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Bloomberg.com

Bush Says U.S. Using `Wide Range of Tools' on Crisis (Update1)

By Demian McLean and Catherine Dodge

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said the U.S. government will ``aggressively'' use a ``wide range of tools'' to help stabilize markets and resolve the financial crisis.

``The United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets,'' Bush said at the White House. ``This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people.''

Bush sought to reassure Americans that the $700 billion rescue plan passed by Congress last week is comprehensive enough to solve the credit crisis that is creating widespread uncertainty throughout the economy.

Comments by Bush and members of his administration haven't calmed markets since the Senate cleared the legislation on Oct. 1. Since then, Bush has spoken publicly or issued statements about the rescue plan seven times, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 20.8 percent. Stocks sank again this morning, capping the worst week ever for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

The U.S. president said the government has acted on several fronts, including injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system, coordinating a global cut in interest rates, and expanding the amount of money that is insured in savings accounts.

``Fellow citizens, we can solve this crisis and we will,'' Bush said.

`Aggressive' Plan

``The plan we are executing is aggressive,'' Bush said. ``It will take time to have its full impact. It is flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes. And it is big enough to work.''

Bush meets tomorrow with finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations, as his predecessor, former President Bill Clinton, did with the group during a 1998 financial crisis.

The G-7 ministers and central bankers meet today in Washington, facing a breakdown in investor confidence in their ability to end the credit freeze endangering the global economy.

Threatened by the worst economic outlook in a quarter century, officials arrived in Washington still without the broad- based strategy that investors were seeking, raising the risk of further turmoil if their remedies disappoint. Among the options: a proposal by U.K. Chancellor Alistair Darling for nations to guarantee lending between banks, a suggestion that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hasn't ruled out.

To contact the reporter on this story: Demian McLean in Washington at dmclean@bloomberg.net; Catherine Dodge in Washington at Cdodge1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 10, 2008 11:29 EDT