"Amid turmoil, McCain turns to regulation; Market intervention critic rapidly recasts stance" by Michael Kranish and Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | September 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - The dizzying series of bankruptcies, buyouts, and bailouts on Wall Street has prompted McCain to recast his outlook at a crucial moment in the presidential campaign. After saying Tuesday that he opposed any more government bailouts, he said yesterday that the government was "forced" to loan $85 billion to rescue insurance giant AIG because so many of its customers were affected. After saying Monday that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong," he seemed to backtrack by saying he was talking about the spirit of workers, not the rising rate of unemployment or the plunging stock market.
McCain's economic worldview could suddenly be a political liability. In recent days, the financial problems have become so enormous that McCain has had to rapidly adjust his stance.
The crisis has also revived memories of a subject the McCain campaign hoped would be only a distant memory: McCain's involvement in the "Keating Five" scandal in the late 1980s. In the aftermath of that Senate ethics investigation - in which McCain was faulted for poor judgment by advocating for a major campaign contributor with savings and loan regulators - McCain said he understood the need for government oversight of financial institutions.
Yeah, it is AMAZING how the MSM has IGNORED THAT MESS, huh?
Tells you all you need to know about the MSM and who they work for!!!
But William K. Black, who was one of the regulators who accused McCain of interfering, said yesterday that he does not believe McCain ever shed his anti-regulatory views. "He still has ideological blinders on," said Black, who later co-wrote a government report on the lessons learned from the scandal.
"He took no meaningful leadership role to try to deal with the recurring problems, and that is why the current crisis not only recurred but has intensified to the point where they have severely damaged the global economy," said Black, now an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's law school.
Another analyst said that McCain has waited too long to speak out on stabilizing the US economy.
Desmond Lachman, former managing director and chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney and who is now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank:
"I think it has only been the last two days that it has finally registered that this is a serious problem."
If McCain doesn't have the AEI on his side, he's toast!!!!
Btw, how the fuck did all this start? WHO STARTED this TRAIN WRECK?
In 1999, McCain voted for a Senate version of a law that loosened barriers between banks and investment firms that dated to the Great Depression. Supporters said the law was needed so US financial institutions could compete globally; the law enabled the rapid growth of some of the Wall Street giants now either bankrupt, bought out, or in trouble. The law was sponsored by then-Senator Phil Gramm, a Republican and one of McCain's former principal economic advisers, and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
First of all, I am sick of "competition" being used to loot us all, and secondly, Repuglican, DemocraP, what's the difference?
BOTH in CORPORATE POCKETS!!!!
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