O’Neill is out. Necessary but disappointing.
A lot of potential, a brilliant CEO, a visionary, no politician. O’Neill was not cut out to be Treasury Secretary, at least not in the real world. He spoke his mind and was blunt; in the tap dancing act that is Washington that did not play well. He was not bothered that much with the day to day economic moves, instead looking at the big picture and several years ahead. That too did not fit D.C.; in D.C. the focus is on the next election. O’Neill saw that the economy would recover over the next two years and more, that the foundation was in place, but that was not soon enough. We did not and do not think it can reach its potential without help, and we are very happy the administration is putting that as priority focus. With O’Neill there, the mixed message just made the push through Congress harder. As one critic put it, an O’Neill press conference was like watching a child play with a loaded handgun. You just never knew what he was going to say.

He will be missed, however, in that he was a visionary of sorts, looking to improve the system so everyone could take part in the American Dream as opposed to maintaining the status quo and growing the government. One of his goals this coming year was taking on tax reform, scrapping the current system and replacing it with a national sales or usage tax or a VAT. Sure it would be a colossal struggle, but it has to start at some point, and what better point than the head of Treasury, the department that oversees the U.S. version of the SS, i.e., the IRS. Whoever takes his place (Phil Gramm, Dick Armey?), we all need to pressure him or her to maintain focus on the big picture and not only the next round of elections.