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.
Also See: Election of Obama triggers increase in US hate crimes
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS