Recovery Act working, but long-term investment needed, says Obama

US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the newly released GDP numbers are an indication that the Recovery Act is working, but long-term investments in innovation are needed to ensure “our nation’s long-term economic growth”.

By training the most skilled workforce in the world, reforming the health care system to free business from spiralling costs, and building a green-energy economy, the US will create a foundation that will encourage the innovation needed to move America forward, Obama said.

In his weekly radio address, Obama said the latest report on America’s gross domestic product has revealed that in the last few months the economy has done measurably better than expected.

“Many economists suggest that part of this progress is directly attributable to the Recovery Act. This and the other difficult but important steps that we have taken over the last six months have helped put the brakes on this recession,” he said.

However, Obama said he won’t rest until every American who wants a job can find one. “But history shows that you need to have economic growth before you have job growth,” he said.

“The report yesterday on our economy is an important sign that we’re headed in the right direction. Business investment, which had been plummeting in the past few months, is showing signs of stabilising. This means that eventually, businesses will start growing and hiring again.

And that’s when it will really feel like a recovery to the American people,” Obama said. But this won’t happen overnight, he observed. “As I have said before, it will take many more months to fully dig ourselves out of a recession — a recession that we’ve now learned was even deeper than anyone thought,” he said.