From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

A political salesman lays it on the line.

Hello again, I'm Armin Aloney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

The daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action

as soon as possible.

Barack Obama said today that only the federal government is big enough to prevent economic

recession from lasting for years to come.

Sounding more like a president than a president-elect, he said a bad situation could become dramatically worse

if Congress fails to act soon.

We'll hear more today about how bad things are,

what Obama proposes to do,

and the prospects for improvement if he gets what he wants.

What's in store for America's standard of living?

On reporter's notebook later on,

does the IRS have a heart

after all? First of the news. Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from

the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren Alley, back with To the Point. Barack Obama began a tough selling job today with an urgent

warning about years of recession if Congress fails to act his massive stimulus program. We'll look at the

state of the economy and how different it might look even after recovery. On reporter's notebook, in light of challenging economic circumstances, the Internal Revenue

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