Obama Says He Will Do `Whatever It Takes' on Economy [November 17 2008]

US President-elect Barack Obama said his Government will do ``whatever it takes'' to revive the economy, and that means ``we shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after.'' In the short term, ``the most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession,'' Obama said in an interview broadcast last evening on CBS News's ``60 Minutes.''

Obama, who yesterday resigned his Illinois Senate seat, effective today, said the government needs to provide assistance to the automobile industry. Such aid -- in the form of a ``bridge loan,'' he suggested -- must be provided on condition that management, labor, suppliers and lenders come up with a plan to make the industry ``sustainable,'' he said. ``For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment -- not just for individual families but the repercussions across the economy would be dire,'' Obama said. If that were to happen now, he said, ``you could see the spigot completely shut off so that it would not potentially permit GM to get back on its feet.''