Thomas Daschle: “last week we completed our debate on Iraq. It was a difficult debate, but at the end we were able to come together to…”

“last week we completed our debate on Iraq. It was a difficult debate, but at the end we were able to come together to speak with a large degree of consensus on an issue of national security. To Democrats, security means more than national security and homeland security. It also means economic security, retirement security, the security of knowing that if you lose your job, you can find a new one, and if you get sick, you can get health care. And it means the security of knowing that those goals are not being undermined by poor economic leadership and ideologically driven economic leaders. The news, when it comes to America's economic security today, has not been good. This chart shows one of the many ways with which to determine the state of the economy. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that we are experiencing the worst market since the 1930s. This is not just a bear market, it is a grizzly bear market. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index has now lost nearly half of its value. Since President Bush took office, Americans have seen the markets lose $5.7 trillion in value. That is $9.5 billion a day that has come out of the market.”