Fate of economy rests on next president: Soros

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros said on Monday that the length and depth of the U.S. recession will depend on who is the next U.S. president and the policies he puts in place to react to any slowdown.

A series of grim economic reports in recent weeks have made clear that even if unprecedented government measures to stabilize banks succeed in restoring lending, the economy has been seriously damaged. Many analysts agree that the United State is in recession.

"The range of possibilities is very wide," Soros said of how long a recession will last. He was speaking at a panel held by The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York.

His views on public policy are more closely aligned with those of Democratic candidate Barack Obama than Republican hopeful John McCain.

Soros, who had supported Obama during the Democratic primaries, added the recession will hit the broader U.S. economy severely.

Joining Soros on the panel was New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini, one of the first to warn about the U.S. housing bust. He thinks the U.S. recession will last 18 to 24 months.

Roubini said the recession will be "long, protracted and ugly," and that the U.S. unemployment rate will reach 9 percent.

In September, the government reported an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.

(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Leslie Adler)