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Bush sorry economic crisis has cut jobs, 401 (k)s

2008-12-02 09:28:13

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer Deb Riechmann, Associated Press

Writer Tue Dec 2, 12:04 am ET

WASHINGTON President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global

financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll

back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.

"I'm sorry it's happening, of course," Bush said in a wide-ranging interview

with ABC's "World News," which was airing Monday. "Obviously I don't like the

idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other

hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I

mean, we're in. And if we need to be in more, we will."

The U.S. economy fell into a recession in December 2007, the National Bureau of

Economic Research reported on Monday. Many economists believe the current

downturn will last until the middle of 2009 and will be the most severe slump

since the 1981-82 recession.

On the war in Iraq, Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was the

"intelligence failure" regarding the extent of the Saddam Hussein threat to the

United States. With the support of Congress, Bush ordered the U.S.-led invasion

of Iraq in March 2003 a decision largely justified on grounds later proved

false that Saddam was building weapons of mass destruction.

Asked if he would have ordered the U.S.-led invasion if intelligence reports

had accurately indicated that Saddam did not have the weapons, Bush replied:

"You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do.

It's hard for me to speculate."

During a discussion about what Americans should know about what it is like to

be president, Bush was asked what he was most unprepared for going into the

office.

"I think I was unprepared for war," he said. "In other words, I didn't campaign

and say, `Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other

words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents one of the things about the modern

presidency is that the unexpected will happen."

On the presidential election, Bush called Barack Obama's victory a "repudiation

of Republicans."

"I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me," said Bush, who

leaves office with low approval ratings. "I think most people voted for Barack

Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the

next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice

to put him in as president."

As he leaves office, Bush said he felt responsible for the economic downturn

because it's occurring on his watch, but he added: "I think when the history of

this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were

made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so" before he became president.

He said he would like to see "instant liquidity" in the markets given the

extent of the financial rescue plan, yet he understands that fear has paralyzed

the markets.

"It is hard for the average citizen to understand how frozen the system became

and how over-leveraged the system became," Bush said. "And so what we're

watching is the de-leveraging of our financial markets, which is obviously

affecting the growth of the economy."

Last week, the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve pledged $800 billion

to break through blockades on credit cards, auto loans, mortgages and other

borrowing. The latest moves raised U.S. commitments to contain the financial

crisis to nearly $7 trillion though no one thinks the government will

actually spend that much.

The figures include loans that are expected to be repaid, loan authorities to

back mortgages, purchases of stock in banks, guarantees to support loans among

banks and pledges backing other transactions.

"This economy will recover," Bush said in the interview conducted last

Wednesday at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat. "And when it recovers,

many of the assets backed by the government now will be redeemed, and we will

could conceivably make money off of some of the holdings."

Later in the interview, he said: "I can't guarantee that we'll get all our

money back, but it's conceivable we could."