Bush: U.S. is not headed for recession

President rejects any further stimulus measures for now

President Bush speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Thursday. He said that he believes the country is not headed into a recession.

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Feb. 28: President Bush is putting pressure on Congress to get him a bill he can sign on terrorist surveillance. NBC's Jeannie Ohm reports.
MSNBC

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday the country is not recession-bound and, despite expressing concern about slowing economic growth, rejected for now any additional stimulus efforts. "We acted robustly," he said.

"We'll see the effects of this pro-growth package," Bush told reporters at a White House news conference, acknowledging that some lawmakers already are talking about a second stimulus package. "Why don't we let stimulus package 1, which seemed like a good idea at the time, have a chance to kick in?"

Bush's view of the economy was decidedly rosier than that of many economists, who say the country is nearing recession territory or may already be there. "I'm concerned about the economy," he said. "I don't think we're headed to recession. But no question, we're in a slowdown."

The centerpiece of government efforts to brace the wobbly economy is a package Congress passed and Bush signed last month. It will rush rebates ranging from $300 to $1,200 to millions of people and give tax incentives to businesses.

On one issue particularly worrisome to American consumers, there are indications that paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline is not out of the question once the summer driving season arrives. Asked about that, Bush said "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now."

Bush also telegraphed optimism about the U.S. dollar, which has been declining in value.

"I believe that our economy has got the fundamentals in place for us to ... grow and continue growing, more robustly hopefully than we're growing now," he said. "So we're still for a strong dollar."

Bush also used his news conference to press Congress to give telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government eavesdrop after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Bush criticized the Democratic presidential candidates over their attempts to disassociate themselves from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a free-trade pact between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Bush said the deal is contributing to more and better-paying jobs for Americans.

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Following his news conference, Bush traveled to the Labor Department to meet with his economic advisers.

Afterward, he expressed confidence in the nation's ability to weather the economic downturn.

"We'll make it through this period just like we made it through other periods of uncertainty during my presidency," Bush said.

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Man, this must be the most sheltered president in history. We're ALREADY in recession.

It's one thing not to know what's going on in Iraq, it's another thing if you're the president and you don't even know what's going on in your own country!

"Let them eat cake!"

Bush is probably the most out of touch president we've had in a long long time. He is the worst president in modern history.

Bush is a boy king and nothing more. I cannot wait to be rid of this disease.

Well, technically, a recession is defined as two or more quarters of negative economic growth. We haven't had that yet. So, technically, he is correct-- technically.

I think that the next two quarters may show that negative growth.

What is of greater concern are the BS inflation numbers that the government has been feeding us the past few quarters. They remove food and fuel. Well, hell, what has inflated more than food and fuel? I do think that they remove those from the CPI to keep the raises that are tied to the CPI such as SS payments lower than they otherwise would be to keep the budget deficit from getting even worse. The last inflation figures showed inflation rearing it's ugly head even without food and fuel.

It's garbage like this that makes be believe that the time will come soon where a viable 3rd party will show up. Bush and the most of the Republicans aren't conservatives. And the Democrats certainly aren't the party of JFK anymore (who, by todays standards, would be a right-winger). Look what they did to Joe Lieberman.

We need a "Common Sense" party.

Buckle up. We are in for a wild ride .....

Glenn,

I consider myself a Liberal Centrist. I lean towards the left (not liberal left, but leftist left) when it comes to foreign policy. However, when it comes to the economy, I lean towards the center and on some issues, towards the right. This is part of the reason why I had supported Ron Paul early on, although I knew he had no chance to gain the nomination. He has a good head on his shoulders, both on foreign policy and economics. I like his traditional main street classical values that have long been abandoned by the Bush administration. It seems that with Bush, the only order of the day has been corruption, nepotism and back scratching.

And note, Bush did not say that the economy is not in recession now, which would have been technically correct. He said that the economy was not 'heading' into recession, which is a completely different context. It shows how out of touch he is with the lives of average Americans.

Imagine a person with Obama's personality with Ron Paul's views, knowledge and ideas.