Obama Urges Companies to Hire, Studies Housing Moves

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama urged businesses to "step up" and hire workers, pressing banks and other corporations to do more to help an economy that he said would take "several years" to recover fully.

In a town-hall style meeting conducted by CBS News on Wednesday, Obama said the weak housing market and high gasoline prices were the biggest "headwinds" dragging on the economy.