Obama wants conditions on bailout

Washington, Sept. 22: Democrat Barack Obama has said there should be several conditions on an emergency $700 billion government plan to prop up the critically ill US economy, while Republican John McCain challenged his opponent’s readiness to lead the country out of its financial nightmare.

At a campaign stop in North Carolina, Mr Obama focused on the financial turmoil and again blamed it on Republican policies he said Mr McCain was committed to continuing.

"We’re now seeing the disastrous consequences of this philosophy all around us, on Wall Street as well as Main Street," Mr Obama said.

"Yet Senator McCain, who candidly admitted not long ago that he doesn’t know as much about economics as he should, wants to keep going down the same disastrous path."

Mr Obama said the Bush administration’s proposal to put a floor under the dangerous US economic slide — one that many are worried could pull down the world economy — carried a "staggering price tag" but no plan to guarantee the "basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform" to taxpayers who will pay for the huge and unprecedented government bailout.

The Bush administration is pressing Congress to pass the bailout measure by the end of this week. But Mr Obama on Sunday said any bailout must include plans to recover the money, and protect working families and big financial institutions, and be crafted in a way to prevent such a crisis from happening again.

"This plan can’t just be a plan for Wall Street, it has to be a plan for Main Street. We have to come together, as Democrats and Republicans, to pass a stimulus plan that will put money in the pockets of working families, save jobs, and prevent painful budget cuts and tax hikes," Mr Obama said.

Aides said Mr Obama had spoken with Paulson, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, congressional leaders and Bill and Hillary Clinton in fleshing out his approach to the bailout. —AP