McCain ad: “Crisis”
posted at 10:00 am on September 15, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
The new ad from Team McCain certainly has the virtue of timeliness. With the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the purchase of Merrill Lynch this morning, crisis describes the financial markets well, and perhaps even understates the case. The campaign makes the argument that only proven reformers can clean up the government’s handling of Wall Street and make it work for all of its investors again:
Our economy in crisis. Only proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix it.
Tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings. No special interest giveaways. Lower taxes to create new jobs. Offshore drilling to reduce gas prices.
McCain – Palin. Leadership, experience, for the change we need.
Will this argument stick? Both campaigns have major ties to the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac lobbying that helped force the enormous government bailout that left the Treasury unable to respond to Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG today. McCain has a real track record of reform at the federal level, but not necessarily in management of the economy. Obama and Biden have even less, though, and expect McCain’s team to point that out in comparative advertising in the future.
Team McCain did a good job in getting in front of the issue, but today’s turmoil will likely redound to Barack Obama’s benefit unless they can start talking policy and how Obama’s tax and spending proposals will hurt the people most needed to return stability back to the markets. Now more than ever, we need low capital-gains tax rates to encourage investment and risk-taking in order to create more strength in the economy. An Obama increase on these tax rates would pull more capital out when it’s desperately needed, and could create a catastrophe out of a patch of turbulence.
Blowback
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Taxes and energy. Hit ‘em Mac.
Bishop on September 15, 2008 at 10:03 AM
I think this ad is great. There is no way Obama can make this financial market meltdown stick to McCain, and in this ad McCain is not trying to attack Obama on the issue, just suggesting to voters that we really don’t need a rookie in the White House when all this chaos is going on. I think the simple list of issues (and McCain HAS been talking about tougher financial regulation for a long time, so the media cannot fact-check this ad to death) give voters something to be FOR and not just against.
rockmom on September 15, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Perfect timing. Let’s hope it carries credibility with people.
Tommygun on September 15, 2008 at 10:06 AM
When will McC tie Obama to Rezko & Ayers?
eea on September 15, 2008 at 10:06 AM
Obama got $150,000 from Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae gets $200 billion from us. Seems like a decent trade. :/
lorien1973 on September 15, 2008 at 10:06 AM
Obama’s latest ad makes the claim that since many of McCain’s advisers are lobbiest, that big business will run govt if McCain is elected.
McCain needs to strike back and demonstrate Obama’s connections with lobbiests.
McCain also needs to defend lobbiests as being nothing more than someone who looks out for a clients interests. They aren’t inherently evil.
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 10:08 AM
should have expanded on the enrgy front to include alternitives too if you are looking for the moderates to come over to our side. McCain camp may have ties to fannie/freddie but Obama was the 3rd highest in funds recieved from these guys. ODdd was the 1st, Kerry the second, hillary the 4th. Fannie/.freddie was all dems all the time.
unseen on September 15, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Why did Biden’s son resign from his job? If it is inappropriate now – why wouldn’t it be inappropriate when Joe was ‘just’ a senator. Follow the money.
Fuquay Steve on September 15, 2008 at 10:09 AM
They need to run ads of just Palin, and her speaking to the Energy Inpedence issue and what she did in Alaska and can do for the rest of the country.
I heard Dick Morris claim that a faltering economy was good for McCain and bad for Obama. His reasoning was that the public isn’t going to want to trust an unknown like Obama with the economy right now, when they have a “Maverick” they know well in McCain who has been around the block. Let’s hope Morris is right for once
jp on September 15, 2008 at 10:09 AM
earmarks he got from obama?
jp on September 15, 2008 at 10:10 AM
That ad has been running in florida for over a month. Obama’s numbers have been dropping since it started to run.
It’s not even effective.
The lehman brothers logo in the ad, saying no give aways, is beautiful.
lorien1973 on September 15, 2008 at 10:10 AM
This is all subprime fallout, and the market punishing those who got too greedy by doing speculative real estate and CDO deals. The government had to bail out Freddie and Fannie, because a failure to do so would have been truly cataclysmic. I think it should spark serious debate over whether the government should be meddling in consumer mortgages. Remember Freddit and Fannie underwrite something like 50% of all consumer mortgages.
