O’Neill keeps his eye on the ball
One of the prominent voices in I.O.U.S.A. is getting fed up.
Paul O'Neill, the first Treasury Secretary in the Bush 43 administration, was playing footsie with Barack Obama's campaign just two weeks ago. But you sure wouldn't know it judging from this interview with MSNBC's David Gregory. He says the credit crisis pales in comparison to the core themes of the documentary:
I have not heard either candidate talk about the $53 trillion worth of unfunded liabilities that we have as a nation, that we need to do something about, or we're going to have a problem that makes this current financial crisis look like child's plan not too far down the road.
I haven't heard anybody say in this campaign the 10,000-page tax code that we have is proof that we're not an intelligent people. And so what are the candidates talking about? They're talking about more credits, they're talking about more deductions, they're talking about more complication in the tax code.
Neither one of them are talking about, we need to fix this monster, which is also part of our problem.
Neither one of them has a really credible energy plan. We had an opportunity of June of this year: American people drove 12.2 billion miles less because the price of gas was over $4. I didn't even hear Al Gore say, you know what, we ought to keep the gas price up, because it causes people to conserve, and it reduces the greenhouse gas that we're putting into the environment. When I hear a presidential candidate tell the people, you know what? $4 gas maybe isn't even good enough. Maybe it ought to be $5, then I'll say, this is the truth-teller.
We should vote for this person.
Yes, you probably disagree with good reason on the energy part, although even there lies a kernel of truth similar to one Obama clumsily hit on a few months ago.
O'Neill's earlier interview for I.O.U.S.A. — the full version of it — is now available in the documentary's companion book. Full interview transcripts with eleven more of the featured personalities, including Bill Bonner and Ron Paul, are also included. Even better, the release date has been moved up. It's shipping now.
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Can anyone see the U.S. economy is DOA no matter what the outcome of the vote to bail out wallstreet banks.
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Comment on October 2, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
There is a place for true conservatives and a place for reformers. It doesn’t appear to be the Presidency. It is interesting that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are both opposed to MOAB but for polarly opposite reasons. YOuall at the Daily Reckoning believe Kucinich errs by wanting too much government and I believe that Ron Paul errs on the side of too little government especially in reining in the multnational corporations. That both of these men were not considered serious candidates for the Presidency is a direct function of the corruption of the mainstream media along with the corruption of the entire political process in the US. The election I would have liked to see would have been a contest that had Ron Paul for Pres with Dennis as VP running against Kucinich for Pres with Ron as VP.Oh well, what I would have liked and a dollar will not even get you a good cup of coffee anymore.
It appears that the financial system has been hijacked by mostly men like Hank who believe anything goes as long as he and his mates make out like bandits.
We all know why the Major media aren’t using as a mantra: military quagmire - financial meltdown - monster defict - whose watch and whose policies created this.
what to do? What to do? The answer is not buy gold.
Comment on October 2, 2008 @ 9:14 pm
The bible recommended a solution to this crisis long ago. It’s called a JUBILEE, all debts are forgiven. ALL DEBTS are made NULL AND VOID…
Now, you want to talk about an economy taking back off like a rocket…otherwise, I’m afraid we’re headed into another book, Revelations.
Comment on October 3, 2008 @ 5:42 am
The problem with Fractional Reserve Banking and Fiat Money is that they require sober minds and temperately chaste emotions to properly execute the scam. When it works, we have Fiat Profits and Fiat Growth and all is swell with the world. When it fails, largely due to faith based thinking or a Russian roulette style of gambling, the disaster that ensues aint just Fiat, it’s very real. A people unfamiliar with reality will do everything in their power to avoid it but the problem with reality is.its….well, Real. If anyone needs any further grounding in dealing with the psychology of this recurring problem, visit the skid row of your choice and sample the behavior of a random assortment of drunks and the general pattern emerges brilliantly.
Comment on October 3, 2008 @ 11:25 am
Jubilee won’t address the 53T Medicare and Social Security hole. Or our empire. Or population that keeps exponentially growing while resources are depleted.
(It’s still not a bad concept though)
Comment on October 3, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
A jubilee? The economy taking off like a rocket??? Not a bad idea?! Are you people insane?!
Someone has to pick up that slack you know. We would either be paying 1000 dollars for a cup of coffee or renaming our country the People’s Republic of Saudi Arabia.
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about then I suggest you read a book about economics rather than the bible.
Comment on October 4, 2008 @ 1:01 am
NotAFool, you misunderstand the religiously conservative mindset.
There is an apocryphal story about a Muslim army which occupied Alexandria in 642AD. Someone begged the Muslim leader not to destroy the Great Library, because it contained all the knowledge of the world.
The general replied, “If it is true knowledge, it is in the Koran already, and if it is not, then it is false knowledge and should be destroyed.” Then he had the books burned to heat bathwater for the soldiers.
Substitute “Muslim” and “Koran” with the religion and holy book of your choice and you will get the idea as to how any religiously conservative person addresses an intellectual problem.
Comment on October 6, 2008 @ 9:45 am
[...] trillion worth of unfunded liabilities that we have as a nation,” I.O.U.S.A. star Paul O’Neill said last night on MSNBC, “that we need to do something about, or we’re going to have a problem that makes [...]
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