(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama sought support for his job creation plan at a philanthropic summit on Wednesday, saying improving the prospects of the world’s richest economy was good for the world.
As the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economic outlook remains grim, Obama told participants at former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s summit that people were still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis and its subsequent economic pain.
“America is still the biggest economy in the world, so the single most important thing we could do for the global economy is to get our own economy moving again. When America is growing the world is more likely to grow,” Obama said.
“We can do all this, we can create jobs now and invest in our future and still tackle our long term debt problems.”
But Obama said his $447 billion plan to create jobs, which he presented to Congress earlier this month, was not intended as a “silver bullet” for America’s problems.
“It will put more people back to work, it will put more money into the pockets of working people and that’s what our economy needs,” he told the Clinton Global Initiative.
Source: Michelle Nichols, Reuters