I don’t think the Lehman bankruptcy will affect McCain unless we see much more serious fallout and we see a causal link to a specific Republican policy. You aren’t going to see that, just like you didn’t see a causal link between the dot-com bust and a Clinton policy. Market boom/bust cycles are what they are.
Outlander on September 15, 2008 at 10:10 AM
Health care is McCain’s glass jaw… he has to pivot there he will lose… and do it before the attacks are starting to mount…
ninjapirate on September 15, 2008 at 10:10 AM
also keep in mind, Investment Bankers are mostly Democrats. although Joe Blow public doesn’t know that but it’d be a great time to inform them of it.
jp on September 15, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Didn’t Obama just today change his mantra from “Change we can believe in” to “Change we need”? McCain deftly not only stole the Change narative but is already preempting Obama’s latest shift. McCain is in touch and on his toes. Maybe even a pirouette! This is gonna miff the Messiah big time.
marybel on September 15, 2008 at 10:13 AM
pivot how?
i’m sure what a pithy argument there is, but if i put some thought behind it, it might not be difficult.
Government intervention has been the problem in medical insurance, not the answer.
lorien1973 on September 15, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Well, I’m informing people that Obama is neck deep in subprime mortgage money.
Karl on September 15, 2008 at 10:14 AM
McCain personally has no ties to Fannie and Freddie. He got only a few thousand dollars from their employees and is far down the list of their beneficiaries, while Barack Obama sits there at #2 right behind Chris Dodd. Dodd is Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Obama is not even on the committee. So why did he get almost $200,000 from Fannie/Freddie employees? What were they expecting in return? Inquiring minds want to know!
Obama’s ads about the lobbyists are stupid. Will go right over the heads of voters. People know our problems are not because of lobbyists, they are due to corrupt and self-serving politicians. Fannie and Freddie hired almost every lobbyist in Washington at some point or other, so that’s a bogus issue. The point is who were the people who worked iside those companies supporting, and why? Who did they think was most likely to protect them?
rockmom on September 15, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Since Dodd, Schumer and other democrats are the heads of regulatory committees for these bankrupting industries like housing, banking and financials, how can they blame this travesty on Bush? The corruption within both parties is unbelievable. Its time to flush the thieves and their puppet (Obama) down the bowl of life.
volsense on September 15, 2008 at 10:15 AM
BINGO. Hit him NOW. With the market “ride” today, such an approach could really reach people with a message something like, “You think today is a headache? Wait and see if Obama gets elected!”…and then followed by the facts in the usual bullet form….
I sure wouldn’t want McCain to come off like a “chicken little,” but some kind of Hoover/Great Depression ad could be made out of this point.
Lockstein13 on September 15, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Maybe McVain should have picked someone who knows something about the economy, like Romney, instead of journalism major hockey mom.
Oh well, he can always bring back his recent main brilliant economic adviser Phil “Mental Recession” Gramm.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Asked.
And answered.
drjohn on September 15, 2008 at 10:17 AM
“That’s the change we need.”
Sweet, Mac. Hit ‘em with his own words.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on September 15, 2008 at 10:17 AM
we need a schoolhouse rock-like simple video that explains how increasing taxes on the top, limits (or eliminates) job growth.
Most people see it like Barry, you can take the hit O’Reily, you can afford more taxes.
Not realizing that such a hike also hits the small businessman, that employees some people, and a hike that hits his margin, means one less job he can pay and still make a profit.
Is the government gonna employee the low-wage earner? No.
jstueve on September 15, 2008 at 10:17 AM
This has got to be a joke.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Gramm was right.
But hey, what do Governors know about the economy?
Hmmmm?
drjohn on September 15, 2008 at 10:18 AM
it’s interesting that only months ago, the Mc campaign seemed slow and anemic.
things have certainly turned around nicely, so far.
jimmer on September 15, 2008 at 10:18 AM
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/september/0915_mccain_regs.shtml
Tommygun on September 15, 2008 at 10:19 AM
If one takes away the campaign rhetoric, what is the history of each?
