“I couldn’t understand, at the beginning, that creating 14 million new jobs, eliminating inflation—or virtually eliminating it, bringing it down -- lowering interest rates, increasing the prosperity of the people—I just wouldn’t understand that that could hurt the stock market,” he said. “I think everyone has been caught by surprise in this. And it is true that at this point of the day the market is in a far better situation than it was yesterday at this time, with about the same number of sales of stock – trading of stock. But I’m very pleased and gratified with the action that has been taken so far by the Federal Reserve Board and the fact that two of the major banks have lowered their interest rates.”
Bill Clinton
President Clinton in an October 1997 speech focused on the strength of the U.S. economy and avoided talking about the stock market during the Asian currency crisis. His comments came one day after the Dow Jones lost 554 points -- the biggest ever point loss at the time -- that temporarily suspended trading on U.S. stock markets.
“It may be disappointing, but I think it is neither prudent nor appropriate for any president to comment on the hour-by-hour or the day-by-day movements of the market,” the president said.
George W. Bush
President George W. Bush spoke to the nation in September 2008 as the financial crisis intensified, saying that his administration was working on addressing the root causes behind market instability.
“I’m a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention. I believe companies that make bad decisions should be allowed to go out of business. Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence, and major sectors of America’s financial system are at risk of shutting down. The government’s top economic experts warn that, without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold. More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet. Foreclosures would rise dramatically.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.