Paul O'Neill: Bush Official
Would Abolish Corporate Taxes, Slash Social Security and Medicare
September 9, 2001
Often you can discern the
ultimate direction an administration wants to take the country not so much
from what the big honchos -- Bush, Cheney, Powell et al -- say, but more so
from the little-reported remarks of lower-level officials.
The big honchos are virtually
always under the tight control of administration spinmeisters and
image-makers. The lesser officials, however, occasionally slip under
the radar of the administration controllers, and blurt out the truth.
When that happens, a quick retraction, clarification or statement that the
official "was only speaking personally and did not reflect
administration policy" will follow. But these attempts at spin
should be seen for what they are.
It's no secret that the Bush
administration has some fanatical right-wingers in it, like John Ashcroft, he of the
"dancing is sin" and pro-Confederacy outlook. But recent
statements by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill would make all rational people
stop in their tracks.
As documented by the media
watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, O'Neill, in an
interview with the British Financial Times, has called for:
- abolishing taxes on
corporations
- abolishing capital gains
taxes
- drastically reducing or
eliminating Social Security
- drastically reducing or
eliminating Medicare
Usually, such radical,
politically unpalatable proposals would be saved until an administration's
second term, when there are no concerns about being re-elected.
Luckily for the Bush
administration, the mainstream media have virtually ignored O'Neill's
comments, made a few months ago. I've just read about them
myself now.
However much fair-minded
people condemn the way Bush's tax cuts are heavily skewed in favor of
upper-income individuals, that skewing would probably be small potatoes
compared to how a Bush administration proposal to shift the tax burden
entirely onto individuals would be structured.
Paul O'Neill has apparently
spoken about the need to "educate" the public about the current
system and how it needs to be changed.
Keep your eyes and ears open
for the first "official" hints of policy proposals along the above
lines.
As has been said in a notably
happier context, "America, you ain't seen nothing yet!" |
