US president-elect Barack Obama has promised to act “swiftly” as soon as he takes office to confront the economic crisis head on, during his first news conference since his historic election.
“We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime. We will have to act swiftly to resolve it,” a sober Obama said on Friday, with members of his heavy-hitting team of economic advisers standing behind him.
“Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic crisis head on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hard-working families and restore growth and prosperity,” Obama said.
Obama, however, downplayed expectations of a swift rollout of Cabinet-level officials, including secretary of the treasury and secretary of state, saying he would move with “deliberate haste” to get the decisions right.
He thanked US President George W. Bush for his offer of a smooth transition of power and signaled he would not attempt to intervene in economic policy before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
The press conference reflected a shift in tone toward Obama after the more informal intensity of the election campaign, as reporters stood when he entered the room hosting the press conference and addressed him as “Sir” or “Mr President-elect”.
He said that “with certainty” he would back a stimulus package passed in the US Congress and that he would put a high priority on initiatives to help the crippled US auto industry.
Obama also confirmed that he had been sent a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his victory on Tuesday.
However, he said that Iran’s development of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable” and the Islamic Republic must end its “support of terrorist organizations.”
Obama said during his campaign that he would explore the possibility of direct talks with US foes like Iran, North Korea and Cuba as president.
Meanwhile, official figures showed the US unemployment rate rose to its highest level since 1994 last month, 6.5 percent.
The Labor Department said 240,000 jobs had been cut last month, the 10th straight month of job losses, and new revisions meant that a whopping 651,000 workers have lost their livelihoods in the past three months alone.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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