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ITN
Bush in 'Wall Street got drunk' clanger
Bush in 'Wall Street got drunk' clanger
President George W Bush has explained the global credit crunch by saying "Wall Street got drunk".When asked what led to the US housing market meltdown that threw the world's economy into turmoil, Mr Bush said: "There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk."It got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is, how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?"Mr Bush's comments were recorded on a mobile phone camera and then posted on YouTube."He has said before that Wall Street was dealing with very complex financial instruments and that the markets didn't fully understand the risks that those instruments posed to the system," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said."It is certainly a more colourful way of saying what he said before, but he's described it that way before in terms of his observations of what happened to the market," she said.The video also shows Mr Bush joking with a friendly crowd and musing about his life when he leaves the White House in January."We've got a housing issue," Mr Bush said. "Not in Houston, evidently not in Dallas, because Laura's over there trying to buy a house today."He explained that his wife no longer wished to live in rural Crawford, Texas, and preferred Dallas where the Bush presidential library will be located."I like Crawford, unfortunately after eight years of asking her to sacrifice, I am no longer the decision maker," he said.
ITN | July 24, 2008
