"This meeting was like many of the meetings that I would go to over the course of two years. The only way I can describe it is that, well, the president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection." -- Paul O'Neill, describing a March 19, 2001, Cabinet meeting to discuss the California energy crisis.
"There's been too much gaming of the system until it is broke. Capitalism is not working! There has been a corrupting of the system of capitalism." -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking of mounting corporate scandals during a February 2002 meeting of the president's working group on corporate governance.
"If you can't do the right thing when you're at 85 percent approval, then when can you do the right thing? I think it's time to say no." -- Mitch Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget, arguing unsuccessfully at a Feb. 11, 2002, White House meeting that the administration should reject requests by the steel industry for protective tariffs.
"Won't the top-rate people benefit the most from eliminating the double taxation of dividends? Didn't we already give them a break at the top?" -- President Bush, during a Nov. 26, 2002, White House meeting, questioning the wisdom of eliminating taxes individuals pay on corporate dividends.
"I'm not willing to say I want to return to private life because I'm too old to begin telling lies now." -- Paul O'Neill, after being informed by Vice President Dick Cheney of Bush's decision to remove his as treasury secretary with the suggestion that O'Neill say he wanted to return to private life.
Gee, hard to guess where those quotes came from. Buy the Book.
No comments :
Post a Comment