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CNN Live Today

Bush Trying to Reassure Americans Economy Healthy and Strong

Aired July 15, 2002 - 13:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is doing what he can today to reassure Americans that the economy is healthy and strong, despite this market turmoil. But he also has his own lingering problems over a controversial stock sale that he made a decade ago when he was a director at Harken Energy.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is with the president in Birmingham, Alabama -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you saw the Dow dropping more than 300 points this afternoon. Clearly, the administration has a huge job ahead of itself. The president was here at the University of Alabama in Birmingham earlier today, trying to boost investor confidence, saying -- and I'm quoting here -- that Americans need -- are getting over the hangover from the economic binge. He is referring to the economic surge in the stock market, now taking a decline.

He says, however, that the economy is fundamentally strong. He pointed to positive economic indicators, highlighting the moderate interest rates, low inflation, productivity increase, as well as first quarter growth of 6 percent for this fiscal year 2002. The president also emphasized and gave credit to his $1.3 trillion 10-year tax cut, saying that in part, that that was the reason why the economy, he felt, was going to rebound in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America must get rid of the hangover that we now have as a result of the binge, the economic binge, we just went through. We were in the land of -- that there was endless profit. There was no tomorrow when it came to, you know the stock markets and corporate profits, and now we're suffering a hangover for the binge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: the administration also emphasizing the need for corporate responsibility, corporate accountability. Quite frankly, this was a message that he delivered on Wall Street last week that fell flat. The administration felt that he needed to go out and convince the American people once again, put this message forward.

But of course the president still being dogged by questions of his own business dealings more than a dozen years ago as director of Harken Energy Group, specifically an SEC investigation of insider trading on a particular stock sale. The SEC has said that it has no evidence of wrongdoing. But Democrats still calling for a full disclosure of that particular case.

We have heard from Ari Fleischer, White House spokesperson, earlier today, saying that's -- all of the relevant documents are already in the public domain, that they are not going to be dealing with that issue again -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you.

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