Washington: President Barack Obama on Friday admitted that economic progress in the US, facing a two-year-long recession, has been "painfully slow" and "we are not there yet".
He said the "hole" left by the worst recession in several decades was huge and people were frustrated and angry.
"For all the progress we've made, we're not there yet. And that means people are frustrated and why people are angry," Obama said at a White House press conference. Obama, under fire over the issue of job loses, said his proposal are meant to accelerate job growth in short term and revive small businesses.
"Because I am president, and the Democrats have control of the House and Senate, it's understandable that people are saying, 'What have you done?'" "The American people did not send us here to think about our jobs, they sent us here to think about theirs," Obama said, slamming Republicans for stalling his plan to promote lending to small businesses.
"The hole the recession left was huge and progress has been painfully slow," he said. Obama, who had drawn flak for his first stimulus package USD 814 billion, skirted a pointed query as to whether he was announcing a new stimulus to perk up the economy.
But said everything that he has been trying to do was designed to stimulate growth and jobs. Obama maintained that his earlier revival packages have yielded results but conceded that "we haven't done as much as we needed to do."
The roadmap unveiled by the US President comes on the heels of his announcement of USD 50 billion for development of infrastructure and a slew of other measures to prop up the economy. PTI
