WASHINGTON AP – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former investment firm executive, says “absolutely there’s a lot of truth” to President Bush’s comment that Wall Street “got drunk and now it’s got a hangover,” in understanding the current economic climate.
Paulson also is taking a wait-and-see approach on a possible second round of economic aid, an idea that congressional Democrats are pushing to a vote. The $168 billion program of tax rebate checks that Bush signed into law in February was the right size to help the struggling economy this year, Paulson said. He wants to see how it ends up helping the economy in the July through September period and worries about driving the budget deficit higher with a second plan.
