Worries mount after bailout passes
Jim Abrams- AP
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Getting the financial rescue through Congress may have been the easy part. Getting it to work may prove the tougher task.
After two weeks of anguishing debate, Congress passed and President Bush signed the enormous plan to save the financial industry and prop up the economy in hopes of avoiding an unthinkable free fall with Election Day just a month away.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, at a meeting last month, had shocked congressional leaders into action by warning of pending economic collapse without immediate federal intervention. After the climatic House vote on Friday, he said aides already were working out details and lining up advisers from outside the government so the money could start flowing. The goal is to unfreeze credit markets.
The immediate response to the 263-171 vote was not promising. Wall Street, which plunged a record 778 points after the House initially rejected the bill last Monday, fell 157 points. More economic bad news - a jump in job losses - outweighed the good news from Capitol Hill.
"Congress took a big step in the direction of at least giving us the tools necessary to bring some stability into the marketplace," Bush said Saturday while visiting Midland, Texas, his boyhood hometown.
Earlier, in his weekly radio address, Bush spoke cautiously about the economy's future. "My administration will move as quickly as possible, but the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately. The federal government particular companies," Sadler said. "Make sure that the company has good future growth prospects in a stable industry."
Students and professors shared the view that saving now is of great importance. "I have been saving since I was 15," Tucker said. "I always make sure I use hand-me-downs whenever possible and hold back on buying items like the latest hi-def TV I see my friends with. I find as many ways to cut corners as possible understanding that new isn't always better."
There may be hope for a brighter economic future yet. "Without a financial bailout package by Congress, financial markets will continue to be volatile," Sadler said. "If Congress passes a bailout package, the market should stabilize."
Friday, a bailout plan for $700 billion was passed. As a reaction to this, according to the Associated Press, President George W. Bush said, "Congress took a big step in the direction of at least giving us the tools necessary to bring some stability into the marketplace." However, he has also spoken cautiously of the country's economic future, saying, "My administration will move as quickly as possible, but the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately."
After two weeks of anguishing debate, Congress passed and President Bush signed the enormous plan to save the financial industry and prop up the economy in hopes of avoiding an unthinkable free fall with Election Day just a month away.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, at a meeting last month, had shocked congressional leaders into action by warning of pending economic collapse without immediate federal intervention. After the climatic House vote on Friday, he said aides already were working out details and lining up advisers from outside the government so the money could start flowing. The goal is to unfreeze credit markets.
The immediate response to the 263-171 vote was not promising. Wall Street, which plunged a record 778 points after the House initially rejected the bill last Monday, fell 157 points. More economic bad news - a jump in job losses - outweighed the good news from Capitol Hill.
"Congress took a big step in the direction of at least giving us the tools necessary to bring some stability into the marketplace," Bush said Saturday while visiting Midland, Texas, his boyhood hometown.
Earlier, in his weekly radio address, Bush spoke cautiously about the economy's future. "My administration will move as quickly as possible, but the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately. The federal government particular companies," Sadler said. "Make sure that the company has good future growth prospects in a stable industry."
Students and professors shared the view that saving now is of great importance. "I have been saving since I was 15," Tucker said. "I always make sure I use hand-me-downs whenever possible and hold back on buying items like the latest hi-def TV I see my friends with. I find as many ways to cut corners as possible understanding that new isn't always better."
There may be hope for a brighter economic future yet. "Without a financial bailout package by Congress, financial markets will continue to be volatile," Sadler said. "If Congress passes a bailout package, the market should stabilize."
Friday, a bailout plan for $700 billion was passed. As a reaction to this, according to the Associated Press, President George W. Bush said, "Congress took a big step in the direction of at least giving us the tools necessary to bring some stability into the marketplace." However, he has also spoken cautiously of the country's economic future, saying, "My administration will move as quickly as possible, but the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately."
Be the first to comment on this story