From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The economy, the White House, and the presidential campaign.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Home foreclosures have doubled in the past year. Home prices are down by 13 percent, the fastest decline in two decades.

The latest report on consumer confidence says Americans feel worse about the economy than they have since the 1970s.

On to the point, with angry truckers demonstrating in Washington over the price of gasoline,

what to President Bush and his would-be successors have to say? Is a summer cut in the gas tax a good

idea or a gimmick? Also today, one Republican website calls for Reverend Jeremiah Wright the gift

that keeps on giving. We'll talk about his media blitz and the Obama campaign. First, the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again. I'm on you back with To the Point. Reports out today say home prices are dropping fast and foreclosures have doubled with consumer confidence at its lowest point in 30 years.

On To the Point, we'll hear what the president and the candidates are saying about the economy.

Also today, Reverend Wright, the Black Church, and the Obama campaign, Senator Obama,

just spoke out against Reverend Wright today. We'll hear what he had to say. First, this news

update at a Rose Garden news conference today, President Bush blamed Congress for blocking his

proposals to deal with the high price of gasoline. He reassured Americans that he feels their

economic pain. I've answered the question price of gasoline. He reassured Americans that he feels their economic pain.

I've answered the question on the words and terminologies. I will tell you that these are very

difficult economic times, very difficult. And we'll let the economists define it for what it is.

I would hope that those who worry about recession, slow down, whatever you want to call it, make the tax cuts permanent.

As you hear the president saying he does not want to use the word recession at this point to describe the economy.

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