Leo BrownWhose Fingerprints Are On The Weapon?
Mother Jones magazine reports:
As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared,
We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure.
And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater “transparency and accountability” on Wall Street.
If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm.
As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm’s legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to other institutions.
Read the whole article here.
Garrison Keillor has nailed it, as Richard Warnick previously noted.
… the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, ”Throw the bums out!” They’ve been running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists into the backrooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Which presidential candidate chaired the Senate Commerce Committee for eight years?
September 16th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Richard,
Since we have determine that 28 years is the mark, let’s look at all those chairmen
Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA) 1977-1978
Howard W. Cannon (D-NV) 1978-1981
Bob Packwood (R-OR) 1981-1985
John Danforth (R-MO) 1985-1987
Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) 1987-1995
Larry Pressler (R-SD) 1995-1997
John McCain (R-AZ) 1997-2001
Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) 2001
John McCain (R-AZ) 2001
Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) 2001-2003
John McCain (R-AZ) 2003-2005
Ted Stevens (R-AK) 2005- 2007
I count 5 democrats and 7 republicans….but what the heck, let’s just blame everything on the republicans instead .
September 16th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Bob– The fact is, the Republicans have controlled the Congress, the White House or both for 26 out of the past 28 years. I know you think that everything that’s wrong with America is the fault of the Dems, but why are the Republicans running against themselves in this election?
As of yesterday, John McCain is suddenly in favor of increased regulation on Wall Street. Maybe he’ll switch parties before Election Day?
September 16th, 2008 at 8:06 am
My original post noted the fingerprints of one particular Republican–Phil Gramm. Senator Gramm has been very close to Senator McCain over the years. My quarrel isn’t with Republicans per se. I used to be one. Each issue should be looked at on its own merits, and the link between banking deregulation and the current crisis is clear. And it is clear who the proponents of deregulation were.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Richard,
Will you please read what I’ve stated repeatedly and actually understand it.
I want to stop blaming partisan politics for the issues and focus on the frakking issues.
I don’t think the Democrats are at fault any more then the Republicans are at fault.
THEY ARE BOTH TO BLAME FOR THE SITUATION. That is what I’ve been trying to point out time and time again.
I’m just extremely annoyed to see the republicans blamed, and only the republicans, blamed for anything up to and including Pluto being demoted to a “minor planet status”. Count up the top posts on this site and tell me how many blame the republicans, how many accuse the republicans of lying, of cheating, of mopery and then count up the number the number of top posts that say anything at all critical of the democrats?
I challenge one of the admins to post the results of such a survey.
I don’t care what flavor of koolaid anyone is drinking. Can we just agree that the whole system has been subverted from what it should have been?
How many times do I have to say let’s throw out all the scoundrels and start again?
September 16th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I’m sorry, I cannot accept that it’s time to forget about partisan politics. I want to play the blame game. I want to play it for keeps. I want Bush Cheney et al. behind bars. I hope the Democrats can muster the political will to put them away for the good of the nation.
Maybe I’m veering off topic for this post. There should be no escape for the guilty. None of this crap about the criminalization of politics. Criminal acts require prosecution.
False equivalence is what we get from the news media. That’s nonsense. Republicans are at fault. Only the Republicans could have stopped Bush prior to 2007– they didn’t even try!
September 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Richard,
Please understand I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be held accountable.
But should the blame fall solely on the republicans?
Should only the Republicans be held accountable for stopping Bush? When did the Democrats get control of Congress?
How about focusing on the fact that partisan politics kept the people in Congress who wanted to do something about ______ (Fill in the blank) from working with people on the other side. Think how much was made of the “Gang Of 8″ for their bi-partisan work.
Play the blame game all you want, I don’t mind if you or anyone else does it.
I do mind when I see people not being held accountable simply because of the political party to which they belong, don’t you?
September 16th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Bob, do you have an actual example of a genuine Republican attempt at bipartisanship during the Bush administration? The “bipartisan” stuff that has happened (USA PATRIOT Act, October 2002 AUMF to invade Iraq, etc.) has been a result of some, not all, Democrats fearfully caving in to 100 percent Republican-sponsored policies they knew were bad for America.
Bush doesn’t do compromise. You’re with him or against him!
Not that caving in did them any good. Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) voted for war with Iraq even though he knew it was wrong. Then in the 2002 election the next month, the GOP smeared him as a friend of bin Laden and Diebolded the vote count. Such are the rewards of “bipartisanship,” Bush-style.
I would say to any Democrat who votes for another disgraceful Republican policy (FISA comes to mind), remember Max Cleland!
September 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
AMEN RICHARD! Nice to see the Umphh behind your remarks. Republicans really do need to be punished.
Nobody thats been paying attention for the last 20 years believes the democrats are somehow equally guilty.
There MUST be punishment, before the correction can be made.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I think most people understand the idea of moral hazard, that if we bail out a company, it sets up the expectation that we will bail them out every time they get into trouble. Re-electing the Republicans after eight years of Bush creates a similar moral hazard.
Moral hazard specifically means that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way they would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.
Think about that for a while in the context of this election.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Leo,
Great point about the moral hazard.
For everyone…does that same moral hazard apply to individuals? Welfare is designed as a “bounce back” system and a majority uses it that way.
But does it set up the same expectation that every time they get into trouble we will bail them out?
What behavior will change if we continue to insulate those on welfare from the risk of their behaviors?
September 17th, 2008 at 6:03 am
And a slap in the face to all the good entities who make smart, responsible decisions, but who now are left propping the Stoopids, and the Greedies.