Rescuing US economy

AS the previous vote in the House of Representatives last Monday rejected the $700 billion bailout plan for US economy, sparking market and political turmoil in the country and casting a long shadow over foreign economies as well, the Bush administration and bailout supporters mounted efforts to win over dissenting Democrat and Republican Congressmen in favour of a revised version of the bill. Their success (263-171) on Friday owed largely to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's backing and the support the bailout package received from the Senate (74-25). Senator Obama, according to a latest poll, gets 48 percent to Senator McCain's 41 percent as being more suited to take the economy out of the present mess. And the new measure provides a chance to US economic managers to set the ball rolling in an attempt to rescue the country's faltering economy that has lost 760,000 jobs this year. Of this, September witnessed the largest cut in five years, 159,000 jobs taking the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent. The percentage of jobless among the black community shot up to 11.4 percent. As most projections see more cuts in jobs, hitting 7 to 7.5 percent in 2009, Dow Jones industrials slid by 157.47 points on continued worries about the economy. Reports cite French officials scrambling to reassure consumers and investors after the statistics warned that the country's economy has gone into recession.