McCain Economics -- Had Your Phil Yet?

As the economy flounders under what President Bush calls "adjustments" in the financial markets, one can rightly ask:  Would a John McCain administration make things any better?  Not if he's continuing to get his economic advice from Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm and Carly "$21 million golden parachute" Fiorina.

Phil Gramm and John McCain have repeatedly talked about the current economic crisis being psychological.  McCain has touted Gramm as a likely advisor in a future administration.  But while Gramm was Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he pushed through two measures that are at the root of our current crisis.  
The two are the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) in 1999, and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.  The GLB repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which was passed during the New Deal era to keep banks and investment banks separate from each other and the insurance industry.  The Commodity Futures and Modernization Act created the so-called "Enron loophole" that enabled a single item, like oil or electricity, to be traded as an unregulated security.  That both were pushed by a Republican Congress and signed by Bill Clinton only makes it more imperative that we discontinue the Bush-Clinton regulatory scheme.  

A year ago, scholars recognized that the Gramm policies contributed to, or allowed, the sub-prime mortgage bubble.

Enron, Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fanny Mae, record bank failures, soaring unemployment, now Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and people wondering if AIG and Washington Mutual are next.  Have we not learned anything about Bush/McCain/Gramm economic policies?

"If a man defrauds you one time, he is a rascal; if he does it twice, you're a fool."

Author Unknown

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