**The source of the bank meltdowns and mortagage crisis..McCain financial advisor, Phil Gramm**

[Peacetrain]

Remember Phi Gramm, McCains chief financial adviser till this summer when he quit after call the American voters and consumers whiners.

Phil Gramm who after he left Congress, joined as a lobbyist a large Swedish bank.

It was Phil Gramm while in congress, who loosened up banking regulations so that banks could start putting out those questionable mortgages, that have caused such pain to the consumer.

That Phil Gramm, that was John McCains chief financial adviser. John McCain who today flip flopped on whether we have a stable economy or not within hours .. So when Carly F. gets all this time on cable TV as a representative of McCain giving advice oh the banking crisis, remember this..

This is the same campaign that had Phil Gramm as its financial adviser. This is Bush on steroids.

[codjh9]

1. It's Gramm, but he's a dickhead either way.

[Peacetrain]

6. Thank you for the spelling update.

I was listening to this on NPR as I drove home, and just ran in and started typing.

[FrenchieCat]

2. YEp....that's certainly one of them!

[Peacetrain]

10. McCain and Company are the foxes in the henhouse

when it comes to the economy. And they have the nerve to say they will change things. It like giving an arsonist a set of matches and leaving them to watch over your house while you are on vacation.

[annabanana]

3. *has* as a financial adviser. . .

(He came back)

[progressivebydesign]

4. also a lobbyist for UBS - which is in the middle of all this... n/t

[WillyT]

5. Yep... He'll Run To The Fiorina During The Next Seven Weeks Trying To Get Elected, Then

(if God forbid he actually gets elected) he runs to the Graham in order to govern.

:shrug:

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. K&R. MotherJones recently ran a great article on Phil Gramm's misdeeds, at LINK

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

[Peacetrain]

8. Thank you for the link!!

[bobd0]

17. Amy Goodman had David Corn and Nomi Prins as guests back in July

Another good read on the subject.

Five Ways Wall Street and Washington Set Us Up for the Crash: Author Nomi Prins Explains Where Congress Went Wrong on Lending

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/9/five_ways_wall_street_and_washington

[BlueIdaho]

9. Gramm didn't do it alone

He had the help of all his little republican congressional buddies to help sweep away all those pesky federal regulations and regulators - after all the magical "free" marketplace is perfection here on earth - right?

Let's remind America that Bush and HIS REPUBLICAN CONGRESS have created this mess and now its up to all of us live with it.

edit - typo

[Peacetrain]

11. We have to keep this in front of people so they understand

who is trying to keep power. McCain and his advisers are the source of the banking mess.. Period

[BlueIdaho]

13. Yup

And don't let the congressional republicans off the hook either - many are up for re-election now too.

[bobd0]

20. Tonight KO had Paul Krugman on

I respect Krugman immensely but tonight on Countdown I seem to remember hearing him blame this, the latest Bush banking crisis, on two individuals. Gramm was one but Krugman mentioned Greenspan first. I agree Greenspan is also responsible for the banking crisis but not as an architect but rather as a lackey for George W. Bush.

During the Clinton years Greenspan and Clinton managed to reverse the destructive consequences of twelve years of Reagan/Bush. We had a strong economy and a budget surplus. After junior stole the election in 2000 and began his "reorganization" of American government one of the first items on his agenda was his reckless tax cuts. I thought Greenspan would surely oppose or at least seek to revise them, and I remember being shocked when he not only came out in favor of Bush's tax cuts but (after eight years of cautioning Clinton and keeping largely to the economic straight and narrow) he actually strongly supported them.

At least that's the way I remember it. I think Gramm is the main culprit followed by Bush and his reckless economic shake down masquerading as economic policy. And in the context of this most recent Republican inspired economic meltdown McCain's repeated comment today that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" seems frighteningly bizarre and really highlights just how out of touch with reality John Sydney McCain III truly is.

This man is dangerous. McCain is out of touch and unstable. And his backup is worse.

[ejpoeta]

12. didn't phil gramm write mccain's economic policy too?

because the idea that the man that got the ball rolling on this whole fun time we are having right now writing the economic policies for anyone who could be president should send shivers down a lot of folks spines.

[Peacetrain]

14. I would not be surprised it he did..

because until this afternoon, McCain thought the economy was sound.. even this morning.. until he got the memo from his handlers

Then he got the message, and it was "enough is enough" my hand to GOD I watched him say it.. you just can't make this stuff up

[bobd0]

21. Here's a quote from the Mother Jones article on Gramm's role

Gramm's record as a reckless deregulator has not affected his rating as a Republican economic expert. Sen. John McCain has relied on him for policy advice, especially, according to the campaign, on housing matters. The two have been buddies ever since they served together in the House in the 1980s; in 1996, McCain chaired Gramm's flop of a presidential campaign. (Gramm spent $21 million and earned only 10 delegates during the gop primaries.) In 2005, McCain told a Wall Street Journal columnist that Gramm was his economic guru. Two years later, Gramm wrote a piece for the Journal extolling McCain as a modern-day Abraham Lincoln, and he's hailed McCain's love of tax cuts and free trade. Media accounts have identified Gramm as a contender for the top slot at the Treasury Department if McCain reaches the White House. "If McCain gets in," frets Lynn Turner, a former chief sec accountant, "we'll have more of the same deregulatory mess. I like John McCain, but given what I know about Phil Gramm, I wouldn't vote for McCain."

[sonias]

15. Grammstanding

We didn't call him Phil "Grammstanding" for nothing. He was more than full of himself.

I wish the media would take him to task on his part in this financial crisis. Where's Phil now? Hiding behind McCain's pant leg.

:grr:


Sonia

[Frank Booth]

16. This is extremely important, but I have a feeling the average voter will have a hard time

understanding it.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

18. That corrupt, iniquitous pig

should be given the Nicolae Ceaucescu treatment IMMEDIATELY if not sooner, along with his stinking family out to the third degree of consanguinity. Repatriate every penny of assets held by ANYONE in his family. This motherfucker is one of the greatest criminals of the last 50 years. :grr:

[natureman]

19. Phil Gramm Sux

"I have never met a millionaire I didn't like" That says it all!!! A quote from the economic guru gramm


As a graduate of Texas A&M, All I can say is "Phil Gramm Sux"

[Turn CO Blue]

22. Obama jumped on Phil Gramm by name in his speech today

Outed Gramm for authoring the deregulation bills that caused this mess, and also calls him (basically) a know-nothing who is McCain's chief economic advisor.

This won't be more of the same old shit -- this will be an avalanche of shit if those guys get elected.