McCain takes no earmarks, and tends to be a thorn in his party’s side.
Obama takes earmarks like an addict takes cocaine, and really never breaks with his party.
So which one is more likely to enact reform?
And I am not kidding you.
drjohn on September 15, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Perhaps Gramm is busy calling LEH shareholders today making sure that there is no whining.
dedalus on September 15, 2008 at 10:20 AM
The economy hurts Team McCain. This is why despite the good polling Republicans shouldn’t be too optimistic about the election. However, they did a good job getting out in front of it. It’s been clear since last week that Lehman would likely fail.
To help out, Bush should announce an investigation of some of these Wall Street firms. I believe that there is likely fraud involved in some of these deals. It seems that some of these firms (Freddie and Fannie) were also manipulating their books and can probably be hit under Sarbanes.
Illinidiva on September 15, 2008 at 10:21 AM
I’m not so sure. This is kind of off-the-chart territory in a whole lot of ways.
One thing McCain is known as is a foe of what are most likely to be perceived as all the very excesses that got us here to begin with. And I’m not so sure the whole country is going to look up en masse and say “Hey, I know, let’s get some untested, untried waffling Hamlet of a community organizer to fix this.”
Typhoon on September 15, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I just love how quickly the McCain campaign gets these things out. The Obama camp will settle on a response to the Lehman crisis sometime later this week, and by next weekend will be pushing it everywhere… while the country’s attention will have moved on.
Awesome.
Shock and Awe.
ClintACK on September 15, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Wall Street’s getting just what they deserve——a swift kick in the financial ass. But look at the consumers indicators—–oil down five bucks, commodies down, interest rates down, (which will all translate into food and gas prices will be in decline). Let the money changers and hedge funders take it in the shorts. This is the part of the stock market that allowed unqualified borrowers to get loans. Letting them take the loses without government intervention will correct the market. Folks that had no business or financial ability to make these loans will lose also, but what do they lose? Most paid little or no down payments. Five years ago they were offered a “dream” that was too good to be true. They may have to return to the rental markets and try to earn a home the old fashioned way——-save and buy what they can afford. Letting the lenders eat the major loses is the only way for the market to correct itself, and learn a valuable lesson. The shareholders will also have to take the hit, along with the CEO’s that played this game.
McCain and Palin would serve this country best by not promising every one will get a free ride. Keep the government out of the free market and let it correct itself.
Rovin on September 15, 2008 at 10:25 AM
This is where the “Maverick” works to his favor. Let him attack both parties on this. (If he does, please don’t take it personally, you all. [I know you will.])
Tommygun on September 15, 2008 at 10:26 AM
It would appear that “Trailboss” lost its panache and now you are back to plain old MB4.
ManlyRash on September 15, 2008 at 10:27 AM
So John McCain can’t type due to a WAR injury.
Barack Obama CAN’T OPERATE A SIMPLE VOTING MACHINE WITH PRECISION.
When Lord Obama CAN OPEN A LIFE VEST WITH HIS TEETH, THEN we’ll talk about gadget mastery!!!!
seejanemom on September 15, 2008 at 10:27 AM
When will they start talking about 2 yrs of a Democratic Congress doing a whole bunch of nothing?
ballz2wallz on September 15, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Re: Focus on Economy helps Obama…
That’s why it’s so brilliant that the McCain camp has boiled its economic package down to three bullet points, rather than a wonkish policy paper that the MSM would just mischaracterize.
- Government corruption (Reform!)
- Job creation (Taxes!)
- Gas prices (Drill, Baby, Drill!)
This is an economic plan that can be sold directly to the American people. It’s simple. It’s true. And McCain and Palin have the right record to make it more than just talk.
I think we’re (**) going to get sick of these 3 points by election day, but I expect to hear them make a strong case for this to the huge audiences that will watch the debates.
(**) By “we” here I mean those of us who are watching the election campaign in microscopic detail, rather than tuning in about once a month and occasionally seeing a tv ad in the evening — the “swing” voters.
