SPECIAL COVERAGE ON THE BAILOUT FROM HIPPLE PATEL
Even before the U.S. House sent the stock market down 777 points by rejecting the financial bailout today, a consensus had developed among economists: Harder times are surely coming.
"We are building a recession into our forecasts," said Robert Dye, senior economist with PNC Financial Services Group, of Pittsburgh. "If we had a bailout package today, it would have shortened the duration of a recession, but not the depth."
One of the most urgent issues on everyone’s plate, economists said, should be stabilizing the financial system for a witchy October, which was the month of the 1929 and 1987 stock market crashes.
Indeed, in what many hope is not a sign of things to come, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 8.4 percent, the most since Oct. 26, 1987.
"I’m not confident with the politicians and their ability to understand the magnitude of what’s going on," said Brian Moorhous, 33, of Lansdale, who stopped into a Center City branch of Wachovia Bank to check his account balance, given the unexpected merger with Citigroup Inc. and swirl of uncertainty.