McCain told us months ago that he is no expert on the economy. We should have believed him. Not only has he voted for all of Bush's disastrous economic measures, but he still seems to support them even in the face of evidence that those policies are destroying our economy.
We already know that he wants to implement the Bush plan to give the rich further tax breaks, even though they are the only segment of our society that is not hurting. That would be bad enough, but after this week's disaster on Wall Street he still had the gall to claim that our economy is "fundamentally sound". I believe Bush said the same thing.
His campaign team must have told him how stupid that statement sounded, because now he has changed that to how "greedy" Wall Street is hurting American workers. That at least makes a better sound bite, but he went on to show he still doesn't have a clue as to how to fix our failing economy.
He has come up with two solutions, and both of them would just make things worse -- not better. First, he wants to appoint a panel to study the problem. That one doesn't surprise me. That's the common Washington-insider delaying tactic to any problem you don't have an answer for. How much worse will our economy get while this group "studies the problem"?
He also said, "... we have to fix this alphabet soup of regulatory agencies that's left over from the 1930s." This statement makes it clear that he doesn't understand the economic problems at all. The troubles on Wall Street were not caused by the remaining regulatory agencies. They were caused by Republicans removing regulations, and letting these companies do as they pleased. McCain's solution to do away with the remaining regulations would only exacerbate the economic problems.
It is clear to anyone that will look that our economy is in trouble. It is also clear that McCain offers no solutions beyond the same old disastrous Bush policies. Can we afford another four years of that?
8 years of Republican rule has ruined this countries economy. It's not hard to figure out what has happened: All of the regulatory structures that were built up over the past 100 years to protect consumers and the economy from corporations, were defanged during the past few years. The results are exactly as expected. It's going to take a monumental effort to pull out of this nosedive.
ReplyDeleteIn July of 2007 the SEC removed the Uptick Rule for short sellers in the market.
ReplyDeleteThe uptick rule required certain trades to have an uptick move before they could be shorted.
With the removal of this safety valve, short-sellers have been able to manipulate stock prices to their own profit and run corporate entities into bankruptcy by selling short in such a massive move as to cause widespread panic sellings.
The financial institutions currently under attack are far from blameless in this debacle, but their downfall was greatly aided and abetted by no regulatory oversight and the elimination of the SEC as a policing institution.
Yesterday, the SEC decided that the Uptick Rule might be a pretty good idea afterall. Gee, fellas... ya think so?
Putting on my fortune-teller's hat and gazing into my crystal ball leads me to predict that commercial real estate is the next bubble to burst. That market is loaded with the same mistakes of the sub-prime residential market and has yet to be addressed on corporate balance sheets.
Worthless loans for over inflated property values are a recipe for disaster whether that loan was for residential or commercial property.
AIG insured lenders who were packaging and converting mortgage instuments for resale. They insured against default those financial instruments that were based on ridiculous lending policies.
We, the taxpayers, will ultimately pick up the tab for the excesses of Wall Street. I doubt the roller coaster ride to financial meltdown is over.
Article reflecting trader's joy at the elimination of the Uptick Rule:
http://www.thestockbandit.net/2007/07/03/short-selling-uptick-rule-ends/
Mick
McCain sounds a lot like Hoover as well. I think Hoover even said "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" in his time.
ReplyDelete