McCain says he believes U.S. is in a recession

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he believes the country is in a recession, adding that “these are very, very tough times in America.”

{mosads}“Americans are hurting today,” McCain said at an Associated Press forum in Washington, D.C. “They’re hurting in the towns and cities across America. They’re sitting around the kitchen table, saying, ‘Are we going to be able to make our home loan mortgage payments? Are we going to be able to — do I have to try to get a second job? Can I keep my job? Why was I laid off?’”

While McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said he thinks the country is in a recession, he noted that he is more worried about helping people who are facing “enormous challenges,” rather than figuring out what the technical definition of a recession is.

The senator indicated that both Congress and President Bush are partly responsible for the situation, but argued that others are also playing a role.

“I think that there’s plenty of that blame to go around, including very greedy people that happen to be in Wall Street today … like the CEO of Bear Stearns who decided the day before he was bailed out by the federal government to cash in millions of dollar's worth of stock,” he stated, adding that there needs to be “a lot more accountability” on Wall Street.