THE TELEGRAPH: President George W. Bush summoned Barack Obama and John McCain to the White House as he warned a failure by Congress to agree to a $700 billion bailout plan would lead to a "long and painful recession"
In a prime-time television address, Mr Bush said America's "entire economy is in danger" and implored Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to act swiftly and vote for the package. "It should be enacted as soon as possible," he said.
He stressed: "Without immediate action by Congress, American [sic] could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold."
Mr Bush warned that "the market is not functioning properly" and that with a "widespread loss of confidence" major business sectors were at risk. More banks could fail, triggering a recession, pushing down houses [sic] prices and "millions of Americans could lose their jobs". He added: "We must not let this happen."
In the long run, he said, Americans had good reason to be confident in their country's economic strength. "Despite corrections in the marketplace and instances of abuse, democratic capitalism is the best system ever devised."
Shortly after the speech, Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said that the majority Democrats had reached an agreement on the financial bailout plan and there would therefore be enough votes to pass it and send it to Mr Bush.
"We now have between House and Senate Democrats an agreement on what we think should be in the bill, and we have a meeting scheduled at 10 am tomorrow to meet with the Republicans."
Mr Bush explicitly endorsed several of the changes that have been demanded in recent days from the right and left. But he warned that he would draw the line at regulations he determined would hamper economic growth.
"It should be enacted as soon as possible," the president said.
His move was aimed at explaining the package to the American public. Bush said the goal is to help the government buy up troubled assets so that credit can start flowing again and the economy will rebound.
He said the rescue is aimed at helping the country, not individual companies. Financial Crisis: George W Bush to Meet John McCain and Barack Obama on Economy >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington | September 25, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Dollar Tumbles as Bailout Hangs in the Balance: The dollar slumped against the pound and the euro after President George W Bush's warning of the possibility of a "long and painful recession" unless Congress supports a bail-out of Wall Street. >>> By Angela Monaghan | September 26, 2008
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