James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
ROBERT GIBBS: Good afternoon. How are you guys? How was your commute? This might be what the President considers a serious snowstorm. (Laughter.) So if I wanted to get ahead of any potential question -- (laughter.) My son is exceedingly excited that his school is closed.
So I'll start, take a few questions. Yes, sir.
[REPORTER]: Robert, the stock market is way down, as you know, again today, at levels not seen in more than a decade; construction spending is off; $300 billion more is being sent toward AIG, which had --
GIBBS: Thirty billion.
[REPORTER]: -- $30 billion, I mean -- which has very big losses. And I'm wondering if all of this doesn't argue for perhaps a more rapid and even more radical intervention in the banking system, in the financial system.
GIBBS: Well, look, there's no doubt that the economy is, as the President has talked about extensively, in very bad shape. It's a crisis that spreads not just in this country, but throughout the world. I think a lot of the news today stems from bad news overseas, economically.
But the President believes, and the team is working hard every day to do all that we can to get the economy moving again. That's why we demanded that Congress work expeditiously on a Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that we're now in a process of beginning to implement. We're working on renewed financial stability. Meetings started last week on financial reregulation. And we'll see Prime Minister Brown tomorrow, and continue those conversations as we lead into the London economic summit in order to not just do something -- not just have one economy and one country do something, but everybody on the world stage act together to improve our economy.
Look, as it relates to -- I think AIG is a little bit -- is separate, and let me take that separately. The Treasury Department and others felt that the systemic risk of doing nothing was simply unacceptable. Today's actions further continue allowing the process of orderly -- the orderly restructuring of AIG. Their management, as you all know, was replaced in November. We're focused on taking the steps necessary to restructure AIG so that it, in the long run, no longer poses the type of systemic threat that it poses right now. And I think today's actions were critical in that restructuring.
Yes, sir.
[REPORTER]: Robert, following up on AIG, does the government feel or does the administration feel that this is the last time this will have to happen, or will there be another bailout coming? And secondly, more broadly, how do you determine which companies to rescue and which not to rescue?
Warren Buffet, I don't know if you saw his comments this weekend, said that --
GIBBS: You'll be surprised to know I'm not on the Berkshire-Hathaway mailing list, but yes -- (laughter.)
[REPORTER]: Yes, I'm not, either. He's written about a lot.
He said that it's easier for a crippled bank with government backing to get credit than it is for a Triple A-rated company. Is the government picking winners and losers?
GIBBS: No, I don't -- let me take the second part of that. Let me first state I'm not going to quarrel with Warren Buffett on the economy, for any number of reasons.
But I do think it's important to understand that -- and you've heard me say this a number of times -- that the way things have been done, specifically about financial stability and restructuring, we're looking at doing differently. I think that's why you'll see announcements this week -- and you saw some preparation and statements on this in the President's speech to Congress about changing -- providing more capital for lending for small businesses and families I think along the line of what Mr. Buffett talked about. And I would certainly point you to Treasury and others to go into the specifics of whatever cost-benefit analysis takes place.
But again, I hesitate to build on the question that Steve asked -- you know, I wonder what we'd be talking about today if we let something like an AIG default on the massive amount of debt that it has and what that might do to the economy and to the markets. The President and his team would rather certainly not have to deal with these questions, but we're implementing a plan that we believe will allow, as I said, for the orderly restructure of how AIG does business in a way that it does not pose the type of threat that it might pose today in the future.
[REPORTER]: But going back to the original question, do you think -- is this the end, or is there -- will there be more --