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Bush acknowledges weakness in US economy

nonothing

Well-known member
NEW YORK - Trying to calm jitters about the economy, President Bush conceded on Friday that the country "obviously is going through a tough time" but expressed confidence that it will rebound. He cautioned against overreacting to fix the problems.



In a speech to The Economic Club of New York, Bush said this was not the first time the economy has been rattled and that he is certain that it will ride out its troubles. "These are uncertain times," he said.

The president spoke as evidence of an ailing economy piled up. The dollar fell, oil and gold hit record highs, the economy is shedding jobs, retail sales saw a big drop and the effects of a severe credit squeeze linger. Economic worries have replaced the Iraq war as the No. 1 concern of voters in this presidential election year.

Bush acknowledged that prices are up at the gas pump and grocery stores and housing values are down — leading to worries among everyday "hardworking Americans." But he said low unemployment and strong productivity are proof of the economy's fundamental strength and resilience.

"Every time, this economy has bounced back better and stronger than before," Bush said.

The president also praised the work of the Federal Reserve. After cutting interest rates several times, the Fed said Friday it has voted to endorse an arrangement to bolster troubled Bear Stearns Cos. and stands ready to provide add liquidity to a combat a serious credit crisis.

"It was strong action by the Fed and they did so because some financial institutions that borrowed money to buy securities in the housing industry must now repair their balance sheets before they can make further loans," the president said.

"Today's events are fast moving, but the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the secretary of the treasury are on top of them and will take the appropriate steps to promote stability in our markets," Bush assured his audience.

The president chose American's financial center as the backdrop — and the titans of finance and commerce as the audience — for his attempts to calm nerves from Wall Street to Main Street.

The Economic Club of New York is an exclusive, wealthy, largely homogenous group of top executives. Speaking before the gathering had Bush somewhat literally preaching to the choir — the 101-year-old group's new chairman is Glen Hubbard, the first head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers for Bush.

He even drew a laugh when he opened his remarks with a not-so-veiled reference to the economy's ills. "It seems like I showed up in an interesting moment, a very interesting time," Bush said.

His main message, aside from optimism, stuck to Republican economic orthodoxy: warning repeatedly against too much government intervention.

For instance, while insisting his administration has an "active plan" to deal with the problems, Bush said he opposed several measures pending on Capitol Hill. They included proposals to allocate $400 billion to purchase abandoned and foreclosed homes, to change the bankruptcy code to allow judges to adjust mortgage rates, and to artificially prop up home prices.

"It's important not to overcorrect, because when you overcorrect, you end up in a ditch," Bush said. "It's important to be steady."

He said his administration would address the crisis "in a way that respects the ingenuity of the American people, that bolsters the entrepreneurial spirit and ensures that when we make it through this rough patch, that the driving will be smooth."

Bush took a veiled shot at Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for their criticism of trade agreements that they say put American workers at a disadvantage.

"When times are tough, it's much easier to find somebody else to blame," the president said, without mentioning either candidate by name. "Sometimes that somebody else to blame is somebody in a distant land. It's easy politics. It's easy to go around and hammer on trade."

In a brief question-and-answer session, a member of the audience, noting that consumer prices are rising and the dollar is weak around the world, asked Bush whether the United States has an inflation problem.

"I agree that the Fed needs to be independent and make considered judgments and balance growth versus inflation," Bush said without answering the question directly.

"We believe in a strong dollar and I recognize that economies go up and down, but it's important for us to put policy in place that sends the signal that our economy is going to be strong and open for business."

He said the United States should not do "something foolish" during this economic period that will make it harder to grow, such as blocking capital from coming into the nation or failing to extend the tax cuts.

He said he had cautioned Saudi King Abdullah that he "better be careful about affecting markets" with high oil prices and that soaring fuel costs would prompt more investment in alternative sources of energy.

But, Bush said, "Our energy policy hasn't been very wise up to now." He avoided further discussion of prices, saying, "I'm going to dodge the rest of your question."
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Folks that can face the real world apparently aren't advising GW-since he still refuses to use the "r" word..... That must give these economists such a warm fuzzy feeling about who is leading us in this economic crisis time :roll: :wink: :(

Most Economists in Survey
Say Recession Is Here

Poll Shows Sharp Drop
In First-Half Forecasts;
Retail Sales Decline
By PHIL IZZO and SUDEEP REDDY
March 13, 2008; Page A14

Economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey are increasingly certain the U.S. has slid into recession, a view reinforced by new data showing a sharp drop in retail sales last month.

