I watched with a sense of absolute befuddlement on Saturday morning as Tucker Carlson interviewed former Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neall.
O’Neall argued that it is the responsibility of “society” (government in his view) to care for people because they will not care for themselves, to wit retirement planning. He stated that those who have been successful should have their resources tapped so as to provide upwards of a $1 million dollar retirement nest-egg for their fellow citizens. Thankfully Carlson took him to task on this issue but I am shocked and amazed that O’Neall made the argument to begin with.
O’Neall argued that it is the responsibility of “society” (government in his view) to care for people because they will not care for themselves, to wit retirement planning. He stated that those who have been successful should have their resources tapped so as to provide upwards of a $1 million dollar retirement nest-egg for their fellow citizens. Thankfully Carlson took him to task on this issue but I am shocked and amazed that O’Neall made the argument to begin with.
Paul O’Neall was the most outspoken Treasury Secretary every, in my recollection but he was outspoken with a purpose. He often made the case that it was not the government’s responsibility to provide for people what they can and should provide for themselves. Yet following a trip he undertook with Bono, of the Irish band U2, O’Neall became more and more accommodating to the leftist view of such matters. He backed away from his support of tax cuts and even softened his views on Social Security reform. It was not surprising then that he was the first of George W. Bush’s cabinet members to be given the Presidential walking-papers. O’Neall was invited to leave his post and amid the typical leftist conspiracy theories, the soon faded into the back-drop. Book notwithstanding.
One of the main reasons that most people are so unconcerned with saving for their own future is that they live under the illusion that some else will be there to do it for them. Charity begins with the individual. The only major role for the government in this matter is to incentivise more private charity and personal responsibility. Big-government cradle-to-grave programs are anathema to that objective.