Reuters: on Budget & Economy

Dick Cheney: Cheney to Treasury: “Deficits don’t matter”

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was told “deficits don’t matter” when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

O’Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush’s economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from “the corporate crowd,” a key constituency.

O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due.” A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

The vice president’s office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O’Neill, insisted that deficits “do matter” to the administration.

Source: [X-ref O’Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004

Janet Yellen: Does not seek a weaker U.S. currency; let markets determine

She also that the value of the dollar should be determined by markets, a break from departing President Donald Trump's desire for a weaker U.S. currency. "The United States does not seek a weaker currency to gain competitive advantage and we should oppose attempts by other countries to do so," she said. Source: Reuters news service on 2021 Biden Cabinet Jan 19, 2021

Paul O`Neill: Cheney to Treasury: "Deficits don't matter"

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was told "deficits don't matter" when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency.

O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

The vice president's office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O'Neill, insisted that deficits "do matter" to the administration.

Source: Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News, on Bush Cabinet Jan 11, 2004

Steve Forbes: Free markets, free elections, free trade, free people

[In a speech in London], Forbes made clear he considered the "Third Way" [the British term for mixing socialism & capitalism] a socialist approach. "Where some speak of a ‘Third Way,' let us pursue the right way - free markets, free elections, free trade - because these are the tools of a free people," he said. "It is time to show the world that the Reagan-Thatcher-Forbes model offers true economic liberation for those who languish in poverty and economic stagnation," he said. Source: Reuters Oct 13, 1999

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