Barack meets with Top Economic Advisers in DC

Sen. Barack Obama met yesterday with economic advisers that included Warren Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt in Washington DC.

In a statement before the meeting, Obama mentioned the housing crisis and those who had "gamed" the system to the harm of many, and also the increasing number of people 'mired in debt.' Among the key points of his economic plan include reducing reliance on foreign oil while at the same time creating jobs by investing billions in green energy sources, delivering a universal health care system and improving the education system.

Yesterday, the Bush administration announced that this year's national budget deficit would reach an all-time record of nearly half a trillion dollars. Record numbers of Americans are in deep personal debt. The use of credit cards to pay for ordinary living expenses has become so high that many companies watch for signs of "emergency spending," in order to cancel lines of credit. Young people report the use of credit cards because their pay is not enough for basic living costs.



Here's a video of the Obama's statement.



The economic leaders who met with Senator Obama yesterday included:


· Jared Bernstein (Senior Economist, Economic Policy Institute)

· Bill Bradley (Former Senator, D-N.J., U.S. Senate 1979-1997)

· Warren Buffet (Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway) - joined the meeting by phone

· Anna Burger (Chair, Change to Win; International Secretary-Treasurer, Service Employees International Union)

· Jon Corzine (Governor, State of New Jersey)

· William Daley (Chairman of the Midwest, JP Morgan Chase; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Commerce, 1997-2000)

· James Dimon (Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase)

· William Donaldson (27th Chairman of the SEC 2003-2005)

· Indra Nooyi (Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo Inc.)

· Paul O'Neill (Special Advisor, Blackstone Group, Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 2001-2002; Former CEO, Alcoa)

· Federico Peña (Managing Director, Vestar Capital Partners; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Energy, 1997-1998; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, 1993-1997; Former Mayor, City of Denver 1983-1991)

· Penny Pritzker (CEO, Classic Residence by Hyatt)

· Robert Reich (University of California, Berkeley; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Labor, 1993-1997)

· Robert Rubin (Chairman and Director of the Executive Committee, Citigroup; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1995-1999)

· Eric Schmidt (Chairman and CEO, Google)

· William Spriggs (Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics, Howard University)

· Lawrence Summers (Harvard University; Managing Director, D.E. Shaw; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1999-2001)

· John Sweeney (President, AFL-CIO)

· Laura Tyson (Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley; Former Chairman, National Economic Council, 1995-1996; Former Chairman, President's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995)

· Paul Volcker (Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve 1979-1987)