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

Can Barack Obama save a failing economy?

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

A daily look of the issues Americans care about most.

The president-elect wants a stimulus package that 60% massive spending and 40% cuts in taxes for individuals

and for business. The major goal, 3 million new jobs, mostly in the private sector. It's the

New Deal, Keynesian economics, used during the Great Depression. Obama is hoping for a buy-in from fellow Democrats and Republicans, but supporters fear it won't be big enough, soon enough, to make a difference.

Opponents call it an anti-stimulus plan that could lead to stagflation.

We'll hear both sides.

On reporter's notebook later on, is it time for an outsider to run the CIA?

First, here's the news.

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and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren Alleney, back with To the Point. Barack Obama wants government spending and

tax cuts big enough and soon enough to revitalize the economy. We'll hear a debate about what

might happen if he gets his stimulus plan or if he doesn't. On reporter's notebook, Leon Panetta for

the CIA, a breath of fresh air of an accountability or an unwelcome

outsider. First, this news update, as the newly constituted Senate convened today, Roland Burris

arrived on Capitol Hill to claim the Illinois seat vacated by Barack Obama. Afterward, on a rainy sidewalk

outside, Burris told reporters what happened. My name isan Burris, the junior senator from the state of Illinois.

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