Not exactly major league
Source: The Economist
Mar 17th 2005 (Adapted)
By most measures, the president has quite an ambitious economic agenda for his second term. George Bush's goals include overhauling the tax code, reforming the Social Security System, halving the budget deficit and pushing through more trade agreements. But who exactly is meant to do all this stuff?
In theory, Mr Bush's economic team is headed by John Snow. The president was on the point of sacking his treasury secretary at the end of last year; he then pulled back − but only apparently to keep Mr Snow as a traveling salesman for his pension-reform scheme. The former railroad boss has recently visited such wellknown global financial centers as San Antonio, Albuquerque and New Orleans.
The Treasury itself seems short of both staff and clout with the administration. That might be excusable if economic policy were being steered by a professional team in the White House; but it is short of economists, particularly ones that are close to Mr Bush.
According to the article,
