U.S. economy rattled, but will roll again: Bush

President George W. Bush acknowledged the U.S. housing and financial sectors are being battered, but he said the economy has bounced back strongly before from shocks.

"After 52 consecutive months of job growth … our economy obviously is going through a tough time," he said Friday during a speech to the Economic Club of New York.

Bush pointed out that the U.S. economy has faced a recession, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, corporate scandals, war, and Hurricane Katrina during his tenure.

"I believe that we are a resilient economy and I believe that the ingenuity and resolve of the American people is what helps us deal with these issues," Bush said. "And it's going to happen again."

Bush's comments come on a day when stock markets were rattled by concerns over Wall Street brokerage Bear Stearns. The company said its liquidity had deteriorated over the past day, and that it has arranged a bailout with the backing of JPMorgan and the Federal Reserve of New York.

News of the Bear Stearns problems sent stocks indices in New York and Toronto to triple digit losses.

Bush pointed out that unemployment is currently low, wages have risen and exports are at an all-time high, but also acknowledged the slow 0.6 per cent growth rate of the last quarter of 2007 and the loss of 80,000 jobs over the past two months.

Bush credited the U.S. Congress for passing a stimulus package to help boost the economy. He also called on Congress to make past tax cuts permanent.

The president pointed to the housing market problems as the cause of the economy's doldrums. Bush called for more clarity and oversight in the mortgage industry, but he rejected a proposal that local and statement governments buy up abandoned homes.