Pittsburgh ? Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said the president’s plan to eliminate taxes on corporate dividends will do little or nothing to improve the nation’s economy.

“I would not have done it,” he said.

Speaking out for the first time since being forced from his post, O’Neill said some of the money from the president’s $674 billion tax-cut plan would be better spent to shore up Social Security.

But O’Neill credited Bush for fighting terrorism effectively and said the president hasn’t gotten enough credit for highlighting education issues.

Bush has defended the tax-cut plan against Democratic charges that it favors the rich. Besides eliminating taxes on stock dividends, the 10-year plan would speed up tax rate reductions, increase the child tax credit and accelerate deductions planned for business equipment.

O’Neill made his remarks during and after Friday’s taping of a public affairs program co-produced by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. The paper reported O’Neill’s remarks on Sunday.

O’Neill was ousted last month after angering Bush with public remarks that reflected his lukewarm views toward White House tax-cut policies.

Both he and White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey, who also was ousted, were accused by the president’s political advisers of failing to communicate the administration’s economic policies. The firings were seen as part of a shake-up designed to control political damage from the ailing economy.

When asked about his departure Friday, O’Neill said, “I was never angry with the president. I was happy to leave.”

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is shown on a television monitor during the taping of KD/PG

O’Neill criticized the political and media environment in Washington, which he felt stifled honest discussions about the nation’s problems.

“It’s all about sound bites, deluding the people, pandering to the lowest common denominator,” he said. “I didn’t adjust (in Washington) and I’m not going to start now.”

While businesses shed more than 100,000 jobs in December, O’Neill said replacing employment takes time. “The notion that government can actually do something about that in the short term is ridiculous,” he said.

O’Neill said the current 6 percent unemployment rate is “not bad” because businesses are learning to do more with fewer workers and the nation has to account for the influx of immigrants into the work force.

Since returning to Pittsburgh, the former chairman of Alcoa has been working with an alliance of insurers and hospitals trying to make the region’s health care system more efficient.