It's the continuing lack of addressing the fundamental fiscal policy issues now that the economy has returned to a more-normal condition that we need to address,

The economy is going to be hit hard by Katrina, and it is going to be hardest on consumers who are already stretched thin. With the surge in gasoline and home heating oil prices, consumers will have a difficult choice to make between filling their gas tank or spending on other things.

The industry has argued for years that consumers don't care about fuel economy. I think they are finding themselves quite surprised by the level of public concern.

I would say that it's always the economy. People always vote their pocketbooks and if they're hurting they're going to want a change ... If present trends hold with interest rates ticking up and the amount of variable rate debt that's out there on the home mortgage side ... yeah, I think it has some very negative political consequences.

it's somewhat surprising how resilient the economy has been, despite higher energy prices.

[Bush may cling to his belief that the market's woes won't affect the basic soundness of the economy, but he knows from his father's experience that politicians who don't appear to take voters' pocketbook fears seriously pay for their callousness at the polls.] This President is acutely aware of the impact of the economy, both on regular Americans and on Presidents, ... Americans fundamentally understand a President can't move the markets, but they want to be assured that he cares about it and is doing all he can.