McCain Laboring to Hit Right Note on the Economy

[swag]

Source: New York Times

By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: September 16, 2008

VIENNA, Ohio — On Monday morning, as the financial system absorbed one of its biggest shocks in generations, Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were “strong.”

Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers, whom he described as the backbone of the economy, were productive and resilient. By Tuesday he was calling the economic situation “a total crisis” and denouncing “greed” on Wall Street and in Washington.

The sharp turnabout in tone and substance reflected a recognition not only that Mr. McCain had struck a discordant note at a sensitive moment but also that he had done so with regard to the very issue on which he can least afford to stumble.

With economic conditions worsening over the course of this year and voter anxiety on the rise, Mr. McCain has had to labor to get past the impression — fostered by his own admissions as recently as last year that the subject is not his strongest suit — that he lacks the experience and understanding to address the nation’s economic woes.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/politics/17mccain.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[swag]

1. Privatize profits, socialize losses.

The Reagan-Bush-McCain "Capitalism".

[Warpy]

2. Right note? Well, firing Phil Gramm would be progress

As long as Gramm is whispering in that old man's ear, he's going to keep looking completely out to lunch and oblivious to everything this country is going through as the financial castles in the air continue to evaporate.

[Trajan]

3. American workers have been SHIT on by the GOP for decades ....

How dare that asshole try to ally himself with the poor downtrodden masses now ....

John McCain ? .... FUCK YOU !

[wordpix]

4. Just say it, Dems: Keating Five!

Keating Five
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alan Cranston (D-CA)

Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ)
John Glenn (D-OH)

John McCain (R-AZ)
Donald W. Riegle (D-MI)

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment".

Circumstances

See also: Savings and Loan crisis

The U.S. Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of 747 savings and loan associations (S&Ls) in the United States. The ultimate cost of the crisis is estimated to have totaled around $160.1 billion, about $124.6 billion of which was directly paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.<1>.

The concomitant slowdown in the finance industry and the real estate market may have been a contributing cause of the 1990-1991 economic recession. Between 1986 and 1991, the number of new homes constructed per year dropped from 1.8 million to 1 million, the lowest rate since World War II.<2>

The Keating Five scandal was prompted by the activities of one particular savings and loan: Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California. Lincoln's chairman was Charles Keating, who ultimately served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln.<3> In the four years since Keating's American Continental Corporation (ACC) had purchased Lincoln in 1984, Lincoln's assets had increased from $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion.<4> Such savings and loan associations had been deregulated in the early 1980s, allowing them to make highly risky investments with their depositors' money, a change of which Keating took advantage.<4> Lincoln's investments took the form of buying land, taking equity positions in real estate development projects, and buying high-yield junk bonds.<5>

Corruption allegations

The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences.

Beginning in 1985, Edwin J. Gray, chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB), feared that the savings industry's risky investment practices were exposing the government's insurance funds to huge losses.<5>

All five of the senators involved served out their terms. Only Glenn and McCain ran for re-election, and they were both re-elected.

[Trajan]

5. While that is one aspect .... it goes deeper than that ...

McCain is a republican, and republicans have been promoting TWO primary goals for decades now ...

1) DEREGULATION OF THE MARKETPLACE

2) REDUCTION OF COMPENSATION FOR WORKERS

They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams ....

McCain cannot now disown the very core of the philosophy he embraces ....

THAT is what he should be called out on ....

Oh .. and that Keating Five thing too ...

[wordpix]

6. I understand there's more to it---not knowing how many homes he owns, etc.

However, Dems appear loathe to dredge up this old scandal, which is germane to the argument about how much the US gov. should prop up BushCrony capitalists and their corporations. BushCo, the party of deregulation and "get the government off our backs," is very involved in helping out their cronies right now, and McCain is part of it. He was part of it over 20 yrs. ago, too, on his deregulation crusade during the Keating Five scandal. I'm no expert but I don't know why Dems are shying away from McCain's record on this.

[Trajan]

7. I say : Go for all of it ....

The K5 thingy undermines McCain ....

The failed philosophy thingy undermines the party and the movement ...

BOTH are deserved ...