Obama unveils his economic team at a noon ET press conference today in Chicago. That and the day’s other transition and political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.

The $700 billion bailout package passed by Congress is small potatoes compared to the $7.4 trillion that the Fed has pledged to throw at the credit crisis, Bloomberg reports:

The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages.

So far, $2.8 trillion has actually been tapped by financial institutions, but the Fed is still refusing to disclose who got the loans recipients and what collateral secures the government loans.

President-elect Barack Obama announced on Saturday an extensive new economic stimulus plan he hopes to have ready to sign upon taking office. We take a look at how the news stimulated the Sunday morning talk shows in today’s Sunday Show Roundup …

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

President Bush appeared this morning with Henry Paulson — I guess just to affirm that he’d signed off on the Citigroup bailout, in case we were concerned that he’d delegated all of his powers to Treasury and the Fed.

I feel reassured …

As other have reported and we’ve now confirmed, the plan is now that the new Congress will have a stimulus bill in the half trillion dollar range ready for President Obama to sign on the first day of his presidency — January 20th, 2009.

So that suggests some calendar math.

Even with big Democratic majorities and the incentive of crisis, you still don’t get this sort of legislation through Congress in a day. So if the new Congress gets sworn in January 6th, I think it’s realistic to say that you need bill basically written — at least the major line items — when both chambers convene.

Today is November 24th, one month before Christmas and the New Year’s Holidays. The severity of the crisis and the realities of the transition will keep things moving much more than usual over the holidays. But still, the holidays block out some time.

All of which suggests to me that to keep on a realistic schedule, the basic outlines of how to spend that half trillion-plus dollars needs to be worked out over the next four weeks. And there’s a lot to figure out.

‘Stimulus plans’ are generally numbered in the tens of billions of dollars. $500 billion is the number we’re talking about now. And I think you have to assume that number grows. Extensions to unemployment insurance and other counter-cyclical spending is critical. But it doesn’t put a dent in that overall price tag. So clearly to spend that kind of money you need to fund programs that do more than inject money directly into the economy. You need to fund major new programs that will likely shape the economic direction of the country for years, perhaps decades into the future — major spending on infrastructure, laying the cornerstones of a green energy economy and more.

Four weeks.

What better way to reform and reinvigorate the Republican Party than to elect a party chairman who was recently forced to resign his membership in a whites-only country club.

A lot to chew on in the new housing numbers out this morning from the National Association of Realtors. The drop in the average price of homes, 11.3 percent since last October, was the largest since the group began keeping records in 1968. Sales of previously owned homes fell 3.1 percent.

But perhaps the most interesting figure is that nearly half of all sales of existing homes in October were foreclosure sales.

From Justin Rood at ABCNews …

AIG, Citibank and a number of other federally bailed-out financial institutions have no plans to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in sports team sponsorships, even as they take billions in taxpayer support, ABC News has found.

In boom times, the sponsorships were seen as a way to advertise the firms’ “brands” and appeal to potential customers. Even today, at least one bank told ABC News that a naming deal was increasing its revenue. But critics, including a member of Congress, say the decision to continue them now is hard to defend.

Struggling Citibank just sealed a multi-billion-dollar emergency “backstop” deal with the U.S. government. The financial behemoth, suffering with billions in bad mortgage-related assets on its books, recently shed 53,000 workers and saw its stock price lose over half its value. Yet it’s in a 20-year contract to pay the New York Mets $400 million to name the team’s new stadium “Citi Field.”

Robert Borosage, co-director of the progressive Campaign for America’s Future, releases a statement on Obama’s economic team …

It’s not the personnel, it’s the policy. And on this, Obama has been clear. He’s announced a massive recovery plan based on putting people to work with public investment in areas vital to our future.

The crisis we face makes Rubinomics irrelevant. Deficit spending must go up, finance must be re-regulated, trade imbalances must be reduced and manufacturing can no longer be scorned.

Obama is choosing experienced hands for the crisis, trusting that their experience does not impede the new thinking needed to get us out of this hole. He’ll set the direction. And so far, he’s on course.

Late Update: Much less my cup of tea but also of interest is this from US Chamber of Commerce …

President-elect Obama has chosen a strong, experienced economic team. Restoring the nation’s economic health must be our top priority and the Chamber stands ready to work with the new administration to spur growth and job creation.

This team brings a wealth of knowledge to Washington and an understanding that any sustainable economic recovery will involve the business sector.

Tim Geithner has a deep understanding of our capital markets and the experience and credibility to tackle our nation’s biggest challenge–restoring our economy and rebuilding our financial markets.  He has been directly engaged in all the steps taken so far to address this unprecedented crisis and is well qualified to lead the Treasury Department.

Larry Summers’ knowledge of economic issues and past experience as Treasury secretary will serve President Obama well.  Likewise, Christina Romer and Melody Barnes will bring an understanding that any sustainable economic recovery will involve the business sector.

For nearly a century the Chamber has successfully worked with both parties through varying economic conditions. Today’s challenges are unprecedented and call for strong communication and support between the next administration and the backbone of our nation’s economy, America’s business community.”

From TPM Reader DB …

What makes Citi’s sponsorship of the new stadium even more absurd is that although the Mets paid for a decent amount of the construction, a lot was subsidized as per this article in the Times.

So basically the tax payers give money to Citi to get naming rights to a stadium that the tax payers partially built so the Mets can raise ticket prices to a level that your average New Yorker cannot afford. But hey, the Citi execs will still have their luxury boxes!!!