"The evidence is now beyond a reasonable doubt," said Scott Anderson of Wells Fargo & Co.

Thirty-six of 51 respondents, or more than 70%, said in a survey conducted March 7-11 that the economy is in recession

Almost half the economists surveyed said a recession this year could be worse than the 2001 and 1990-91 downturns.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120534519452630845.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
 

Mike

Well-known member
fff said:
Mike said:
Bush knows what a recession is. He was handed one when he took office.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Even if that were true, he's only made it worse.


http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2002/nov-dec02/spotlight.html

Looks like Bush did a good job of recovery................ :lol: :lol:
 

fff

Well-known member
Mike said:
fff said:
Mike said:
Bush knows what a recession is. He was handed one when he took office.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Even if that were true, he's only made it worse.


http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2002/nov-dec02/spotlight.html

Looks like Bush did a good job of recovery................ :lol: :lol:

Only if you have your nose buried in his backside and don't look any further than that. From your link:

By this definition, the U.S. had a recession in the first three quarters of 2001

Who was president during the first three quarters of 2001? George W. Bush.

Look at the Federal Deficit here http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

From Truman, through Ike, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, the national debt as a percentage of GDP went down. Then when Saint Ronnie took office, it went up, under George the First, it went up, under Clinton (Dem), it went down, now under another Republican president, George W. Bush, it's reaching new heights. Yes, we need another fiscally conservative Republican for president. :roll:

From bloomberg.com:

The federal budget went from a $128 billion surplus in 2001, when Bush took office, to a record deficit of $413 billion in fiscal 2004. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit will narrow to $158 billion this year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a82eq0PQMhZI&refer=home

Wages under the Bush Administration have been stagnate. Yet we've created a record number of millionaires in this country during his Administration.

From the NY Times:

Even as the economy grew, incomes stagnated last year and the poverty rate rose, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first time on record that household incomes failed to increase for five straight years.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0DE7D71631F932A0575BC0A9639C8B63&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FW%2FWelfare%20(US)
 

Mike

Well-known member
Who was president during the first three quarters of 2001? George W. Bush.

Ha, Ha, Ha. He didn't take over until late January of 2001, AFTER the recession had started.

Do you really think he started the recession before he took office? :lol: :lol:

I guess you don't remember the Dot Com bust in 2000?

_____________________________________________________

Dot-com bubble
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The "dot-com bubble" (or sometimes the "I.T. bubble") was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 (with a climax on March 10th, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52) during which stock markets in Western nations saw their value increase rapidly from growth in the new Internet sector and related fields. The period was marked by the founding (and, in many cases, spectacular failure) of a group of new Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms. A combination of rapidly increasing stock prices, individual speculation in stocks, and widely available venture capital created an exuberant environment in which many of these businesses dismissed standard business models, focusing on increasing market share at the expense of the bottom line. The bursting of the dot-com bubble marked the beginning of a relatively mild yet rather lengthy early 2000s recession in the developed world.
 

fff

Well-known member
Mike said:
Who was president during the first three quarters of 2001? George W. Bush.

Ha, Ha, Ha. He didn't take over until late January of 2001, AFTER the recession had started.

So? How long should it take him to do something? A year? Two years? Eight years. Well, we've finished seven years and the economy is worse than when he took over. So spin away, but no one's going to buy it.

Do you really think he started the recession before he took office? :lol: :lol:

Start a recession? No; you claimed "Looks like Bush did a good job of recovery". That's a load of horse pucky.

I guess you don't remember the Dot Com bust in 2000?

I remember. I remember that when GWB was elected, we took most of our investments out of the stock market because we believed he'd run this country into the ground. I could never have imagined what he'd actually do, but we're much better off, financially, because of that move.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Where Bush screwed up was letting Greenspan stay.

We'd all be better off if he had run that turkey out of town.
 

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