ClintACK on September 15, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Rovin on September 15, 2008 at 10:25 AM
While deflation may be good short term it is not a real good thing to have. deflation was what led to the great depression. You waNT INFLATION IN YOUR ECONOMY NOT MASSIVE DEFLATION. yOU HAVE DEFLATING OIL, GOLD, FOOD, HOUSING, metals, tax rev, capital, investments etc this might seem good to the consumer but it isn’t. it is a recipe for depressions.
unseen on September 15, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Focus hard on exercise and recreation…
1. Health care coverage for all children somehow(Team McCain are just asking for an ad in which somebody didn’t abort a special needs child yet can’t afford health care for it… if it happens they will lose)
2. Tough physical fitness standards for schools, don’t go for absolute ability, measure at the beginning and track progress though the school year
3. Kill and slash taxes on everything that promotes exercise and recreation(exercise equipment, health clubs, everything)
4. Sponsor open source marketing data so small euntreprenuers can fill the needs of those who aren’t physically active
5. Focus medical research on giving people more power to monitor there health status at all times… constant diagnostics, not “early screening”
6. Offer small rebates on health club memberships and physical trainers, dieticians, etc… don’t pay for it all, nudge… see david brookes recent peice on communities… exercise is a social affair…
7. Give health insurance companies and doctors greater powers to nudge people to take care of themselves… if there are any laws in the way of allowing health insurance companies to track behavior like exercise stats and diet logs then get rid of them… a government entity might need to be set up to keep it fair to those with disabilities or who can’t take care of themselves… the focus should be on nudging to improve habits and behaviors…
8. Promote greater communication between doctors and patients… people should speak with a health profession at least once a month… this is where early screening comes in
ninjapirate on September 15, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Ha! Interesting. Does this explain all those “present” votes of his? I always wondered why he never explained them. He’s not wishy-washy, just stupid! Or too proud to just have an aid press the freaking button!
Tommygun on September 15, 2008 at 10:32 AM
The crisis benefits McCain.
It is an issue of “crisis management,” not “change.”
McCain polls WAY better than Obama when the question is, “Who do you trust to better manage a crisis?”
__________
RJGatorEsq. on September 15, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Health care should be a proactive activity, not reactive… focus on the upstream.. not the downstream… focus on getting people taking care of themselves day in and day out.. not on what happens when things go wrong…
ninjapirate on September 15, 2008 at 10:34 AM
What? We already have had low capital-gains tax rates. How is that working out right now?
Encourage risk taking? You have got to be kidding me! That’s what has caused this cluster #uck! All the cowboy, leveraged, scheming riverboat gamblers taking all manner of risks. What is needed is someone to start watching their a$$es. Someone to start watching the a$$es of all these loot and scooters who want capitalism when they win at their gambling and socialism when they lose at their gambling.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Seems like Team McCain has what it takes to help and improve our economy .Team O wants to raise taxes so that more companies can go chapter 11 or even worse leave for countries that allow more positive environment to succeed.Who’s to be the looser,The Average American Worker.
randynacol2002 on September 15, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Gramm is senile.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Exchangership
Elizabetty on September 15, 2008 at 10:39 AM
That’s one side of the equation–letting the big shots suffer the consequences. But the other side is the Fed. They’ve taken in billions worth of shit securities in return for real money and gtee’s , etc. What are they left with in their coffers? Crap. That was our money.
There’s no unlimited FDIC, any more than there’s unlimited SS. The regular guy isn’t going to be insulated from this.
JiangxiDad on September 15, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Wow. And He wants to have his finger on “the button”? Yikes.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on September 15, 2008 at 10:40 AM
You have got to be kidding me! McCain’s whole campaign is staffed and run by lobbyists!
And I am not kidding you.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Is he truly, physically, senile? Or do you simply disagree with him?
ManlyRash on September 15, 2008 at 10:43 AM
I think it can be reasonably said that neither of these two have the slightest idea what happened or how to fix it.
What a joke.
