President-elect Barack Obama uses his weekly address to deal with the massive job losses now occuring within our economy. Highlights from the Washington Post:

A “massive effort” to make federal buildings energy-efficient by replacing aging heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. Obama said the effort would save taxpayers “billions of dollars each year” and put people back to work.

— The largest investment in roads and bridges “since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s.” Responding to concerns that new transportation money might be caught up in red tape at the state level, Obama said states must quickly invest in road and bridge construction and repair — or lose the federal dollars.

— The “most sweeping” program to upgrade and rehabilitate the nation’s schools by repairing buildings, installing energy-efficient systems and buying new computers for the classrooms. The idea, he said, is to create “21st-century schools.”

— A new push to extend broadband Internet into places of the country that still lacks high-speed connections. Calling it “unacceptable” that the United States ranks only 15th globally in high-speed adoption, Obama said that “every child should have the chance to get online.”

— And a plan to modernize hospitals and medical offices by making sure they are using “cutting edge technology” and electronic medical records. He said that would “cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes and help save billions of dollars each year.”