US President George W. Bush on Friday defended the US government’s extraordinary series of interventions in the financial crisis, calling them measures of “last resort” that will ultimately work to restore the economy to stability.
“I would oppose such measures under ordinary circumstances,” Bush said in a speech timed to wrap up just before yesterday’s stock market opening. “But these are not ordinary circumstances.”
He cautioned, as he has repeatedly before, that the government moves were aimed at preventing the problems from growing worse, not as an immediate salve to the battered economy.
“It took a while for the credit markets to freeze up, and it’s going to take a while for the credit system to thaw,” Bush said in 20 minutes of remarks delivered across the street from the White House at the US Chamber of Commerce building, a symbolic headquarters of US business.
Seeking to calm markets that have gyrated wildly — and mostly downward — despite massive infusions of government cash into the system, Bush said the steps are “big enough and bold enough to work.”
“The American people can be confident that they will,” the president said.
The main thrust of his speech, however, seemed aimed at conservatives and members of the public that are wary of so much government intervention into private markets. He presented himself as a free-market devotee dragged into these moves, which he defended as limited in size, scope and duration. He said there will be strong oversight and perhaps even taxpayer benefit over the long term.
“Had the government not acted, the hole in our financial system would have grown larger,” Bush said. “We would have been forced to respond with even more drastic and costly measures later on.”
Also See: All the bubbles are bursting
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’