Obama lays out modest steps on economy

US Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on Monday proposed tax credits and other steps to create jobs and to cushion Americans against the economic downturn but analysts described his ideas as modest.

The steps would cost $60 billion over two years and include penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts, temporarily barring banks from foreclosing on people trying to pay their mortgages and greater lending to states and municipalities.

The Illinois senator outlined his plan in Ohio, a battleground state that has suffered from the US economic downturn and that is central to his campaign against Republican candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona.