Perino says bailout not a stock guarantee

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The $700 billion federal financial rescue bill was not a guarantee that stock markets would rise, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"Look, we make no guarantees about what's going to happen in the stock market going forward," presidential press secretary Perino said Friday. "But we do realize that we had a massive problem and so we designed a massive solution to be able to deal with it."

The bailout had begun to loosen frozen credit systems, she said.

"Inter-bank lending was coming to a standstill," she said. "And we started to see that unthaw a little bit, so that money can start moving through the system. What I would ask is that Americans be a little bit patient with this program," Perino added.