Obama unveils economic team to tackle economic crisis

Source: Xinhua | 11-25-2008 07:54

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- With the economy in crisis, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama Monday unveiled his economic team pick to shore up financial markets and tackle the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in 1930s.

President-elect Barack Obama smiles during a meeting in his transition office in Chicago, Nov. 17, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters, File Photo)

NOMINATIONS OF ECONOMIC VETERANS

Timothy Geithner, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will become secretary of the treasury, and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers will be head of the National Economic Council.

Meanwhile, Obama also named University of California at Berkeley economist Christina Romer as the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said his newly minted economic aides offered "sound judgment and fresh thinking" at a time of economic crisis.

"Vice President-elect (Joseph) Biden and I have assembled an economic team with the vision and expertise to stabilize our economy, create jobs, and get America back on track," Obama said.

"Even as we face great economic challenges, we know that great opportunity is at hand -- if we act swiftly and boldly. That's the mission our economic team will take on," he added.

Geithner, 47, is the current president of the New York Federal Reserve. He was born in New York. He attended Dartmouth College and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.