Obama focuses on America's faltering economy with leading U.S. finance experts

Barack Obama put his overseas tour behind him yesterday to address America's faltering economy.

The presidential Democrat hopeful spent the afternoon with financial experts such as Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and ex- Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

They discussed ways to shore up the financial markets and struggling home-owners.

The world's richest man, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, was understood to have phoned the meeting to offer his views.

Surveys show that banks' instability, home repossessions and soaring energy costs are now voters' primary concerns, eclipsing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The latest Gallup opinion poll also showed Mr Obama's foreign tour has helped push him nine points ahead of Republican candidate John McCain – the widest margin since Gallup began tracking the election in March.

'People are worried about gas prices, they're worried about job security, they're worried about their retirement fund as the stock market goes down,' Mr Obama said.

The Illinois senator, who faces Mr McCain on November 4, was criticised during his foreign trip 'for acting as though he was already the leader of the free world'.

Although he said he was travelling as 'a citizen', he attracted a 200,000-strong crowd in Berlin, and was welcomed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron in London.

Managing to persuade leading American financiers and economic advisors to meet him in Washington DC would also be noted by White House pundits.

A spokesman for Mr Obama said he had asked the economists for advice but, as far as she was aware, none of them had yet endorsed his presidential campaign.

Before the meeting the 46-year-old said he wanted the group to examine policies he has already put forward, such as tax cuts for the poor, a second round of tax rebate cheques to encourage spending and a massive drive to shore up the housing market.

'We can't keep spending $10billion a month in Iraq at a time when we have pressing needs here in the United States of America,' he said.

President Bush's multi-billion-dollar housing rescue package was 'a good start' he said, but 'we're going to have to do more'.

The Republican camp countered by saying Mr McCain had been 'quietly talking' with economists over the past year.