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This Article is From Nov 04, 2009

Obama's first year: A mixed bag

Obama's first year: A mixed bag
Washington: The first anniversary of Barack Obama's election as the US President is round the corner.

A year ago this coming week, Obama was elected president of a nation falling into the financial chasm. The president argues that without his government's stimulus efforts, the economy would have been much worse.

The economy is showing signs of improvement, but the country may also see a rise in the unemployment rate to over 10 per cent.

This past week brought pleasant news that the economy grew three and a half per cent in the third quarter.

Home sales are starting to edge back up, but consumers are afraid to spend.

Unemployment is at 9.8 per cent and expected to go up again this week with the latest jobs report. Americans all around the country continue to ask - where are the jobs?

Republicans refuse to buy the Obama administration's claims that it created or saved a million jobs. Some say that most of the so-called jobs that have been saved or created are government jobs.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has predicted a recovery. But the road to recovery won't be easy, he says.

He says it's going to take some time for unemployment to come down. That the stimulus spending is just starting to show results and it's too early to say whether more government spending will be needed.

Geithner also reaffirmed the president's campaign pledge that he won't raise taxes on anyone making less than a quarter million dollars a year.

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