WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Battered economy dominates US presidential race
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-20 22:29 Earlier, McCain called on the Federal Reserve to stop bailing out failed financial institutions. Addressing a business group in Wisconsin, the Republican presidential hopeful said the US central bank should get back to what he called "its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation." McCain said that to help return the US to fiscal solvency, the Fed should instead focus on shoring up the dollar and keeping inflation low. "A strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices," McCain told business leaders in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "It will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again." Obama, meanwhile, met in Florida with top economic figures from former President Bill Clinton's administration - including former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. The meeting also served as a reminder of the better days of the US economy during the last Democratic administration in the 1990s. Obama said later that he wouldn't go into precise details of what he would offer if elected, because that could lead to financial turmoil. While backing the authority to move quickly on the credit crisis, Obama made it clear that he laid blame at the feet of the Bush administration. "For too long this administration has been willing to hit the fast-forward button when it comes to helping distressed Wall Street firms, while pressing pause when it comes to saving jobs and keeping people in their homes," he said. While he backed what he acknowledged would be a huge bailout, he argued for a targeted approach. McCain has consistently charged that Obama is too inexperienced to sit in the White House. Less than seven weeks before the November 4 election, Obama's high-profile consultations Friday appeared designed to combat that image, portraying him in a presidential-like setting, grappling with the country's most serious problems and making decisions with the help of a big-name team of experts. National polls indicate that McCain's edge has slipped since the upheaval in the US financial landscape. The latest Gallup Poll daily tracking survey also showed Obama ahead, with 49 percent to McCain's 44 percent. |
