“We are also going to have to provide some short-term relief,” [Sen. Barack] Obama said. “People are hurting right now. We need to respond rapidly and vigorously to problems, and to anticipate the problems that may be on the horizon.”
Present at the meeting were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, former treasury secretary Paul ONeill, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, the former head of Wall street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined via speaker phone.
Republican John McCain said the culprit for the deficit was the administration's wasteful spending.
“There is no more striking reminder of the need to reverse the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy,” McCain said in a statement issued Monday.
“As president, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term,” McCain said. “Today's news makes that job harder but should not change our resolve to make the tough decisions and the genuine effort to reach across the aisle that are needed to ensure a lasting solution to the spending problem that threatens the very stability of our economy.”
Obama didn't name the Bush administration, but his implication was clear.
“We can't afford, I believe, to keep on doing the same things we've been doing,” said Obama. “We have to change course, and we have to take immediate action.”