Obama “rescued the economy”

In an evening news conference, Obama is expected to outline the case for healthcare reform as well as provide an update on what has been accomplished since he took office in January.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told The New York Times Obama intends to use the news conference as a “six-month report card,” to talk about “how we rescued the economy from the worst recession ” and the legislative agenda moving forward, including health care and energy legislation.

Rescued?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, testifying before Congress for a second day Wednesday, says unemployment threatens to undercut the U.S. recovery. The unemployment rate, at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will likely rise to 9.8 percent to 10.1 percent by December, the Fed says.

Specifically, THIS IS WHAT OBAMA MEANS BY RESCUED!?

FOMC participants generally expect that, after declining in the first half of this year, output will increase slightly over the remainder of 2009. The recovery is expected to be gradual in 2010, with some acceleration in activity in 2011. Although the unemployment rate is projected to peak at the end of this year, the projected declines in 2010 and 2011 would still leave unemployment well above FOMC participants’ views of the longer-run sustainable rate.