Bush 'not to blame' for dollar decline

The decline in the US dollar since the spring has not been because of any lack of confidence in the Bush administration's economic team, said White House economic director Lawrence Lindsey.

"I don't think so," Lindsey said in an interview with the National Journal magazine, when asked whether a lack of confidence in the economic team contributed to the dollar's decline.

He also said there is no lack of clarity about the administration's commitment to the strong dollar policy.

"I don't think there is any doubt what our dollar policy is," Lindsey said.

Lindsey reiterated his definition of a strong dollar policy as having three pillars.

First among these includes not "talking down the dollar" in the way that he said the previous Clinton administration did in 1993, prior to Robert Rubin's taking over as Treasury Secretary. Rubin established the first so-called strong dollar policy at the Treasury in 1995.

Lindsey said that "deliberate devaluation is not something that should be tried on the world's reserve currency."

The other pillars of the policy include an anti-inflation monetary policy at the Federal Reserve and maintaining a pro-investor environment in the US.

"We should make America the premier place in the world in which to invest. And I think we are pursuing policies which do that," he concluded.