Pros: Provides some insight into the corridors of power
Cons: Very superficial treatment of one of the most important posts in US government
The Bottom Line: Suskind should have concentrated on how the US treasury secretary worked to define economic policy, a topic that was subordinated to the outing of the president's incompetence.
plilikoi's Full Review: Ron Suskind - The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush...
In "The Price of Loyalty" Ron Suskind acts as an obsequious apologist for Paul O'Neill's stint as secretary of the US Treasury from 2001 until he was fired in 2002. In this brief biographical chapter of his life, O'Neill is disassociating himself from the train wreck that is otherwise referred to as "Bush 43", the 43rd presidency of the United States of America.
Alcoa years
O'Neill was chairman and CEO of Alcoa from 1987 to 1999 and prior to that, CEO of International Paper. By the time he left Alcoa to head the US Treasury, O'Neill had managed to do well for himself with over $100 million remuneration in salary, stock and stock options. For a company with a market capitalisation of just $20 billion, that's a significant piece of pie. At the end of the roaring nineties his constituents, the shareholders, were happy to reward their chief executive many hundreds of times what the company's rank and file workers were paid.
Cronyism
O'Neil was a long-time, good friend of both Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, his counterpart at Halliburton. Bush 43 is renowned for cronyism, so it's easy to see why O'Neill, with a demonstrable talent for grabbing money with both fists, would be tipped to head the treasury, one of whose major functions is the collection of tax receipts. What's not so clear is why O'Neill accepted the position. It's a position of great honor, to be sure, but was he not smart enough to gauge the depth of the vacuousness behind George W. Bush's smile? Apparently not, although he learnt soon enough.
O'Neill reputedly got off to a great start with Bush, who addressed him fondly, and patronizingly, as "Pablo". Later, after he fell out of favor, Bush changed his moniker to "Big O" (the spare tire?). O'Neill had to ask whether this was a bad sign.
Africa and global warming
Rather than devoting much ink to the real meat and potatoes of the treasury's work, Suskind deflected readers' attention instead to such marginal matters as O'Neill's 10 day-long publicity tour of sub-Saharan Africa with U2's lead singer, Bono, during which time O'Neill got the bug to drill wells (for water, not oil) and help cure AIDS. Commendable causes indeed, although nothing became of them. Speaking out on the problems facing Africa, and posturing that the USA would fix them, was surely an extra-curricular activity for the secretary of the US treasury, and this was one of the factors that alienated him from Bush. Why was't Colin Powell touring Africa with Bono?
O'Neill should have realized he was on very dangerous ground here as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Christine Whitman, was herself fired for speaking out about global warming. Apparently she tried to second guess the president, not realizing the futility of trying to second guess someone who literally doesn't have a clue. One of the reasons that Bush gave for not endorsing the Kyoto treaty was that India wasn't going to cut its energy consumption. Never mind that India's per capita energy consumption is only 1/20 that of the USA.
War against Iraq
Considerable space was devoted to the war against Iraq. O'Neill claims that the pretence for war was fabricated from the very beginning of Bush 43. History is clearly on his side here. Both the secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, were subsequently replaced as a result of this ill-advised war. O'Neill pegged the cost of this war as high as $200 billion. With the current cost reaching $600 billion, the cost of the Iraq war looks set to reach $1 trillion, approximately the same as the cost of the Vietnam war in inflation-adjusted dollars. His guess as to the cost of the Iraq war was surprisingly far off the mark.
Greenspan, social security and tax cuts
The problem that O'Neill should have been addressing was the US economy. Despite claiming to have parsed thousands of documents that were provided by O'Neill, Suskind's description of O'Neill's duties at the treasury lack depth. We learn that Bush and O'Neil had hour-long weekly meetings, during which O'Neill would hold forth for 55 minutes and Bush would nod along, pretending to understand, or maybe he really just nodded off. O'Neill also had frequent breakfast meetings with another of his long-time friends, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve.
O'Neill and Greenspan waxed poetically together about transforming social security into privately held accounts, invested in equities. Together they estimated that the plan to transform social security would cost the US treasury $1 trillion for the bridging loan necessary to fund the current social security scheme when new participants (those under the age of 37) were transferred to the new scheme. This plan was, therefore, critically (and politically) dependent upon the budget surplus that Bush 43 inherited from Clinton 42. One can only imagine how the investment banking community must have been collectively licking its chops at the prospect of getting their hands on all that investable cash.
O'Neill and Greenspan believed that tax cuts probably weren't warranted as the economy was proving very resilient, even post-911. However, they did agree that any tax cuts should be backed up by "triggers" that would effect their reversal as the economic situation evolved. Bush, however, is guided by faith, not evolution. He wouldn't entertain the notion of "negotiating with himself", nor apparently with anyone else for that matter.
Bush eventually enacted multiple tax cuts that include the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation act of 2001 (EGTRR), the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 (JCWAA), the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA) of 2003 and the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA). Together with the increasing demands that are being placed upon social security and medicare, these tax cuts have paved the way towards a bankrupt future.
Bush and religion
Suskind doesn't make much reference to the role of religion in politics, although he does mention that Bush would start meetings by leading the nation's senior policy makers in prayer. This is eerily reminiscent of Bernie Ebbers, the one time CEO of WorldCom, who began his board meetings with prayer. Look how badly that ended. Bush's policies are either guided by his one-on-one relationship with God or, as Suskind suggests, with Dick Cheney. It's a gross perversion of power when the chief executive invokes divine guidance to solve secular issues. Don't get me wrong, religion has it's place, but faith should not guide policy.
Given that Bush hijacked economic policy from the treasury, Suskind should have offered more insight into Bush's own economic credentials. After all, Bush served as CEO of Arbusto Energy and Harken Energy, both of which were failed enterprises. Bush was also investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for possible insider trading. Of course, he wasn't actually indicted.
Although O'Neill believes himself to be untouchable, further revelations concerning the egregious abuse of executive power by Bush 43 have come to light since this book was written. These include the vindictive exposure of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative and the late 2006 firing of eight regional attorneys general, all of whom were victims of spite. No doubt further such repugnant acts will be revealed in due course.
Bottom line
A story about the US treasury secretary ought to have focussed on the bottom line. Thus, the story that Suskind should have written is how the plan to privatize social security was scuppered in favor of the enormous tax cuts that Bush 43 pushed through the house and senate. The additional tax cuts that were enacted subsequent to O'Neill being fired have grossly exaggerated the extent of the current and future deficits. In addition, the Federal Reserve has been printing money with little constraint. These actions lead to downward pressure on the value of the dollar. The long term damage that Bush 43 has done to the US economy is likely to prove deep and possibly irreparable, especially if energy prices continue to rise.
A book outlining the reasons behind the failed stewardship of the world's most powerful contemporary economy is a book that's begging to be written. Suskind's book, on the other hand, is largely the vacuous tittle tattle of a disgruntled employee.
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