Clip from Bush's first press
conference since Valentine's
day, 2007. David Gregory asks
Bush about the volatility of
the housing markets.
Transcript of the clip
below:QUESTION: Mr. President,
I want to get your thoughts
about the volatility in the
financial markets, but
specifically, a series of
questions. Do you think thatmore

Clip from Bush's first press
conference since Valentine's
day, 2007. David Gregory asks
Bush about the volatility of
the housing markets.
Transcript of the clip
below:QUESTION: Mr. President,
I want to get your thoughts
about the volatility in the
financial markets, but
specifically, a series of
questions. Do you think that
housing prices will continue
to fall? Do you think that the
inability of people to borrow
money the way they used to is
going to spillover into
economy generally? And what
are you prepared to do about
it? And, specifically, are you
considering some kind of
government bailout for people
who might lose their
homes?BUSH: David, I'm wise
enough to remind you that I'm
not an economist, and that I
would ask you direct
predictions and forecasts
about economic matters to
those who make a living making
forecasts and predictions. I
suspect you'll find on the one
hand, on the other hand, in
how they predict.
(Laughter.)Now, what I focus
on are the fundamentals of our
economy. My belief is that
people will make rational
decision based upon facts. And
the fundamentals of our
economy are strong. I
mentioned some of them before.
Job creation is strong. Real
after-tax wages are on the
rise. Inflation is low.
Interestingly enough, the
global economy is strong,
which has enabled us to gain
more exports, which helped the
second quarter growth numbers
to be robust, at 3.4
percent.Another factor one has
got to look at is the amount
of liquidity in the system. In
other words, is there enough
liquidity to enable markets to
be able to correct? And I am
told there is enough liquidity
in the system to enable
markets to correct. One area
where we can help consumer --
and obviously anybody who
loses their home is somebody
with whom we must show
enormous empathy.The word
'bailout,' I'm not exactly
sure what you mean. If you
mean direct grants to
homeowners, the answer would
be no, I don't support that.
If you mean making sure that
financial institutions like
the FHA have got flexibility
to help these folks refinance
their homes, the answer is
yes, I support that.One thing
is for certain, is that there
needs to be more transparency
in the -- in financial
documents. In other words, a
lot of people sign up to
something they're not exactly
sure what they're signing up
for. More financial literacy,
I guess, is the best way to
put it. We've had a lot of
really hardworking Americans
sign up for loans, and the
truth of the matter is they
probably didn't fully
understand what they were
signing up for. And therefore,
I do believe it's a proper
role for government to enhance
financial education
initiatives, and we're doing
that, we've got money in the
budget to do that.Let's see
here --QUESTION: Can I just
ask one follow up, sir? Come
on. (Laughter.)BUSH:
Sure.QUESTION: Because you
weren't this circumspect when
you were talking to reporters
yesterday about the
economy.BUSH: How do you know?
You weren't there,
David.QUESTION: Well, you're
right, I wasn't, but --BUSH:
I'm curious to know why you
weren't there. Ask Baker, he
was there.
(Laughter.)QUESTION: Only
economics reporters were
allowed.BUSH: I think I pretty
much said the same thing
yesterday, in all due
respect.QUESTION: What's going
on in the housing market, is
it a correction or a crisis,
in your view? Can you assess
that?BUSH: Yesterday I did
comment upon that, that there
was a -- I talked about the
different scenarios that I had
been briefed on about whether
or not there would be a
precipitous decline in housing
or whether it would be what
one would call a soft landing,
and it appeared at this point
that it looks we're headed for
a soft landing. And that's
what the facts say.

Category News & Politics

Tags Bush, bpchmdg80907, press, conference, david, gregory, transcript, housing, markets, 8/9/07