Dave Champion
Rats abandoning the ship... Treas Sec O'Neill resigns.
Fri Dec 6 15:04:53 2002
204.189.23.213

"Dave Champion" d2ranch@QNET.COM
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 11:24 AM
Subject: Rats abandoning the ship... Treas Sec O'Neill resigns.


On December 6th, CNN Money announced that US Secretary of the Treasury, Paul
O'Neill has resigned from office. Here is the speculative reason:

"O'Neill has been more optimistic about the economy and resistant to
additional stimulus, so I suppose one could read between lines that he was
losing that battle, and the administration is more likely to propose
aggressive stimulus now," Alan Levenson, chief economist for T. Rowe Price
Associates, told Reuters.

However, since Bush took office, reports have consistently stated that
O'Neill had the trust of the President. Why then the sudden departure with
no explanation from either the White House or from O'Neill, and with the
Washington watchers now contradicting all previous statements? I'd like to
suggest an alternative to speculative "beltway" reason.
Like Charles Rossotti (who left his position of IRS Commissioner just a
month ago), O'Neill is feeling the pressure of the Tax Honesty Movement and
he does not wish to be in office when the truth finally becomes generally
known. I can personally attest to the fact that most Americans now believe
much of what the Tax Honesty Movement says. However, not understanding the
constitutional limits of federal taxing authority, they wonder why the
government hasn't "closed the loophole" ;-) In short, except for the "head
in the sand" crowd, our efforts are bearing significant fruit.

Additionally, since it is known that President Bush had requested a proposal
from Treasury on alternatives to the current income tax system, it is
possible (if not damn likely) that the investigative process required to
prepare that report convinced O'Neill that the current system is being
unconstitutionally enforced. Even folks at O'Neill's lofty level know that
you will go jail if it can be proven that you knew you were stealing from
150,000,000 working Americans.

• Paul O'Neill - The Outcast! — Bloomberg, Fri Dec 6 15:22