新聞記事で英語学習！Barack Obama warns of more pain in 2009 before recovery

Barack Obama warns of more pain in 2009 before recovery

 PRESIDENT Obama can detect (=notice, discover)bright "signs of economic progress" on a dark horizon while warning that there was "much more work to be done" before America was safe from the storm that has thrown millions out of jobs and homes.

"Times are still tough," Mr Obama said. "But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers（わずかなしるし） of hope." 

His speech to Georgetown University in Washington was designed to show that the economy remains the administration's priority even as he prepares to head to Mexico and Trinidad tomorrow. 

Rejecting criticism that he had been spending with "reckless abandon"( in a careless way), Mr Obama said: "History has shown repeatedly that when nations do not take early and aggressive action to get credit flowing again, they have crises that last years and years instead of months and months - years of low growth, years of low job creation, years of low investment, all of which cost these nations far more than a course of bold, upfront action." 

He insisted that his $US787 billion stimulus plan and efforts to strengthen the banking system and rescue the car industry were bearing fruit (実を結ぶ=succeed)with an increase in mortgage refinancing and more lending by small businesses. 

Despite this, Mr Obama said, 2009 would continue to be a difficult year with "more job loss, more foreclosures (差押さえ)and more pain before it ends". 

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, also offered a "fundamentally optimistic" assessment yesterday, using a speech in Atlanta to highlight recent data on home sales and consumer spending as " tentative (=not definite or certain) signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing". 

The need for caution, however, was emphasised by new figures showing that US retail sales fell by 1.1 per cent last month while purchases of cars and other vehicles declined by 2.3 per cent. Overall spending remains 10 per cent down from a peak last June.  

US bank shares slumped, dragging down the New York stock market, which grew jittery(= anxious or nervous) over a spate of ( = a large number of~)impending results from leading American financial institutions over the next two weeks. The markets were nervous despite Goldman Sachs reporting a strong first quarter and announcing a surprise promise to repay its $10 billion government loan. 

Mr Obama said the task was to ensure that this "crisis never happens again". Invoking Christ's Sermon on the Mount, he said that the economy could not be rebuilt on a "pile of sand" but on investment in clean energy, education and healthcare.  

"We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity: a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest," he said. "We will not finish it in one year, we will not finish it in many," he added, "but if we persist and persevere (= continue to try to do something)against the disappointments and setbacks that will surely lie ahead, then I have no doubt that this house will stand." (550 words)

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