Bush touts free market as solution to economy’s woes

The solution to repairing the damaged economy and promoting prosperity is to remain true to the principles of the free market, President Bush said Saturday. 

“As we focus on responses to our short-term challenges, our nations must also recommit to the fundamentals of long-term economic growth – free markets, free enterprise and free trade,” Bush said in his weekly radio address, referring to an upcoming summit of world leaders scheduled after Election Day.

{mosads}Bush’s pro-market message stands in stark contrast to the Democrats’ reaction to the credit crisis stifling American business and the millions of mortgage foreclosures turning people out of their homes.

Democrats, including their presidential standard-bearer, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), have blamed Bush’s fealty to free-market principles for the current period of economic uncertainty and vowed to more strictly regulate the financial markets. Obama and his Democratic allies also have railed against the free-trade agreements put in place during the Bush and Clinton administrations.

“Open market policies have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people around the world escape the grip of poverty,” Bush stated. “These policies have shown themselves time and time again to be the surest path to creating jobs, increasing commerce, and fostering progress. And this moment of global economic uncertainty would be precisely the wrong time to reject such proven methods for creating prosperity and hope.”

The Bush administration has set aside the laissez-faire approach to business in recent weeks to prevent a complete meltdown of the American economy, with federal agencies taking steps to prop up failing banks and other financial services companies. Bush strongly backed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill passed by Congress.

The president asserted that the actions already taken by his administration are working. “The federal government has taken bold action to stabilize our economy,” Bush said. “These steps are beginning to show results but it will take time for their full impact to be felt,” he said.