Saturday, October 11, 2008

Bush: World Powers Will Attack Crisis Together

The world's wealthiest industrial countries will work together to attack the credit crisis spreading around the globe, President Bush said on Saturday.

Speaking after a meeting with financial officials from the so-called G-7, Bush said, "We will do what it takes to resolve the crisis and the world's economy will emerge stronger as a result."

Bush said that in past crises, some countries sought to "wall themselves off from the world" or gain advantage over one another.

He said: "This time is different. The leaders gathered together in Washington this weekend are all working together."

Financial officials from the world's wealthiest industrial countries met Saturday after pledging decisive action to deal with the biggest upheavals to hit the global financial system since the Great Depression.

The big question is whether their one-page action plan will be enough to stop the bleeding as investors watch trillions of dollars of wealth melt away.

In an effort to expand the firepower the United States is bringing to the problem, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced late Friday that it had decided to go forward with a plan to buy a part ownership in a broad array of American banks. It would be the first time the U.S. government has employed such a program since the 1930s.

President Bush invited Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and their counterparts from the other G-7 countries to come to the White House Saturday morning for a meeting that the administration hoped would demonstrate global resolve in attacking the current crisis.

Bush, speaking on the economic chaos for the 21st time out of the past 26 days, said Friday that the government's rescue program was aggressive enough and big enough to work. "We can solve this crisis and we will," he pledged.

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