White House aide: 2nd stimulus is wrong approach

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic advisor Edward Lazear on Thursday was cool toward the idea of a new government spending package to boost the U.S. economy, which contracted between July and October.

"We don't believe that's the right way to go," Lazear, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told a briefing.

A $700 billion rescue package for financial institutions enacted October 3 "is the appropriate stimulus right now," because it is aimed at stabilizing chaotic credit markets, a root cause of current economic difficulties, he said.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by James Dalgleish)