Recession still a reality for the poor, says Obama

WASHINGTON - United States President Barack Obama said he does not care that the country's recession has been declared over by a group of economists. For the millions of Americans who are out of work or otherwise struggling, he said, "it's still very real for them".

Obama denied that he was anti-business or anti-Wall Street in his economic proposals, commenting under close questioning during a town hall-style meeting broadcast live on CNBC television.

He offered a mixed verdict on the growing conservative movement known as the Tea Party, calling its scepticism of government "healthy ... That's in our DNA, right?"

But, he added, "The challenge for the Tea Party movement is to identify 'What would you do?"' to help turn around the economy and produce jobs.

"It's not enough just to say, 'Get control of government.' I think it's important for you to say, 'You know, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits or [pension] benefits or I'm willing to see these taxes go up'."

The Government cannot simply cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans "and magically think things are going to work out," he said.

Focusing on the poor economic conditions that existed when he took office, Obama said, "The hole was so deep that a lot of people out there are still hurting."

He spoke shortly after the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private panel of economists that dates the beginnings and ends of recessions, said the downturn that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009.

At 18 months, that makes it the longest recession since World War II.

"Something that took 10 years to create is going to take a little more time to solve," Obama said.

"Even though economists may say that the recession officially ended last year, obviously for the millions of people who are still out of work, people who have seen their home values decline, people who are struggling to pay the bills day to day, it's still very real for them," Obama said.

Republican Party chief Michael Steele panned Obama's TV effort.

"President Obama trotted out the same old worn-out reassurances on the economy, but Americans are still waiting for the promised recovery that never arrived," Steele said.

Meanwhile, Sentinel Books, an imprint of Penguin, said yesterday that Known and Unknown, the memoir that Donald Rumsfeld has been writing since resigning as George W. Bush's Defence Secretary in 2006, will be released in January.

"This book may well unsettle a few people who think the history of certain events has already been written," a Rumsfeld aide, Keith Urbahn, tells politico.com. "Never-before seen memos and previously classified documents," will "let sceptics make their own judgments".

The title draws attention to his 2002 remarks about US intelligence on Iraq.

Questioned on what evidence there was regarding weapons of mass destruction, he said: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because there are known knowns: there are things we know that we know".

He famously went on: "There are known unknowns.

"That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.

"But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know."

- Independent, AP