President George W. Bush used a Rose Garden appearance today to reassure investors that he was at the helm of the U.S. economy, causing stock markets to plummet around the world.

"You don't have to worry about this economy because I am in charge of it," said Mr. Bush, touching off what some observers were calling a global financial panic.

Mr. Bush began his remarks about the economy at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and by 10:30, markets around the world had already gone into a perilous free-fall.

According to Wall Street insiders, the markets were responding to the news that Mr. Bush was still president. "Over the last few weeks, the markets have absorbed the news of the subprime crisis, the housing meltdown and the Bear Stearns failure," said Logan Teasdale of Citigroup. "But the news that President Bush is still president was too much for the markets to shrug off."

Over the past few months, Mr.

Teasdale said, traders have tried hard to forget that Mr. Bush was still president, but his White House remarks today were "a painful reminder." At the Federal Reserve, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke huddled with central bankers to find a way to calm the markets rattled by Mr. Bush's alarming appearance.

One solution reportedly being pondered by the Fed would involve sending Mr. Bush to Disney World for the remainder of his time in office.

Elsewhere, in a triumphal return to Yankee Stadium, former pitching great Roger Clemens threw out the first syringe.

Award-winning humorist, television personality and film actor Andy Borowitz is author of the book "The Republican Playbook," published in October 2007. To find out more about Andy Borowitz and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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