done so at an earlier point than previous presidents because of the magnitude of the troubles the country faces. Obama takes office January 20. Obama declined to put a price tag on an economic stimulus plan he will propose, though economists who have been advising him have suggested a package of as much as $850 billion over two years. Still, Obama signaled that it could be huge because of his priorities: creating jobs, getting the economy back on track and fixing financial markets among them. "That is going to cost a significant amount of money on the front end," he said, and then he emphasized what he called long-term benefits of acting and dangers of doing too little.