Sunday, September 28, 2008

McCain and the Wall Street Meltdown

"I don’t think anyone who wants to increase the burden of government regulation and higher taxes has any real understanding of economics and the economy and what is needed in order to ensure the future of this country.” -John McCain, 4.23.08

John McCain has supported deregulation since the beginning of his time in the Senate. On the campaign trail before the financial markets crashed, McCain has said numerous times, "the fundamentals of our economy our strong", echoing President Bush. McCain and the Republican Party our proud to be de-regulators. Ask the experts, the reason for this financial market crisis is due to lack of oversight and regulation. Senator Obama has been out front on this issue for years now, calling for stricter regulations when the housing market started plummeting due to predatory loans and balloon interest rates. Senator Obama, unlike Senator McCain, actually read Sectretary Paulson's bailout plan. Senator McCain didn't read Paulson's bailout plan until September 23.Video of that admission here: http://beltwayblips.com/video/john_mccain_i_haven_t_read_the_paulson_plan/

If that's not shocking enough, then how would you feel if you knew John McCain's Campaign Advisor, Rick Davis, was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hired to lobby against strict regulations. Davis earned $30,000 a month for 5 years up until August. McCain claims that was the 'past' and he hasn't been associated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a while now. Now, because of the deregulation we the taxpayers are bailing out Fannie/Freddie and Wall Street because of flawed economic policies dominated by special interests, people like Rick Davis. Sounds crooked to me. Then again, thanks to public records, McCain has 177 lobbyists working on his campaign. 83 of them have worked in the finanacial industry.

Make no mistake, John McCain has a past with the finanacial industry. During George H.W's term, 5 U.S Senators were sent to interrupt investigation into the Savings and Loan Crisis. The Savings and Loans market was deregulated in the mid 1980s allowing for risky investments and an eventual 3 billion dollar government bailout. John McCain was one of those 5 Senators that caused the halt of the investigation, thus leading to further damage of the market. Those 5 Senators were paid a total of 1.3 billion dollars to do so. The Senate Ethics Committee called McCain's actions "poor judgment" and McCain said in 2002 it was "the worst mistake in my life".
3 out of the 5 Senators were convicted. McCain walked away, but clearly thought it was okay to put his illegal practices in front of the American people.
"Let’s Reduce Regulation.” -John McCain, 3.12.08
Country First?

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