Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Saturday he would not underestimate the severity of the ongoing U.S. economic crisis and keep open a variety of options to deal with it.
"When Alan Greenspan says this is the worst crisis since World War II, we have a major challenge and we should never underestimate it, nor exhaust all the measures that we need to put into effect," McCain said, referring to the former Federal Reserve chairman.
The economy has become increasingly important in the U.S. presidential campaign, surpassing the Iraq war as the top concern of voters heading into the November election.
A protracted downturn could bode ill for McCain, whom Democrats have been trying to taint with allegiance to polices of his fellow Republican, President George W. Bush.
McCain told reporters he would oppose any big government bailouts, saying they had not worked in the past and would not work in the future. But he expressed support for the Senate's economic stimulus package.
"We have got to restore confidence on the part of the American consumer to invest, to save, to do the things that make our economy run," the Arizona Republican said.
"We have got to find the floor on the cost of houses. When we find the floor, then there will be people who will come in and purchase some of these at bargain rates," he said.
A sharp downturn in the U.S. housing market has led to a full-blown credit crisis that has reverberated throughout the U.S. financial system.
Still, McCain said he was confident about America's economic future. "The fundamentals of our economy are strong," he insisted.