Cheney says grave worries about autos failure

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday there are grave worries that if the auto industry fails it will cause a major shock to the economy.

"We're on the downside of a recession that may be the worst since World War II," he said in an interview with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. "And if the automobile industry goes belly up now, there's a deep concern that that would be a major shock to the system."

Cheney said that there was an expectation that the money loaned to banks and possibly to the automakers would be repaid eventually. He also said steps by the administration and the Federal Reserve to provide liquidity to banks were helping.

"I think we're beginning to see signs that it's had a positive effect and that a lot of these problems will pass," he said.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Tabassum Zakaria, editing by Sandra Maler)