Obama on today's economic news

Obama: News 'major threat' to economy

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was the first of the presidential nominees to issue a statement on the weekend's banking meltdown, declaring Monday morning that the turmoil "is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs."

"I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to," Obama said. "It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises."

The statement includes a line you can expect to hear from him on the stump: “Instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street."

Obama aides say he will hammer the message that the market upheaval shows that the country can’t afford four more years of policies aligned with those of the current administration.

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