Bush’s spending spree won’t be enough

Last month’s surprise resignation of US Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill and White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey smacks of desperation in the Bush administration. Only two weeks earlier, O’Neill had indicated that a costly stimulus package was unnecessary as the US economy was recovering nicely. He suggested that a simplification of the tax code was his sole priority and that government funds should be directed only to troubled sectors, such as the airlines.

However, economic data had begun to show that the US economy was not looking so rosy.