WASHINGTON — 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 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.
Paulson, in a television interview broadcast Sunday, asserted that the country’s economic fundamentals are sound. But asked about Bush’s remark, the former Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive acknowledged Wall Street has played a role in the downturn, particularly in its borrowing and lending practices.
