Bush: Helping financial sector will take ‘a while’

President Bush on Monday said it would take “a while” for the Wall Street rescue package to help the troubled financial markets. 

{mosads}On a day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was headed for another steep drop, with the index down as much as 550 points in afternoon trading, Bush’s statement from San Antonio sought to assure the public that the bailout bill he signed Friday “is a big step toward solving this problem.”

“It’s going to take a while to get in place a program that, one, is effective, and, two, that doesn’t waste taxpayers’ money,” the president stated. “We don’t want to rush into this situation and not

have the program be effective.”

Bush acknowledged that many Americans are wondering why the federal government had to step in to help Wall Street.

“The answer is because had we not done anything, people like the folks behind me would be a lot worse off,” Bush said, referring to a group of small-business owners with whom he had met.