Comment: O'Neill Has Blighted His Chances Of Success - Paul O'Neill's Outspoken Tendencies Could Damage An Already Fragile Market. It's Time He Went.

(From The Banker)

This month, The Banker calls for the resignation of Paul O'Neill. Suggesting that the US Treasury Secretary, one of the most powerful politicians in the world, should quit is a very serious matter and not one we take lightly.

But with Mr O'Neill's ill-thought-out comments spooking the markets on a regular basis, at a time when the US economy is faltering, the implications of him staying are even more serious.

When the US economy sneezes, large parts of the world economy go down with influenza.

Mr O'Neill does not seem to understand this and is happy to alienate investors and market players unaware that it is the ordinary and poor people in developing countries that are the victims of the subsequent fallout.

For a man who indulged in a controversial tour of Africa, together with rock star Bono, to discover the root causes of poverty, this is a glaring lapse.

It is, of course, refreshing when politicians speak their minds instead of indulging in the evasiveness and doublespeak that are their stock in trade.