JiangxiDad on September 15, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Whole campaign? Care to place a wager on that?
Elizabetty on September 15, 2008 at 10:44 AM
This has all been going on for a long time. Somebody should have woken Bush up before late afternoon.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:44 AM
McCain should hire the guys from the FreeCreditReport dot com commercials to sing a song about how Obama’s tax plan would destroy the economy.
BadgerHawk on September 15, 2008 at 10:45 AM
If so, then we are all screwed, because their opponents sure has hell don’t have a clue.
ManlyRash on September 15, 2008 at 10:45 AM
And Obama bin Biden believe taxing the hell out of everything that is productive is the answer.
Ronald Reagan once said the first thing he did when he got into the oval office was look for the lever to fix the economy.
It isn’t about what the POTUS does but rather which set of guiding principles work best.
Show me one Socialist Country like the one Obama bin Biden wants that is an economic success story.
Elizabetty on September 15, 2008 at 10:46 AM
So what percentage of his top campaign people do you think are lobbyists?
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:46 AM
So now I am “Trailboss”? I thought I was Michael in Michigan?
Are you FiveWays?
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:50 AM
It will be interesting to see how the financial crisis cuts for McCain. Someone in Axelrod’s oppo corps is likely to recall that “The Keating Five” was not a British rock group.
Barnestormer on September 15, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I despise Obama with every fiber of my being. But leadership isn’t empty silly slogans. John McCain can authoritatively say that he has the guts and stamina and grit and determination to see us through this.
It’s a financial 9/11. And the financial future is very cloudy and uncertain.
People need assurance, not empty bullshit, and business as usual. all I’m saying.
JiangxiDad on September 15, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Frankly, I want to see an ad showing Obama’s link to ACORN, and what they are really all about.
MCCAIN is the one who needs to get tough right now. Hammer home that the media doesn’t want you to know Obama’s background or his past / current associations with shady (and dangerous) people. We don’t really know him at all, and he refused the townhall meetings because he likes it that way. Where are his college transcripts? Why has he exaggerated his history in his books (according to people who worked with him)?
Hammer home that Obama doesn’t want to drill for oil, but prefers to keep your gas prices high (he doesn’t care if it hits $4 a gallon).
Hammer home that socialized heathcare like Obama advocates PREVENTS advancements in treatments and $4 prescriptions … and provides inferior service, unreal red tape, and more expense in the long run, not to mention headaches and dangerous delays. Socializing medicine will ruin the finest medical system in the world. Tell the American people why REFORMING healthcare, rather than the American government TAKING IT OVER is the way to go.
Hammer home that Obama is the MOST LIBERAL MEMBER of the US Senate!!!! This is what middle America needs to know right now.
eucher on September 15, 2008 at 10:52 AM
I think we have it bracketed. Let’s split the difference and just go with McCain’s economic brain, Phil Gramm, being in a mental recession.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Thanks! I hadn’t read before. That’s a classic.
It’s 3:00 AM and the White House phone is ringing . . .
KABOOM!
Obama: Oops! I was not aware that I had pushed THAT button!
Loxodonta on September 15, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Hey now, that is not a silly slogan, it is a Bushism.
Also, you might need to order a stick removal kit on ebay.
Lighten up.
Elizabetty on September 15, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Isn’t that great, “timely”…?
I say, “are you hurtin’ yet…?”
How’s your pension fund, IRA and 401K doing under Bush…?
McCain will give you more of the same and won’t even talk straight concerning our collapsing economy.
How’s his new ad go today…?
More straight talk from the “double talk express”!
Where, oh where, can I get some more of that…?
J_Gocht on September 15, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Well the market is going up now. The PPT must be getting an early start.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:00 AM
What exactly is your major malfunction?
Washington DC is populated with lobbyists which is not against the law. Most of those lobbyists are former congress critters and Senators.
Barack Obama’s campaign is chock full of lobbyists too just like every other campaign run in the country the past half century or so.
This lobbyist crap and evey other piece of crap you are tossing about are nothing but Red Herrings.
This country has two choices, Obama or McCain.
