Bush meets in New York with business execs

Associated Press WriterNEW YORK (AP) -- When he last visited post-attack New York, President Bush lent encouragement to rescuers in the ruins of the World Trade Center. On Wednesday, he sought ways to salvage an American economy that fell along with those towers.

Touching down at the Wall Street helipad, Bush donned a New York Fire Department ball cap, greeted firefighters who have been integral to rescue and cleanup efforts, and then headed to a meeting with about 30 business executives concerned about the economic impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Some of their companies are feeling the double whammy of the country's overall financial ailments and those of still-reeling New York City.

"The president is very concerned about the effects of the economy in New York, but not only in New York, throughout the country," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

The visit is Bush's second to the city in three weeks. He toured the attack's epicenter Sept. 14, seeing for himself the twisted steel, broken glass and pulverized concrete that once were gleaming, 110-story symbols of American prosperity.

Wednesday's trip, like the earlier one, was scheduled for only a few hours. Bush was visiting a first-grade class at P.S. 130 and having lunch with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki before returning to Washington.

Those who had the president's ear Wednesday represented various economic sectors: telecommunications, retail, banking, insurance and consumer goods. Among them were Betsy Holden, chief executive of Kraft Foods; Kenneth I. Chenault, chief executive of American Express Co.; AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong; and William Harrison Jr., chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., one of Wall Street's largest investment firms.

They met with Bush at Federal Hall, adjacent to the New York Stock Exchange and just blocks from the rubble where the World Trade Center's twin skyscrapers once stood.

Bush said Tuesday he hopes to bolster the economy by finding ways to increase demand for consumer goods, create incentives for business investment and meet the immediate needs of people who lost their jobs as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We've got to make sure that demand for U.S. products stays strong, demand for products throughout our economy stays strong," Bush said. Doing so would ensure that key economic sectors, such as manufacturing, get "some added wind, in order to grow," he said.

Bush lent a hand to the Washington economy, too, announcing that the country's last shuttered airport, Reagan National, would reopen on Thursday. He joked that he was doing his part as a local resident by dining out Tuesday night with District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams -- and picking up the tab.

The Federal Reserve tried to help as well by cutting a key short-term interest rate to 2.5 percent, its lowest level since 1962. It was the Fed's ninth rate cut of the year.

Bush is recommending stimulus of up to $75 billion to help revive the economy and is eyeing more tax cuts for individuals and businesses. He also is open to some ideas advocated by Democrats: a minimum wage increase, more job training and extending health insurance and unemployment benefits to laid-off workers.

But Bush has avoided saying the current economic pain is a sign of recession, even though his chief economic adviser said it is likely the country will experience two straight quarters of negative growth, the textbook definition of a recession.

"We've got statisticians who will be crunching the numbers and let us know exactly where we stand," Bush said Tuesday. "But we don't need numbers to tell us people are hurting."