McCain+republicans - wrong all along
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| Wed, 09-17-2008 - 5:42pm |
Those of us on the democratic side have been talking about the fact that banking deregulation supported, argued for and passed by republicans is one of the major causes of the meltdown we are having now with our banks and our stock markets.
Well, guess who is flipping once again and who was wrong, wrong along with his republican cohorts - and now McCain admits it. Obama has been saying this all along - but now McCain is saying it too. Looks like he's really trying to co-opt the message of change when the change we need is not to have people who think and vote like him having anything to do with any economic decisions. Republicans do not know how to run the government, big or small. We have people like John McCain to thank for the mess our financial institutions are in.
And now we, the taxpayers, are going to have to bail these "Private" enterprises/businesses out. So for the last eight years we have wasted even more money giving these entities tax breaks and whatever else and for what? Their greed.
CAMPAIGN REACTION
McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition


Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 17, 2008; Page A01
A decade ago, Sen. John McCain embraced legislation to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries, helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades in favor of a less restricted financial marketplace that proponents said would result in greater economic growth.
Now, as the Bush administration scrambles to prevent the collapse of the American International Group (AIG), the nation's largest insurance company, and stabilize a tumultuous Wall Street, the Republican presidential nominee is scrambling to recast himself as a champion of regulation to end "reckless conduct, corruption and unbridled greed" on Wall Street.
"Government has a clear responsibility to act in defense of the public interest, and that's exactly what I intend to do," a fiery McCain said at a rally in Tampa yesterday. "In my administration, we're going to hold people on Wall Street responsible. And we're going to enact and enforce reforms to make sure that these outrages never happen in the first place."
McCain hopes to tap into anger among voters who are looking for someone to blame for the economic meltdown that threatens their home values, bank accounts and 401(k) plans. But his past support of congressional deregulation efforts and his arguments against "government interference" in the free market by federal, state and local officials have given Sen. Barack Obama an opening to press the advantage Democrats traditionally have in times of economic trouble.
In 2002, McCain introduced a bill to deregulate the broadband Internet market, warning that "the potential for government interference with market forces is not limited to federal regulation." Three years earlier, McCain had joined with other Republicans to push through landmark legislation sponsored by then-Sen. Phil Gramm (Tex.), who is now an economic adviser to his campaign. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act aimed to make the country's financial institutions competitive by removing the Depression-era walls between banking, investment and insurance companies.
That bill allowed AIG to participate in the gold rush of a rapidly expanding global banking and investment market. But the legislation also helped pave the way for companies such as AIG and Lehman Brothers to become behemoths laden with bad loans and investments.
McCain now condemns the executives at those companies for pursuing the ambitions that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act made possible, saying that "in an endless quest for easy money, they dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don't even understand."
He said the misconduct was aided by "casual oversight by regulatory agencies in Washington," where he said oversight is "scattered, unfocused and ineffective."
"They haven't been doing their job right," McCain said yesterday, "or else we wouldn't have these massive problems on Wall Street, and that's a fact. At their worst, they've been caught up in Washington turf wars instead of working together to protect investors and the public interest."
Yesterday, Obama seized on what he called McCain's "newfound support for regulation" and accused his rival of backing "a broken system in Washington that is breaking the American economy."
In a speech in Golden, Colo., Obama blamed the economic crisis on an "economic philosophy" that he said McCain and President Bush supported blindly.
"John McCain has spent decades in Washington supporting financial institutions instead of their customers," he told a crowd of about 2,100 at the Colorado School of Mines. "So let's be clear: What we've seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed."


The scary thing is, is all this about us owning 76 and some odd tenths of the brokerage IS socialism and Freddie Mac and Freddie Mae and whoever else the government is going to have to "buy" up.
All abord the Double Talk Express....And he keeps talking about workers - even though one of his business dealings could cost Ohio over 10000 in job losses! McCain's the "all of the above" candidate. lol.
(((McCain now condemns the executives at those companies for pursuing the ambitions that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act made possible, saying that "in an endless quest for easy money, they dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don't even understand."
He said the misconduct was aided by "casual oversight by regulatory agencies in Washington," where he said oversight is "scattered, unfocused and ineffective."
"They haven't been doing their job right," McCain said yesterday, "or else we wouldn't have these massive problems on Wall Street, and that's a fact. At their worst, they've been caught up in Washington turf wars instead of working together to protect investors and the public interest." ))))
Call me naive, but I thought that Congress had some hand in the bail-out of AIG - NOT.
((Pray, pray, pray that come January, the republicans will be out of power before they and their policies bankrupt the entire country. )))
The foxes have been watching the hen house. And now, they are trying to kill everything in their grasp in case they are voted out of the WH. Bush43 and his cronies are probably laughing at the mess that they are leaving for the next POTUS.
Now, Condi is on the air threatening Russia...Why? Russia is minding their own business. She needs to be talking about Yemen, not Russia. GOP is always distracted and off the right task. I am with you. I will Pray to GOD that the GOP NEVER get back into office again! They are so incompetent. I can't believe that so many past great GOP POTUS have left a legacy of such horrible GOP POTUS during my lifetime.
Carey
The Federal Reserve does not need the permission of Congress to do anything.
I can't understand why the chairman is appointed by the president yet is supposed to be unbiased and can work outside of the realm of congressional oversight.
Carey