Bush says market will be fine in time

"We're focused on the financial system as a whole," said President Bush in a statement today at the Rose Garden. His statement was in response to a bad weekend on Wall Street which included investment bank Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy on Monday and financial firm Merrill Lynch getting bought by Bank of America to save itself from bankruptcy.

He added that the short term adjustments might be painful, but "in the long run, I'm confident our capital markets are flexible and resilient."

Bush said he appreciated the job of the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He added that financial institutions in the United States and abroad would allow for "stability in the financial systems."

President Bush said that Americans can be assured that his administration is working hard to solve current "adjustments" in the job markets. He also said that this administration would try to improve "the broader economy."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the root of the problem lies in the current housing prices. That, he says, is the reason the administration is adamant about bailing out mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Paulson added that the American people can be "very confident in the federal banking system." He echoed the president's claim that despite some "rough spots along the road," the US economy is favorable compared to that of any developed country in the world.

Paulson would not speculate as to whether this country's economic problems were the fault of the Bush administration, but Paulson said he was "playing the hand that was dealt me."

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) Doesn’t See the Light at the End of America’s Dark Economic Tunnel

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) interrogated Dr. Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, before a Joint Economic Committee hearing focused on reviewing the problems with the current American employment situation.

Cummings hammered away at Hall, backing his stance with a barrage of statistics about the job market. The Congressman also offered a harsh critique of the recently passed Bush Administration stimulus package and the “shocking” state of less-than-adequate infrastructure growth our nation is experiencing.

Dr. Hall acknowledged that while manufacturing and retail employment was down, he refused to say that America was entrenched in full economic recession. Hall’s opinion was that the American economy was “flat” but not yet experiencing the “broad losses” generally characterizing an economy dealing with full recession. Hall noted that health care employment continued to expand, proving that not all areas of the job market were struggling as much as others.

Regardless of Hall’s optimism that America still can hopefully escape recession, Cummings’ dissatisfaction painted a dark portrait of a weak economic future he cautioned our country will likely face, should our government not work to provide more jobs for needy Americans.