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Growth of US Economy in Hands of the Military
by
Gregory J. Rummo
December
10, 2002
By GREGORY J. RUMMO
CRITICS
OF ABD (Anything Bush Does) were quick to disparage the president’s
replacement of Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill with John Snow. One
hyperventilating pundit warned Americans that we’d better “hang on to our
wallets” because Mr. Snow, as chairman of CSX, avoided paying federal income
taxes.
Good for him.
As long as no laws were broken, all that demonstrates is that he hired good accountants who understand how to get around existing tax laws.
We should all be so fortunate. And—hopefully—we’ll soon all be a little better off than we are now.
Understanding the US economy is not rocket science.
Mr. Snow’s approach to taxes will augur well for his support of making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He obviously understands that minimizing the tax burden is one important spoke in the wheel of prosperity. And when consumers have more money to spend because they are paying out less in taxes, the economy will grow.
This is what really underlies the Democrat’s fears.
While they are forecasting—and secretly rooting for—the continued demise of the economy—you could almost hear them cheering when the 6% unemployment figures were announced earlier this week—my forecast is to be on the lookout for scattered lies, decreasing credibility and significant accumulations of obfuscation.
Realistically, getting the economy back on track in the current environment of terror-caused uncertainty is more the job of America’s armed forces than the Treasury Department as evidenced by Wall Street’s ho-hum reaction to the Bush administration’s shuffling of its economic team.
To get the economy buzzing again, confidence must be restored here at home as well as in the rest of the civilized world. Right now, it’s difficult to plan for the future when there’s this nagging worry of when and where the next big terrorist attack will occur.
Doubters need only ponder American’s relief and Wall Street’s reaction to the following hypothetical news story:
“Today, a smiling President Bush officially pronounced Osama bin Laden dead. The remains of al Qaida’s former leader were positively identified by DNA analysis of a bone fragment taken from a badly charred skeleton found deep inside a cave in Tora Bora on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. This now marks the end of a long and bitter hunt by US armed forces to seek out and destroy every last leader of the al Qaida terrorist organization. It is now almost certain that its remaining members will splinter into harmless cells and fade into obscurity, having no leadership, no financing and no country to sponsor their training camps.
This good news comes on the heels of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in what pundits have called “the quickest regime change in the history of the world.” Next month, the Iraqis will hold free elections.
These profound changes in the Middle-East's political landscape, coupled with Yasser Arafat’s assassination last month and the Palestinian’s election of a moderate Arab leader who has vowed to find a peaceful settlement to the centuries' long and often bloody conflict with the Jews should bring stability to the region.
Not surprising, the Dow Jones Industrials Average rallied 527 points today. Volume was extraordinarily heavy. Over two billion shares traded hands. Today’s close marks the first time in over six months that the Dow closed above the 10,000 mark…”
For those still straining for a reason why the GOP did so well in the November mid-term elections, it is simply this: Americans understand their well being, economic and otherwise, is better entrusted into the hands of the Republicans during war time.
As it turns out—understanding the US economy is rocket science after all.
n
Gregory J. Rummo is a syndicated columnist. Read all of his columns on his homepage, www.GregRummo.com. E-Mail Rummo at GregoryJRummo@aol.com
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