Robert Gibbs

“ But do I think that the aggressive plan that the President and his team have laid out to prevent and forestall home foreclosures and the decline in housing prices -- I don't think there's any doubt of that.
Look, just the simple fact alone that, as was said in these briefings, if your house is near a home that's foreclosed the value of your house decreases, research shows, by about 9 percent. That's a big deal for people with a mortgage. So I think an aggressive plan that will finally stem the tide, the rising tide of home foreclosures, will have a big impact. ”

“ Well, I mean, I think as the President and many of his advisors have talked about, including myself, that we need a vibrant auto industry as part of a -- part of our manufacturing base. We need to ensure that the cars of tomorrow are built by Americans for Americans; but at the same time, that this is going to cause some restructuring in Detroit. ”

“ I hesitate to predict when the statistics that come out might be positive versus what we're seeing now. But I think as the President has said, and certainly underscored yesterday, the economy is probably going to get worse before it gets better. ”

“ Let me come back to the stock market, then. There was a big sell-off yesterday after the signing of the stimulus plan. There was a big sell-off after Secretary Geithner -- so you're not talking one day, you're talking two days that were --
GIBBS: How many people think that -- how many of you have stock investments? Probably most of you, right? The day TARP passed, right, the market went up a thousand points. Now, I don't know about you, but how many people that's gone well so far? Right? ”

“ You know, I think the President has spoken about what he believes is -- he believes there's a lot of benefit to getting out of Washington at least once a week and meeting with and seeing the problems that Americans are dealing with. ”

“ I also believe that -- I mean, I think most economists would also tell you that an accumulation of news both over the weekend and on Monday impact the market on Tuesday, regardless of what individual policy moves might draw attention that day. ”

“ He's already acknowledged that the extent of his contacts with Governor Blagojevich were substantially more than what he originally owned up to. Should he resign? There have been calls for that from both sides of the aisle in Illinois. ”