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O'Neill sees setback
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September 26, 2001: 2:44 p.m. ET
Treasury chief says 'weeks' needed to gauge economic impact of Sept. 11
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A recovery in the sluggish U.S. economy may have been delayed by three months by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Wednesday, though it could be weeks before the full economic impact of the attacks is clear.
"There's no doubt there has been an impact on the economy from these events," O'Neill told reporters before meeting with members of the Business Roundtable, a group of business leaders. "Recovery has been slowed by a quarter or so. We need some more time, maybe a few weeks, to assess the full economic impact."
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Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill | |
The World Trade Center towers collapsed Sept. 11, killing more than 6,000 people, after two hijacked jets crashed into the buildings. Another jet crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania. Most economists think the attacks will sink the U.S. economy into a recession.
Speaking at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to executives of such firms as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, American Express, Verizon and Bethlehem Steel, O'Neill said the government needs to respond to the crisis, but should not over-react.
"We need to act carefully and deliberately so a year from now we don't look back and think we have done too much," he said. "This is a time where we should not be political in the traditional sense but do what is right for our country."
His remarks echoed those a week ago by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who said in Sept. 20 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee that it would take at least 10 days to begin to judge the attacks' impact on the economy.
O'Neill also asked those at the meeting to help shut down the financial operation of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization. President Bush announced Monday that he was freezing the U.S. assets of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
"We need all the help we can get to bring to fruition the idea of shutting down financial sources for terrorists beginning with al-Qaeda, but not ending there," O'Neill said. "We are seeing signs of success. We are looking for economic cooperation in this economic war against terrorism."
At Washington's urging, the world's leading industrial powers agreed Tuesday to cooperate in starving terrorist groups of crucial funding to plan and execute attacks like those in the United States. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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