Mccain: ‘us has a major challenge’

Presidential candidate John McCain has highlighted the severity of America's economic crisis…

As US house prices continue to fall and unemployment rises, he made reference to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's gloomy forecast that the US was facing its worst downturn in more than 60 years.

McCain told reporters: "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."

He added: “I would oppose any big government bailouts, as they have not worked in the past and would not work in the future. 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."

A sharp downturn in the US housing market has led to a full-blown credit crisis that has reverberated throughout the global financial system.