President Barack Obama said Wednesday that other nations must sign on to aggressive steps to jump-start their own economies, warning that the US actions could falter without global co-ordination. ``We can do a really good job here at home, with a whole host of policies, but if you continue to see deterioration in the world economy, thats going to set us back, Obama told reporters after receiving an Oval Office briefing from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The president said his conversations with allies so far have been aimed at laying the groundwork for a summit of advanced and developing nations taking place in London early next month. Geithner is heading to Britain this week for talks with finance ministers as a precursor to the leaders meeting later. Obama said he is optimistic about the prospects for success at the G-20 summit.
Also Wednesday, Obama said he agreed to sign an ``imperfect spending bill containing pet projects of congressmen because it was needed to keep the government operating. But he insisted there must be an ``end to the old way of doing business. The $410 billion spending bill, passed by Congress earlier this week, has been heavily criticised because it contains nearly 8,000 pet projects, known as ``earmarks and denounced by critics as pork.
He said not all earmarks are bad. But Obama also said that such special spending for projects in lawmakers home districts will have to be justified in the future. ``I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change, Obama said. In an apparent measure of his displeasure, Obama did not sign the bill in the presence of cameras and reporters.
After his meeting with Obama, Geithner said there have been many ideas passed among the nations, and good progress made, but that the time for talk is over. ``Its time now for us to move together and to begin to act, he said. ``Everything we do in the United States will be more effective if we have the world moving with us. Obama said the United States has two goals for the so-called Group of 20 summit: to make sure there is ``concerted action around the globe to jump-start the economy and to achieve consensus on regulatory reform to take place in each country.
He did not directly criticise other nations, including some European allies that have been reluctant to adopt the kind of expensive stimulus packages for their own economies that have been approved in the United States for fear they will spark inflation.
Obama has met with several G-20 leaders already in the lead-up to the summit, including Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, hammering home the notion that they only benefit from a strong US economy. The president said those talks have made him ``optimistic about the prospects for a good agreement to come out of London.
``Theyre rooting for our success, we got to make sure were rooting for theirs, Obama said. Obama is in the process of distributing $787 billion to stimulate the economy in addition to a portion of the $300 billion previously allocated to prop up the countrys teetering financial system. Obama and congressional allies contend the vast spending is necessary to right the economy, which is in the midst of the worst recession since World War II.
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