Poll: Bush Responsible for Econ Crisis

More than 71 percent of respondents to a Press TV online poll said the government of President George W. Bush and its military expeditions were responsible for the problems US financial institutions are faced with.

The US government has announced that it has so far spent more than $522 billion since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, with another $70 billion already allocated for the year 2008.

However, Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz revealed in March that the true costs are at least $3 trillion and could surpass the cost of World War II, an estimated $5 trillion after adjusting for inflation.

About 21 percent of respondents said the financial turmoil had nothing to do with the Bush administration and was a result of capitalism's failure while 8 percent said there was no economic crisis and the problems were psychological.

More than half of the 6700 people who took part in the poll were from the United States. About 58 percent of those who considered Bush and the US military expeditions responsible for the turmoil were Americans.

US stocks fell to their lowest level in more than 20 years after Congress rejected the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to buy troubled assets from financial firms.

However, Bush said on Tuesday that he would not end his efforts to persuade the House of Representatives to pass the financial sector rescue plan.

Stocks clawed back some of Monday's heavy losses on Tuesday as investors said Washington would revive the rescue plan to stabilize the US financial sector this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 341.45 points, or 3.29 percent, to 10,706.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 45.35 points, or 4.10 percent, to 1,151.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 74.99 points, or 3.78 percent, to 2,058.72.

The UK's FTSE 100 added 1.7%, 83.4 points to 4,902.5, but banking stocks on the FTSE 100 fell with HBOS down 13.8 percent, Barclays down 2 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland losing 1.1 percent.

Crude prices also climbed above $99 a barrel on Tuesday after a fall of over $10 the day the second biggest fall since April 23, 2003.

US crude was $2.64 up at $99.01 a barrel and London Brent crude climbed $2.46 to $96.44 a barrel.