A great article in the WSJ. I agree 100 percent with his assessment of Bush's lack of economic direction:

...But on the economic front, other than the tax cut [Bush] signed into law last year, there are neither clearly articulated policies nor any consistent set of actions promoting economic growth.



Instead a confusing mixture of contradictory acts have scared investors and depressed the markets. Mr. Bush's tariffs have sent steel prices soaring 30% to 50%, killing jobs in manufacturing and undermining the essential concept of international trade. The enormous, unnecessary increase in farm subsidies added $83 billion to the budget over the next 10 years. And the administration's policy of conciliation towards Congress whatever spending decisions it makes has been expensive and will only become more so, its cost compounded over time, since congressmen understand it as a signal to go for future spending increases. And Congress needs to be checked on more things than spending. Neither the unconstitutional campaign-finance "reform" bill nor the bloated farm bill drew a presidential veto. In fact, with all the bad legislation coming out of Congress, the president has yet to veto a single bill. Mr. Bush, it seems, simply signs on the dotted line whatever Congress puts on his desk.

This kind of presidential leadership has a big price tag. The Congressional Budget Office reports that for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, nonmilitary discretionary spending has already increased $80 billion over last year. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, overall spending will likely be up more than 15%, on top of 11% the previous year. That is big-time spending.