'Our entire economy is in danger'

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

September 25, 2008

Staff and news service reports The Eagle Tribune Thu Sep 25, 2008, 12:47 AM EDT

Haverhill Bank President Thomas Faulkner listened closely as President Bush went on national television last night to try to ease the concerns of a nation facing a dire economic future.

Bush warned Americans and lawmakers reluctant to pass a $700 billion financial rescue plan that failing to act fast risks wiping out retirement savings, rising foreclosures, lost jobs and closed businesses.

"Our entire economy is in danger," Bush said in his 12-minute speech.

After the speech, Faulkner said in a telephone interview he thought the president did an "excellent job of concisely explaining the problem and the seriousness of it."

"And I'm gratified to see that both political parties are very aggressive in discussing and analyzing the problem and coming to a meeting of the minds for a solution. And I would hope for enhanced regulation after the dust settles," Faulkner said.

The president's warning came not long after he issued extraordinary invitations to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, one of whom will inherit the mess in four months, as well as key congressional leaders to a White House meeting today to work on a compromise.

Also watching last night were Bill Ryan, from Ryan Financial Advisors in Andover, and Tim Jordan of Jordan Financial Services in Bradford.

"The bottom line is, our economy hangs in the balance. The banking system is hanging in the balance," Ryan said.

"At least he was reaching across the aisle, mentioning and inviting presidential candidates McCain and Obama to come work with him, the congressional leaders of each party to come and help and improve my plan," Jordan said.

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.

The bailout, which the Bush administration asked Congress last weekend to approve before it adjourns, is meeting with deep skepticism, especially from conservatives in Bush's own party who are revolting at the high price tag and unprecedented private sector intervention. Though there is general agreement that something must be done to address the spiraling economic problems, the timing and even the size of the package remained in doubt and the administration has been forced to accept changes almost daily.

Ryan, of Ryan Financial Advisors of Andover, said he was happy to hear last night that Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, a Democrat and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he expected bipartisan differences to be settled and the bailout plan will pass.

"I think that's really where we need to focus our attention, is that the differences are minimized and the agreement is really the major part of this discussion, because it's so important that the bill gets passed, and the little differences are little differences," Ryan said.

Seeking to explain himself to conservatives, Bush stressed he was reluctant to put taxpayer money on the line to help businesses that had made bad decisions and that the rescue is not aimed at saving individual companies. He tried to address some of the major complaints from Democrats by promising that CEOs of failed companies won't be rewarded.

The president traced the origins of the problem back a decade to a large influx of money into the U.S. system from overseas, low interest rates, the "faulty assumption" that home values would continue to skyrocket, easy lending by mortgage companies, over-borrowing by homeowners and exuberant building by construction firms.

But while generally acknowledging risky and poorly thought-out financial decisions at many levels of society, Bush never assigned blame to any specific entity, such as his administration, the quasi-independent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the Wall Street firms that built rising profits on increasingly speculative mortgage-backed securities.

"Ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession," Bush said. "Fellow citizens, we must not let this happen."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Eagle-Tribune reporter Mark E. Vogler contributed.