on the morning of friday 19 september 2008 president george w. bush flanked by treasury sec'y, henry m. paulson, jr., federal reserve chairman, ben bernake and securities and exchange commission chairman, christopher cox, proclaims a "pivotal moment in america's economy."
president bush says that "problems that originated in the credit markets and first showed up in the area of sub-prime mortgages have spread throughout our financial system. this has led to an erosion of confidence that has frozen many financial transactions including loans to consumers and to businesses seeking to expand and create jobs as a result we must act now to protect our nations economic health from serious risk ."
and oh yeah, president bush says that "the securities and exchange commission has issued new rules temporarily suspending the practice of short-selling on the stocks of financial institutions. this is intended to prevent investors from intentionally driving down particular stocks, for their own personal gain. the sec is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short-selling and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted."
