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Cut & Spend. Cook confesses that the prospect of a Washington job holds "a fatal fascination." But whether or not he returns to Washington, he will continue to have some influence on the U.S. economy. Shortly after the tax cut, Cook told Johnson at the White House that over the next seven years A.E.P. will spend $1 billion to build new plants, dams and lines, which will bring down electricity costs even further. Businessman Cook also argues vigorously for still another tax cut, and, like his mentor, is unworried about unbalanced budgets. "A.E.P. has grown from $100,000 in assets to $2 billion, and I can't remember when we ever had a balanced budget," he says. "Every year we have had to borrow to grow."