I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [100]
James Areddy: China is a major global story. It ’ s an economic story and it ’ s a political story, and the Wall Street Journal has one of its biggest bureaus worldwide here in China. We have more people outside of the United States than any other major newspaper, and for us, China is one of the most important stories. It goes right to the heartland of America, to Wall Street, to Washington. It touches literally everything, and it is not going to go away as a big story. Whether China goes right, whether China goes wrong — it ’ s going to be a big story for Americans, for business, and for politics worldwide, and that ’ s what we ’ re doing here.
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Q: The Chinese empire has been around almost forever, it seems.
What did it do in 1994? In 1994, the Chinese empire seemed to have turned on a switch. What did they do that has created these massive ripples, not just in their country but in the whole world?
James Areddy: I think a lot of people look at the Chinese growth miracle as someone turning on a switch, when in fact I think it ’ s much more the government stepping away and just allowing people to do what they would naturally do. The Chinese are very enterprising, and it ’ s the government ’ s decision to allow people to do what they want, to go where they want, and to basically have a lot of freedom to make various economic decisions. Anything that they want to do with money, they basically can do it. That ’ s what the big change is. It ’ s not someone switching on a light here in China; it ’ s really the government stepping away and allowing people to do what they want with their money.
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Paul O ’ Neill
Paul O ’ Neill says he enjoyed being the 72nd secretary of the U.S.
Treasury (2001 – 2002), even though the job lasted only 23 months.
O ’ Neill, who has been analyzing the U.S. budget since he went to Washington, served in the Bureau of the Budget, which later became the Offi ce of Management and Budget in the White House.
O ’ Neill came to American government in 1961 as a management intern, and stayed for 16 years through the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford administrations. The last 10 years of his tenure were spent at what was the Bureau of the Budget, which became the Offi ce of Management and Budget. There he became deeply involved in the issues of fi scal policy, budget balance, budget making, and helping presidents choose priorities for how we spend the nation ’ s money.
Then he moved to the private sector in 1977. In 2000, he was asked by President Bush 43 to come back to the government and be the secretary of the Treasury, which he did for 23 months before he got fi red for having a difference of opinion.
Q: Budgetary challenges seem like something you ’ re extremely well suited for. As a young person who came to Washington, what was it about this that drew you in?
Paul O ’ Neill: I initially came to Washington because I had been in an economics degree program at Fresno State in California, and [then] went to Claremont Graduate School with the intention to get a doctorate in economics. After a year there, the fi nancial pressure was great, and I had a wife and two children. So I kind of incidentally took an examination and was selected to be a management intern in Washington. I really liked the prospect of that a lot, because I thought if I was ever going to apply 205
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what I ’ d learned, especially macroeconomics, I needed to go to Washington, because that ’ s where the action was.
I had been interested in how nations govern themselves and how they express their priorities, and I found a natural affi nity when I went to the Bureau of the Budget, which turned out to be the Offi ce of Management and Budget. It was a great place in the early days when I was there, with probably 350 of the smartest