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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (428361)	10/19/2008 10:53:46 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1572777

Regions in Recession, Bush Aide Says REUTERS Published: October 19, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Bush’s top economic adviser said Sunday that some regions of the United States were struggling with high jobless rates and seemed to be in recession. “We are seeing what anyone would characterize as a recession in some parts of the country,” the adviser, Edward P. Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN. Unemployment in some areas is “much higher” than the 6.1 percent national level, he said. Mr. Lazear says the administration “has taken the right steps” to thaw out credit markets and get loans flowing to businesses and consumers. Although it will take a few months for the full impact of the Treasury Department’s $700 billion credit market rescue plan to be felt, improvements are already visible, Mr. Lazear said. “Banks are now willing to lend to one another. That’s a huge plus for the economy because the big problem has been that banks have been unwilling to trust one another,” he said. Benchmark credit spreads have shrunk over the last week as new liquidity measures by global central banks and governments have started to take effect. Those spreads have been at unusually high levels, a reflection of risk aversion among banks. Mr. Lazear said the federal budget deficit would grow because of the cost of the bailout, but he declined to say how high. “The deficit is important,” he said, but “the main focus is turning the economy around.” nytimes.com