Your posts are silly and meaningless in light of that reality.
Elizabetty on September 15, 2008 at 11:02 AM
I agree that this crisis is outside McCain’s area of experience. Maybe he’ll keep Hank Paulson on the job. It seems like Paulson understands the issues at a very deep level and intent on using the government to address structural threats while allowing individual investors and firms to fail.
dedalus on September 15, 2008 at 11:02 AM
As always, way off.
1) Since Bush dropped capital gains a little bit, other countries dropped theirs more.
2) Unless something is done, it’s scheduled to go back up in a little bit. Obama has pledged to not only let the Bush cuts expire, but raise them further. Venture capitalists are very concerned about what rates are going to be next year, and the further out.
So in your world, nobody should take risks?
As to this problem, it was not caused by risk taking, but by unwise risk taking. People took chances they shouldn’t have because the govt promised to bail them out if anything went wrong.
Please try to learn something beyond the latest DNC talking points MB4.
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:03 AM
So disagreeing with the latest DNC talking points is being senile?
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:03 AM
So what?
Obama’s campaign is also being run by lobbiests. So what?
Do you believe that there is something inherently evil about being a lobbies? Or is just lobbiests that you don’t like who are inherently evil?
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:05 AM
So Bush can pass legislation without the involvement of congres?
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Whats interesting to me in this banking meltdown, is that no one is even talking about the Federal Reserve Board and Banks.
These are the guys who make the rules, and oversee banking. All of this mess can be laid directly at the feet of the FED.
Now, just who oversees the FED? Could that be… CONGRESS?
The other interesting thing, is that once money (dollars) are in the system, they are not created, nor destroyed, but only change hands…
Just where in the heck is all the money? Could it be over in Foreign hands because we’ve been using it to buy oil? The same oil that CONGRESS STILL won’t let us drill for?
President needs to declare a National Financial Emergency, and use Executive powers to jump start drilling NOW! I think its the base cause of most of our financial problems…
Romeo13 on September 15, 2008 at 11:07 AM
About the same as Obama’s.
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:07 AM
MB4,
The problem is that Dr. Gramm has been proven to have been correct.
There is not, and never has been a recession. Just the media pretending there is one.
MarkTheGreat on September 15, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Don’t understand a single thing you said. But blame that on me if it makes you happy.
JiangxiDad on September 15, 2008 at 11:11 AM
ManlyRash on September 15, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Trailboss wasn’t MB4, Hal something or other was. Can’t stay, I am at work.
Cindy Munford on September 15, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Sorry. Don’t have a good enough feel for Paulson to know. I hope that he is a capable and steady man.
JiangxiDad on September 15, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Nice way to take over Obama’s “change we need” slogan. Very cool ad.
BTW, the Gallup poll “57% of think media has treated Palin either fairly or too well” is biased.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110359/Republicans-Cry-Foul-Media-Coverage-Palin.aspx
Here is the question and possible responses:
Instead of “fair,” the middle answer is “about right,” which implies “too positive.”
In fact, the poll shows 33% of Americans think the coverage has been unfairly negative, while only 16% of Americans think the coverage has been unfairly positive. Only 36% of Americans think the coverage has been fair.
This poll is not one to worry about. It shows that more and more Americans are rejecting the media filter and are focusing on the candidates for who they are, which is what we want.
indythinker on September 15, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Gramm not knowing that what he was saying was going to be harmful to McCain may not be senile but it is dumb for a guy who spent part of his career in politics.
Gramm has studied economics enough to know that you are usually in a recession months before the economists make the official call. Also, if Gramm studied how the NBER defines recessions he should have been more careful with his words.
dedalus on September 15, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Begeebus…
Senator McCain what’s it gonna be today; up or down, left or right; perhaps you could slide a little bit sideways…?
J_Gocht on September 15, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Let’s start with tax revenues. Over the past two years states and the fed have recorded RECORD revenues. The coffers are huge, while the spending practices are still NOT put in check. At the same time exports are at an all time high. I did not suggest long-term deflation, only price reductions that will allow the consumers to afford to purchase more for less. Consumer spending is a MUST to keep the economy moving forward.
