Obama Gears Up to Face Economic Meltdown

In "The Return of Depression Economics," Nobel Prize-Winning economist Paul Krugman literally wrote the book on the subject. He warns that Obama might have to think bigger.

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The economy could lose hundreds of thousands more jobs before the president-elect takes office Jan. 20, and he'll have to act boldly and quickly to stave off a return to the dismal economy of the 1930s, he said. Yet for now, Krugman said, the current crisis remains considerably smaller per capita than that of the Great Depression.

"As some people are saying, we don't have men in rags on the street begging for a dime," Krugman said. "We've got at the moment well-dressed executives in Congress, begging for [$]25 billion."

The economic crisis could also postpone Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy. An Obama aide told ABC News some of the president-elect's advisers are urging him not to end Bush's tax cuts in his first year in office.