CNBC Press Releases

BARTIROMO: Speaking of the benefits, what did you think of the UAW's deal with GM, Chrysler also working on a deal? Should this be a blueprint for other industries?

Pres. BUSH: Well, from my perspective, I'm glad they were able to settle the deal in an expeditious way. I appreciate the fact that GM and the UAW are able to come together quickly and come up with an agreement that satisfied both sides.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about the record number of US exports. Even with that number, you've got an increasing voice in Congress saying, `Look, we don't think free trade is working.' Even in your own party. It seems you can't even control the Republicans in Congress. And what do you say to those people who are trying to put trade barriers in place?

Pres. BUSH: Well, I've long worried about protectionism and isolationism here in America. We've had periods of protectionism in our past and I'm concerned about protectionist sentiment, because I believe that a world that welcomes US products and goods and services is beneficial for American farmers and manufacturers. In other words, if there's more customers for what we produce here in America, the better off the producers will be. It's also good for consumers that we have open markets. In other words, the more options the consumer has, the less inflationary our society can be. And I think it's good when consumers are able to have a variety of choices.

And so I--it's going to be very important for me to continue to explain the positive side of trade. In other words, people are getting work. There's a lot of people whose jobs depend upon exportation of goods and services. There are people whose jobs benefitted as a result of foreign capital coming into the country. I think about some of the automobile manufacturers in the South.

But I understand why people are anxious about trade. People are saying, `I may lose my job, or somebody else is going to get my job because of free trade.' And what's very important for people like me who believe in markets is one, to explain the economic benefits, but also to assure people that there's trade adjustment programs to help people retrain for better jobs that have got stability.

BARTIROMO: Let me switch to housing. We've had a meltdown in housing. Things are expected to get worse because you've got new rates resetting this fall. Who's to blame, lenders, borrowers or regulators?

Pres. BUSH: Oh, first of all, there's a lot of people who can afford the houses that they live in and they're going to be fine. There's no question there are particularly some people on the margin that are going to have to--that are defaulted on their loans, and that troubles me. It troubles me because I want people to be able to stay in their homes. And the solution, it seems like to me, is not more government or more regulation, but to help people refinance their homes, is to--I have some transparent policies as well as counseling polices that find people, identified people and encouraged them to go to refinance their homes, and to encourage the lenders to be, you know, refinancers.

What happened, it seems like to me in the housing, again, I'm not an expert, but there was a lot of incentive for people to, you know, buy homes. And so we had a huge supply of homes. And until the supply and demand gets back in balance, you're going to see some softness. But so far, the softness is regional. There's not a nationwide phenomenon, there are parts of our country that are doing just fine in their real estate markets. And you know, we're paying close attention to it and we're going to make sure that government policy is not counterproductive but consumers can be helped to stay in their homes, for example, through FHA reform.

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