Obama claims economy improvement

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U.S. President Barack Obama promises struggling autoworkers, he is committed to rebuilding a thriving U.S. auto industry and that the world's largest economy is on the mend.

After his Wall Street address, Barack Obama took to Main Street, claiming credit for improvement in the economy. Speaking to GM workers, he says his administration had to prevent the collapse of GM and Chrysler.

Barack Obama, U.S. President, said, "So we intervened for one simple and compelling reason; your survival and the success of our economy depended on making sure that we got the US auto industry back on its feet."

Obama says GM re-tooled and is now back on a path to being a solid business and source for jobs. The jump in retail sales numbers is encouraging to many economists. But they warn jobs remain scarce and credit tight.

In Washington, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve says the recession is "very likely over at this point." But Ben Bernanke warns, despite expected economic growth, it won't be sufficient to prevent unemployment from rising.

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, said, "Even though, from a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point, it's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time as many people will find their job security and employment status is not what they wish it was."

Many economists expect consumer spending to increase in the current July-September period.

That could cause the economy to grow by as much as 3 to 4 percent this quarter, helping to end the worst recession since the 1930's. But analysts worry that without consistent consumer spending growth, the recovery could weaken next year, as government stimulus efforts end.