Tuesday, September 23, 2008

McCain's Flip Flop on Regulation

I think you have probably heard John McCain on TV lately talking about how there was no oversight in the mortgage crisis and the lack of regulation was to blame. Well, he should know because he helped make it that way. McCain voted for his former financial advisors bill, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which prevented banks from offering investment, insurance and commercial banking services which lead to the collapse of AIG. This makes about as much sense as Hitler opening an investigation into the disappearance of all the Jews in Poland. It's almost laughable that he thinks people will fall for this crap.

So here are some McCain facts and quotes throughout the years:

The McCain of today: "We won't solve a problem caused by poor oversight with a plan that has no oversight"
The McCain of yesterday:

"I'm always for less regulation" - John McCain 2008

I'd like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated." - John McCain 3/08

"I don’t think anyone who wants to increase the burden of government regulation and higher taxes has any real understanding of economics and the economy and what is needed in order to ensure the future of this country.” - John McCain 4/23/08 Inez, KY

“I Understand Why The AFL-CIO And Maybe Other Unions May Oppose My Free Market, Less Regulation, Right To Work.” - John McCain 3/12/08

“We Need To Return To The Reagan Years… We Need Less Regulation.” - John McCain 2/14/08 (S&L anyone?)

“Less Government, Lower Taxes, Less Regulation, Safer America Is What I Can Give America.” - John McCain 3/9/08

“I Am A Deregulator. I Believe In Deregulation.” - John McCain7/13/03

How can Republicans recover from the 2006 elections?: “By returning to the basic core principles of the Republican Party, very careful stewardship of tax dollars, less government is best government, less regulation, lower taxes, strong national defense, community and family values.” - John McCain11/8/06

“I Have A Long Voting Record In Support Of Deregulation.” - John McCain 6/5/03

“I’ve Been A Good Party Member. I Agree On Most Issues, Fundamentals Of Lower Taxes, Less Regulation.” - John McCain 9/13/99

"I am convinced that the best thing government can often do to advance the fortune of the private sector is to stay out of its way" - John McCain 10/3/2000

In 1996 he was one of 4 senators who voted against telecommunications reform citing it didn't deregulate the industry enough.

In 1999 he voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which deregulated post depression laws designed to keep companies like AIG from doing what they did. A bill Biden voted against.

In the 90s McCain tried to create a moratorium that would block any new federal regulation.


And by the way, the "fundamentals of our economy" quote was not a one time thing taken out of context:

3 comments:

da patriot said...

Oh,yeah! You #@&%#@%?@!!!

Mike V. said...

Honestly, the guy is off the charts insane. Really.
The problem is that most americans have zero understanding of our financial markets and what happened in the last couple years.
Those that know "a little" are even more scary because they think the problem was all the liberals wanted to make loans to poor people and now the banks are going under.
I suggest to anyone (no matter their political proclivity) read Mike Whitney's posts on CounterPunch about what has been happening for a good start.
The gambling on the shaky loans and the debt instruments that littered Wall Street will scare the crap out of anyone.
And yet the guys who KNOWINGLY took down the economy and devalued the dollar will see no jail time, let alone any kind of excoriation.
Sad.

Toad734 said...

Ya I don't know why people keep thinking this was because of too much government interference and not enough. No one forced anyone to give loans to homeless people and no one forced any financial institution to buy those shitty loans. Even though McCain has been the Maverick of deregulation he is now correctly saying (only took him 20 years) that there wasn't enough oversight. And to blame it on one political party is a stretch but one political party certainly champoined the deregulation which allowed this to happen. Guess who that would be?