Obama taps Volcker for economic recovery

CHICAGO, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will use the advisory setup he relied on during his campaign to draw on outside expert advice on key issues, aides said.

Obama Wednesday announced the creation of a president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Aides told Politico the advisory board structure not only reflects the magnitude of the economic problems facing the United States but also allows Obama to take an integrated approach to address the financial markets, jobs, wages and housing foreclosures.

Obama will be the sixth president Volcker has served. The economic recovery board's staff director and chief economist will be Austan Goolsbee, who was senior economic adviser to the Obama campaign. Goolsbee also will be a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers when Obama takes office in January.

Other members of the board -- with pedigrees such as Eric E. Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google -- will be named later.

The panel will exist for at least two years but its life could be extended, transition advisers said.