CHICAGO — Amid fresh signs of financial troubles, President-elect Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he was tapping a seasoned figure from past economic struggles to head a new advisory panel dedicated to creating jobs and stabilizing the markets.
Obama said that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker, 81, would head the committee, bringing into his circle of top economic advisors a man credited with curbing the high inflation rates of the late 1970s.
Obama announced the appointment in his third news conference in as many days -- all devoted to the economy, all meant to imbue confidence in a nation clearly shaken by the economic tumult.
A series of government reports Wednesday offered a grim assessment of current conditions. Americans have curtailed spending to levels not seen since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Orders to U.S. factories and home sales have dropped, and the four-week average for jobless claims reached its highest level since 1983.
The spate of unwelcome news has forced Obama to move more quickly than some past presidents-elect in constructing his economic team. Though he has cautioned that the nation only has "one president at a time," he has been compelled by fast-moving events to reassure jittery investors and anxious consumers that a recovery plan is in the works.
On Monday, Obama announced his choice for Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And Tuesday he rolled out his new budget director, Peter R. Orszag, who comes from the Congressional Budget Office.
David Axelrod, a senior advisor to Obama, said: "There is no doubt we have a crisis of confidence right now. And there's enormous interest in the financial markets and in the country generally about what his plans are and who he will rely on for advice in executing his plans. And we felt that we needed to move very quickly and send those signals."
He added: "It's a signal of his seriousness about the economy and his recognition of the gravity of the challenge that we face that he chose to accelerate that process."
Apart from Volcker, the new economic advisory panel will include Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist who will serve as staff director.
Goolsbee advised Obama during the campaign and was mired in an embarrassing controversy during the Democratic primary season.
