Rare Bird Alert: Worthwhile Friedman Column

[BurtWorm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/opinion/02friedman.html

The 9/11 Bubble
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

The Washington Post had a story on Monday that contained possibly the greatest hint to a sitting cabinet secretary to start looking for another job that has ever been printed. The article reported, "One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long."

Provided it is not very long!


...

This is a time when we really need a strong Treasury secretary capable of speaking up for fiscal sanity. We are about to embark on a 10-year period in which recent tax cuts and runaway spending are expected to add $5 trillion to the cumulative deficit. In my lifetime we will have gone from the Greatest Generation to the Profligate Generation to the Bankrupt Generation. Yes, I'm talking to you 20-year-olds. President Bush has called for sacrifice - but not by his generation. He's passing the bill onto your generation.

"The 9/11 crisis has been used as a license to spend and cut taxes rather than to set priorities and focus our resources on what is critically important to our nation's security," said Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

...

There have been lots of strong Republican and Democratic Treasury secretaries in recent years: George Shultz, Nick Brady, Jim Baker, Bob Rubin, Larry Summers. But right when we really need one with common sense and the will to set priorities, all indications are that this White House is looking for someone even weaker than Mr. Snow.
...

[acmavm]

1. Friedman badmouthing the bush* administration? He's done it a couple

of times lately. Icicles must be hanging from the rafters of hell.

[TO Kid]

6. Not surprising actually

Bush isn't a free-marketeer, he's a garden-variety crony capitalist who talks a good game but still relies on the pork barrel and corporate welfare. I'd be amazed if Friedman didn't criticize him.

[teryang]

2. There is nothing Friedman can do to gain credibility

He's a total whore.

[aquart]

3. Even whores get scared.

[BurtWorm]

4. Granted he's not totally trustworthy

but when someone like Friedman writes something like this, you KNOW it's time to start hoarding gold. ;)

[izzie]

5. I do like to read him pro and con.

He thinks things out even if they do not always come out like I wish. It is why I like to read all over the place. It is always interesting to see what people think. I even look at the Washington Times right after I look at the NYT. I am not going to be a person that only sees what they wish to see.Easier that way but does not go good for this country for us to do things that way.

[midnight armadillo]

7. And yet he still doesn't get it...

Why can't he just make the obvious conclusion? The only opinion that matters in DC is Bush's, and everyone else is just there to reflect that. This is not a sign of a particular management style, it's a sign of rampant mental illness. Possibly a real malignant narcissism.

Snow is leaving because he is somehow not loyal enough to BushCo. Period. The Bushies have no interest in sound governance and merely want to completely loot the national treasury for their cronies. Why can't Friedman just say it out loud???