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Millions more will lose jobs in US, Obama says

US president-elect Barack Obama named his economic brains trust, as he acknowledged millions more US workers could lose their jobs next year and played down expectations his administration could engineer a quick turnaround of the financial crisis.

Hoping to hit the ground running when he takes office on Jan. 20, the next US president urged the new Congress on Monday to pass quickly what was expected to be a massive economic stimulus package, pledged help for the troubled US auto industry and blessed the Bush administration’s moves to bail out the financial industry.

At the same time, Obama said he planned a second news conference in as many days yesterday 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 press conference on Monday, where he said the US faced 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 also named Lawrence Summers as director of his National Economic Council. Summers was treasury secretary under former US president Bill Clinton and is a former president of Harvard University.

He also intended to name Peter Orszag as his budget director, Democratic officials said on Monday. Orszag, 39, is serving a four-year term as head of the Congressional Budget Office. Obama was expected to make the announcement yesterday.

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