Obama Has Rare Chance to Push Agenda With Recovery

Obama, after pledge to be above the noise, falls prey to it instead

(NEWSER) - Sure, bankers make too much money, but President Obama’s ceiling “is just a misguided attempt to quiet the peanut gallery,” writes Megan Barnett in Portfolio. The $500,000-per-year executive cap will discourage banks from taking needed government cash, and drive away top talent. “Money is what motivates people to come to Wall Street,” she writes. “It’s not a public-service job, nor should it pay like one.” More»

Ex-Fed chief says consumerism, unchecked Wall Street to blame for woe

(NEWSER) - Paul Volcker is known for the tough measures he used as Fed chief to reel in inflation in 1981, risking a recession and widespread pain in the short term to get the economy back on track for the next 2 decades. Now Volcker, tapped as chairman of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, says painful measures are going to be required again, the Los Angeles Times reports. “It’s going to be a tough period,” he predicted recently. More»

There's no time to waste, pols warn

(NEWSER) - Top Democrats are becoming increasingly frustrated with Barack Obama's reluctance to take charge of the economic crises, AP reports. The president-elect has consistently said it would be premature for him to dictate solutions to the auto industry's woes, and steer $700 billion in bailout funds, but critics in his party say he must step up. More»

Paulson, too, mulls more aggressive action, tapping bailout funds

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama’s financial team is constructing a $500 billion stimulus plan that it hopes to rush through Congress early in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama would sign the bill, which is far more ambitious than anything discussed during the campaign, almost immediately after his inauguration. “This is an extraordinary time,” an aide said, “and extraordinary responses are needed.” More»

Joe says Obama never called back; politicos talk bailouts on TV

(NEWSER) - Joe Lieberman told Meet the Press today that he regrets "some things I said in the heat of the campaign that I wish I'd said more clearly," and hopes Barack Obama will put, er, "country first" by leading in a bipartisan fashion. Lieberman said he called Obama during the campaign, but, oddly, never heard back from him, Politico reports. In other talk shows:

• On Fox News Sunday, Obama adviser David Axelrod urged the next Congress to create a new multi-billion-dollar bailout plan to create jobs, The Hill reports. “We don’t have time to waste here,” Axelrod said.