President Barack Obama said Saturday that Americans would soon start reaping the benefits of his $787 billion economic stimulus package, but he cautioned, according to AP, that it's «only a first step on the road to economic recovery.» In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama mapped out an ambitious agenda to pull the U.S. out of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. He said the country also must stem home foreclosures, repair the banking system, get credit flowing again, and revamp financial industry regulations. Obama has staked his presidency on turning around the quickly slumping U.S. economy, but the bad news has continued even after he signed the $787 billion stimulus package into law on Tuesday. On Friday, the Obama administration addressed two of the biggest challenges of the U.S. economic crisis, warning that American auto companies need major restructuring and reassuring Wall Street that he does not plan to nationalize two of the country's ailing banks. Investors have shown decreasing confidence that U.S. banks can right themselves. Citigroup and Bank of America have already received significant help from taxpayers as the government has rushed in to try to save the financial sector, which has been choked by bad assets and seen the flow of credit shrink. On Wall Street, talk of nationalization of Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp., prompted investors to continue to balk, worried that the government would have to take control and wipe out shareholders in the process. Citigroup fell 20 percent, while Bank of America fell 12 percent in afternoon trading but also came off their lowest levels.
