subgenius
13th February 2003, 10:18 PM
There's No Business Like Snow Business
Filed February 5, 2003
Watching freshly minted Treasury Secretary John Snow, a longtime promoter of balanced budgets, hit the Hill this week to flack for the president's new red-ink-drenched budget, I felt like I had stumbled across a Richard Simmons infomercial pitching Big Macs. Or Colin Powell shredding the Powell Doctrine in order to sell the war on Iraq to the United Nations.
Of course, saying one thing and doing another is a way of life in the Bush administration -- so maybe Snow, as the "new guy," is just trying to fit in.
Take the president's outrageous assertion (there were so many to choose from) during his State of the Union address that one of the greatest accomplishments of his presidency was, yes, reforming corporate America.
"To insist on integrity in American business," said the president, "we passed tough reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to account."
He didn't even burst out laughing, though I thought I could see Cheney struggling not to. Not only is the president not holding corporate Capones to account, he's putting them in his Cabinet. Maybe he wants them where he can keep an eye of them.
Exhibit A is Snow. During his 12-year tenure as chief executive at railroad giant CSX, our new guardian of the Treasury helped himself to a vast array of corporate indulgences. If CEO perks were pills, Snow would have OD'd a long time ago.
Let's start with the fact that he was paid a king's ransom -- $10.1 million in 2001 alone -- for doing a downright crappy job. With Snow at the helm, CSX's profits shriveled and its stock underperformed its competitors' by two-thirds since 1991. His reign is a case study in one of the greatest abuses of corporate America -- the anti-Pavlovian delinking of performance and reward.
Snow was also the lucky winner of a $24.5 million sweetheart loan from CSX -- precisely the kind of insider loan made illegal by the corporate responsibility bill signed into law by the president last summer. But Snow's gravy train of good fortune didn't stop there. You see, Snow, team player that he is, used the 24 mil to buy stock in CSX. When the stock, under his sure hand, plummeted in value, the company board, not wanting to see its fearless leader suffer along with its beleaguered shareholders, promptly forgave the massive loan. During his confirmation hearing last week, Snow decried as "offensive" CEO loans used "to go out and buy yachts." But, in a free country, the problem should not be what you buy with a loan but whether you repay it. If Snow had bought a yacht, at least he could have given some of CSX's shareholders a ride around the harbor for their money.
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/020503.html
Snow: Bush Program Will Boost Economy
February 13, 2003 02:09 PM EST
WASHINGTON - New Treasury Secretary John Snow said Thursday that President Bush's proposal for $1.3 trillion worth of tax cuts would give the lagging economy a quick boost and also provide a number of long-term benefits that would improve American living standards.
Snow used his first speech since taking office a week ago to defend Bush's economic program against charges from Democrats that it is too tilted toward tax breaks for the wealthy, offers too little in short-term economic stimulus and is too costly in light of the administration's new budget. That document projects record budget deficits this year and next.
"The president and his economic team have given this plan a lot of thought," Snow said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Detroit Economic Club.
http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=1&aid=D7P5TUS81_story
Arianna will you marry me?;)
Filed February 5, 2003
Watching freshly minted Treasury Secretary John Snow, a longtime promoter of balanced budgets, hit the Hill this week to flack for the president's new red-ink-drenched budget, I felt like I had stumbled across a Richard Simmons infomercial pitching Big Macs. Or Colin Powell shredding the Powell Doctrine in order to sell the war on Iraq to the United Nations.
Of course, saying one thing and doing another is a way of life in the Bush administration -- so maybe Snow, as the "new guy," is just trying to fit in.
Take the president's outrageous assertion (there were so many to choose from) during his State of the Union address that one of the greatest accomplishments of his presidency was, yes, reforming corporate America.
"To insist on integrity in American business," said the president, "we passed tough reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to account."
He didn't even burst out laughing, though I thought I could see Cheney struggling not to. Not only is the president not holding corporate Capones to account, he's putting them in his Cabinet. Maybe he wants them where he can keep an eye of them.
Exhibit A is Snow. During his 12-year tenure as chief executive at railroad giant CSX, our new guardian of the Treasury helped himself to a vast array of corporate indulgences. If CEO perks were pills, Snow would have OD'd a long time ago.
Let's start with the fact that he was paid a king's ransom -- $10.1 million in 2001 alone -- for doing a downright crappy job. With Snow at the helm, CSX's profits shriveled and its stock underperformed its competitors' by two-thirds since 1991. His reign is a case study in one of the greatest abuses of corporate America -- the anti-Pavlovian delinking of performance and reward.
Snow was also the lucky winner of a $24.5 million sweetheart loan from CSX -- precisely the kind of insider loan made illegal by the corporate responsibility bill signed into law by the president last summer. But Snow's gravy train of good fortune didn't stop there. You see, Snow, team player that he is, used the 24 mil to buy stock in CSX. When the stock, under his sure hand, plummeted in value, the company board, not wanting to see its fearless leader suffer along with its beleaguered shareholders, promptly forgave the massive loan. During his confirmation hearing last week, Snow decried as "offensive" CEO loans used "to go out and buy yachts." But, in a free country, the problem should not be what you buy with a loan but whether you repay it. If Snow had bought a yacht, at least he could have given some of CSX's shareholders a ride around the harbor for their money.
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/020503.html
Snow: Bush Program Will Boost Economy
February 13, 2003 02:09 PM EST
WASHINGTON - New Treasury Secretary John Snow said Thursday that President Bush's proposal for $1.3 trillion worth of tax cuts would give the lagging economy a quick boost and also provide a number of long-term benefits that would improve American living standards.
Snow used his first speech since taking office a week ago to defend Bush's economic program against charges from Democrats that it is too tilted toward tax breaks for the wealthy, offers too little in short-term economic stimulus and is too costly in light of the administration's new budget. That document projects record budget deficits this year and next.
"The president and his economic team have given this plan a lot of thought," Snow said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Detroit Economic Club.
http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=1&aid=D7P5TUS81_story
Arianna will you marry me?;)