Bush: Government is working on crisis

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: Thank you for joining us this Friday morning
as we continue with Fallout: our special coverage of the global financial crisis. President Bush spoke moments ago in the White House Rose Garden:

President George W. Bush: Fellow citizens, we can solve this crisis, and we will.

The president did not make any specific policy announcements. The statement was intended to calm the markets.

President George W. Bush: The United States government is acting. We will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets.

What effect might Bush’s statement have? Marketplace’s Jeremy Hobson has that from New York.

Jeremy Hobson: The president has made mostly brief statements about the financial crisis, and he hasn’t held a full-blown press conference since July, when he said he thought the banking system was sound. There were no questions today, just a list of the steps the government has taken in recent days.

But what about the president’s job as confidence instiller? Peter Schiff is president of the brokerage firm Euro Pacific Capital:

Peter Schiff: You know, Americans aren’t spending because they lack confidence. They’re not spending because they’re broke and they lack money. We don’t need somebody to try to beat the drums that everything is OK. It’s not OK. It’s terrible.

The president did confirm that the Treasury may take an equity stake in U.S. banks. Tomorrow the president will meet with finance ministers from developed nations around the world.

In New York, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.