Bush Talks With European Leaders On Crisis

Urges Coordination Of Efforts To Solve Financial Trauma Spreading Around The Globe

(AP)  President Bush reached out to European leaders on Tuesday to urge coordination on efforts to solve the financial crisis spreading around the globe. The White House said Mr. Bush was open to the idea of a leaders' summit on the economic upheaval.

Mr. Bush talked with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

With unemployment rising and businesses unable to get credit, White House press secretary Dana Perino offered a gloomy forecast for the economy.

"Obviously, this next quarter is probably not going to be a very good one," she said.

She said Americans are feeling the impact. "They're probably not looking forward to next month's statement, when they get their retirement fund or their college fund bank statement," Perino said.

Mr. Bush was to speak about the economy later in the day during a visit to an office products firm in suburban Chantilly, Va.

"He will acknowledge the concerns and the anxieties that Americans are having about the funds that they've saved for college or the funds they've saved for retirement, and the still-volatile financial markets, and the understandable anxiety that that has created over the past several weeks," Perino said.

"He will explain how the credit freeze is a problem that could affect everybody up and down the economic food chain," she said.

Perino said the administration was focusing on a meeting at the end of the week of finance ministers from the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, the so-called G-7. At the same time, she left the door open for Mr. Bush to attend an emergency leaders' meeting suggested by Sarkozy.

"The president obviously talked to President Sarkozy about his idea to have a meeting. The president's open to that," she said.

"But the immediate focus is on this weekend's meeting because we're still in a situation where we have an emergency where we need to act today and not worry too much about a meeting," Perino said. "We want to make sure that everyone's on the same page when they get there so that it can be an effective and efficient meeting."

She said the United States was satisfied with the level of cooperation now among European allies on the crisis.

"I think that he would say that it is sufficient and that they are talking and that they're communicating," Perino said. "It's critical that everybody gets on the same page."

"Not everybody has dotted all the i's and crossed the t's yet on their plans," she said. "I think that they're continuing to work on them. So we're satisfied with the level of effort and coordination, but I don't think anybody has an end result yet."

[babooph]

Those other leaders will understand Bush -they have children & grandchildren at home who think in a similar way.

[ubrew12]

Whats historic about this crisis is that its showing the importance of government to ''rein in'' the sometimes wild behavior of the ''engine'' of capitalism. Capitalism is a great engine (think of it as a team of horses), but without proper harnessing and control, it tends to pull in a million directions.

We now have a globalized capitalism, but NO global government. So, capital (and increasingly labor) can travel across country boundaries to avoid taxes, find cheaper raw materials, etc. Without better global control of capitalism, governments need to have clear regulations in place and absolutely must enforce them fairly, such that everyone benefits rather than just your home team (ie you cant be for global capitalism while its helpful to you and AGAINST it when its not, its an all or nothing deal). Without every gov''t pulling in unison, Ireland (say) will act to protect ITS banks (and the heck with Germany, etc). That''s why Bush is insisting on better international coordination.

[babooph]

The nation will never recover-our founding fathers were agnostics for VERY good reasons& tried to protect us from whacos-the US propaganda system sold them out !!

[tawpdawg111]

Bush will lead them out of the crisis.

[sleepyric]

Hey George...can you spare a dime??? I always thought that government included more than just starting wars. No oversight, and the greedy republicans caused all this. All of it! Oh, and I am so glad you are talking to other leaders...you''re so freakin'' wonderful! 104 days and good riddance!

[liberalme]

mcsame, mcslime, mcbush, shrub, mcsenile, caribou barbie....there i covered the juvenile comments from libs, now post something worth reading libs.


Posted by jamesm12341 at 02:40 PM : Oct 07, 2008

Practice what you preach jwind11---you never post anything viable, factual or even interesting.

[liberalme]

All on your watch Bush--all on your watch.

Doesn''t matter what happened in 2000 and prior, this mess is all on Bush--the worst criminal president in history.

Money in his pocket, blood on his hands and he will walk away with a grin on that surly face and if the Dems get in (which they will) he will, within 6 months, blame his mess on the dems.