Schumer: Bush from another economic planet

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- The U.S economy won't improve if U.S. President George Bush "stays in his ideological straitjacket," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday.

"As long as the president stays in his ideological straitjacket and says that we're not going to deal with the problems caused by this economy, we're not going to get much better," Schumer said in responding to Bush's remarks on the economy before the Economic Club of New York.

Bush outlined several responses -- including the bipartisan $150 economic stimulus package -- the administration has taken to counter what he called a "tough time" for the economy.

Schumer said the country was in the midst of a "crisis in credit," necessitating the federal government to act.

"And yet when the president said that everything is fine, when the president says he will not do simple things like deal with the foreclosure crisis, he's not going to make the economy much better," he said.

Bush's proposals were "a day late and a dollar short," Schumer said, adding that Senate Democrats had been calling for similar programs for months.

"The bottom line," Schumer said, "it seems as if the president is on a different economic planet than most Americans."