You don’t want to play in a game where there are no rules or referees
September 17th, 2008 at 12:07pm Pat Cunningham
I ran across an INTERESTING ITEM this morning on TalkingPointMemo.com, in which a commenter with a background in finances offered this observation:
“(T)he markets operate like team sports — like say, a football game. Team sports don’t operate well without referees, and that’s exactly what’s happened under the Republicans.
“They can blame Clinton all they want — the fact is, the Republicans under leadership of such brain trusts as Phil Gramm have methodically removed the referees from the games, and look what’s happened. One of the primary reasons investors shy away from putting money into third world countries is an ABSENCE OF REGULATION.”
Makes sense to me.
POSTSCRIPT: Michael D. Shear of the Washington Post has a good ANALYSIS of John McCain’s sudden conversion to support for economic referees.
UPDATE: McCain FLIP-FLOPS on bailout of AIG.
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6 Comments Add your own
1. DingDong | September 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Read and weep.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190
Over 2 years ago this was predicted by Mccain.
2. Pat Cunningham | September 17th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
DingDong: Read this and weep. It’s headlined: “Despite Claims Today He Warned of this Crisis, McCain in 2007 Said He Didn’t See This Crisis Coming”: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/despite-claims.html
Gotcha, Dude.
3. DingDong | September 17th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I believe my source is much more trusted than yours. Your comparing the Congressional record to an editorial piece. Which department do work at the newspaper?
4. Pat Cunningham | September 17th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
DingDong: I don’t understand your question in the last sentence. If you’re asking me which department I work in at the newspaper, the answer is none. I don’t work for the newspaper. I’m a free-lance blogger. In any event, there’s no denying that McCain said last year that he did not see the mortgage crisis coming. He said, “I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.”
5. unmanager | September 18th, 2008 at 4:29 am
But I would propose THAT (2005)John McCain is quite changed…
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/09/9663_mccain_fannie_freddie.html
…”
Aquiles Suarez, listed as an economic adviser to the McCain campaign in a July 2007 McCain press release, was formerly the director of government and industry relations for Fannie Mae. The Senate Lobbying Database says Suarez oversaw the lending giant’s $47,510,000 lobbying campaign from 2003 to 2006.
And other current McCain campaign staffers were the lobbyists receiving shares of that money. According to the Senate Lobbying Database, the lobbying firm of Charlie Black, one of McCain’s top aides, made at least $820,000 working for Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2004. The McCain campaign’s vice-chair Wayne Berman and its congressional liaison John Green made $1.14 million working on behalf of Fannie Mae for lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations. Green made an additional $180,000 from Freddie Mac. Arther B. Culvahouse Jr., the VP vetter who helped John McCain select Sarah Palin, earned $80,000 from Fannie Mae in 2003 and 2004, while working for lobbying and law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP. In addition, Politico reports that at least 20 McCain fundraisers have lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pocketing at least $12.3 million over the last nine years.
For years McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was head of the Homeownership Alliance, a lobbying association that included Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, real estate agents, homebuilders, and non-profits. According to Politico, the organization opposed congressional attempts at regulation of Fannie and Freddie, along the lines of what John McCain is currently proposing. In his capacity of president of the group, Davis went on record in 2003 and insisted that no further reform of the lenders was necessary, in contradiction to his current boss’s sentiments. “[Fannie and Freddie] are subject to an innovative and stringent risk-based capital stress test,” Davis wrote. “The toughest in the financial services industry.”…”
If you can’t beat ‘em….
6. Billybeermonicagar | September 18th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Look at Jamie Gorelick. She was another person asleep at the switch–until it came time to collect her check.
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