Scammer
Banned
-- The White House will announce a new economic advisory council on Friday, one that will be headed by Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO and chairman of General Electric.
"Because we still have a long way to go to get Americans back to work and strengthen our economy, the President will announce on Friday that he will sign a new Executive Order creating a new board, the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which will have a new composition and new mission as we move to a new phase in our economic recovery," a White House statement said.
"The Council will focus on finding new ways to promote growth by investing in American business to encourage hiring, to educate and train our workers to compete globally, and to attract the best jobs and businesses to the United States."
The council replaces the old Economic Recovery Advisory Board that was headed by Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
"President Obama has asked me to chair his new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness," Immelt said in a Washington Post op-ed piece published Friday. "I have served for the past two years on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and I look forward to leading the next phase of this effort as we transition from recovery to long-term growth.
"The president and I are committed to a candid and full dialogue among business, labor and government to help ensure that the United States has the most competitive and innovative economy in the world," he said.
"Jeff Immelt's experience at GE and his understanding of the vital role the private sector plays in creating jobs and making America competitive makes him up to the challenge of leading this new Council," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "I also want to thank my friend Paul Volcker, whose service not just during this difficult period but for decades has been invaluable to me and the American people."
The development is the latest in a series of economic policy moves made by the White House in the new year.
Two weeks ago, the president tapped Treasury aide Gene Sperling as the new director of the National Economic Council.
Sperling, who succeeds economist Larry Summers as head of the council, currently is a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Among other things, he helped lead the administration's tax negotiations with congressional Republicans during December's lame-duck session of Congress.
Sperling also headed the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration. Top Democrats are pointing to Obama's decision to have him head the council as another sign the president is leaning more heavily on Clinton-era veterans as he starts working with a divided Congress.
Obama also named Clinton Commerce Secretary Bill Daley as his new chief of staff this month.
The U.S. economy continues to try to dig itself out of the job losses created by the recession that began in 2008.
In its most-recent unemployment report, the Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 103,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate fell from 9.8% to 9.4%.
Obama noted that there have now been 12 months of private-sector job growth for the first time since 2006.
A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows at least three-quarters of Americans consider economic conditions to be somewhat poor or very poor.
