US economy in a very difficult spot: Obama

Emerging from a meeting with his top economic advisors, Obama told reporters on Monday, "The message of our meeting today is one that comes as no surprise to most Americans, and that is we are in a very difficult spot. The economy is bad. The situation is getting worse."

"It's clear that we have to act and we have to act now to address this crisis and break the momentum of the recession or the next few years could be dramatically worse," Obama said.

"As I said earlier, right now, the most important task for us is to stabilise the patient. The economy is badly damaged; it is very sick. And so we have to take whatever is -- steps are required to make sure that it is stabilized," he said.

"But we also have to recognize that if we're going to grow this economy over the long term, if we're going to create a better future for our children and our grandchildren, then we can't be fiscally irresponsible about how we do it," he said.

This is the message he delivered to the top Congressional leaders whom he met on Monday to discuss with them the issue and how to resolve it.

Prominent among them were Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"The most important message today is that the situation is getting worse, we've got to act boldly, and we've got to act swiftly. We cannot delay," he argued.