I totally agree JD! The Fed must not be any more involved in correcting (bailing out) this current market. Passing this debt onto our children and grandchildren is a disgrace. This is why I say keep the government OUT.
The great depression was the first of many “buy now–pay later schemes that the government allowed, just like todays housing market that went unchecked. The S & L’s in the eighties were based on the same premise. It all starts with our governments (states and Fed) spending practices that are running rampant.
John McCain understands this………Obama and the tax and spend liberals do not.
Rovin on September 15, 2008 at 11:20 AM
At least we know MB4′s subscription to the Obama Talking Points Memo is paid in full.
But really, MB4, who got the money from these outfits that are now scrambling for their lives?
Answer honestly, now.
Obama got (a conservative estimate) 20 times more from them than McCain. Who got the sweet interest rate deals? Dodd — whose committee is in charge of “financial oversight” of these outfits.
Who did Obama turn to (albeit briefly) to help him pick a vice-presidential candidate? A top dog in the Fannie/Freddie
organized crime familyorganization.Oh, as for the Keating Five… Bob Bennett — the Democrat lawyer who ran the investigation — admitted that John McCain did nothing wrong, but there was no way the Democrats who controlled the Senate at the time were going to allow the four guilty Democrats to stand alone to face the charges without at least one Republican, so’s they could argue, as they always do, that “everybody does it.”
either orr on September 15, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Considering both Obama and McCain have received bundled money from many of these companies, including Lehman Brothers(although Obama received more)I doubt that either one can throw stones. Open Secrets is your friend.
Personally, I think this is one topic both campaigns would do well to simply offer solutions and not point fingers.
The banking industry and lawyers have ruled Washington long before GWB came along and they’re fair and balanced givers.
Deanna on September 15, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Now that’s an ad.
chiefeditor on September 15, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Great ad. Obama and Biden can only stand there and yell “It’s Bush’s fault and John McCain = Bush.” Pathetic.
D2Boston on September 15, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Econ for Dummies.
1) The dollar is only backed by our debt.
2) America is broke.
3) We can’t pay our debts.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:40 AM
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:42 AM
This would be unbelievably awesome.
Especially if they released a series of them on gas prices, earmarks (even the WSJ apparently doesn’t know the difference between earmarks and federal funding generally — and it’s an important difference), and on and on…
ClintACK on September 15, 2008 at 11:42 AM
I have no such subscription. I look at business sites. That is mostly what I did with my lose time before coming here. I should probably spend more time back over at them with our economy being held together by scheming, socialist bailouts and a lot of PPT and duct tape. I have been mostly out of the stock market for many moons now. How about you?
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:46 AM
I know it will never be talked about in this campaign, but House Republicans had a subprime mortgage regulation bill in 2000. Democrats refused to consider it because it preempted state regulation and Democrats wanted their crusading state AGs like Eliot Spitzer (LOL) to be able to sue and harrass mortgage banks. If there had been uniform federal regulation of subprime lending this boom and bust would not have happened. If there had been brakes on Fannie and Freddie none of this would have happened. Democrats bottled up every attempt by Republicans to do anything about Fannie and Freddie. Fannie had half of the freaking Democratic party on its payroll.
I have been a mortgage industry lobbyist for 10 years and I know what I am talking about here.
rockmom on September 15, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Are you aware of what inflation deflater they used to calculate that 3.3% annual growth rate for the last quarter? What I have heard is 1.2%.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I think this is the most devastating ad he’s come up with. In the last five seconds he throws down the gauntlet of experience and change, with a twist of reform. How can Obama even come up with a response to this? No wonder he’s going negative (and failing at that, too).
EMD on September 15, 2008 at 11:54 AM
I don’t think you have to worry that much as the fed pretty much shot it’s load on the GSE’s socialism nationalization.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:56 AM
“Experience and Change”?
lol.
As vacuous as “Hope and Change”.
MB4 on September 15, 2008 at 11:58 AM
The problem with using net growth numbers as an indicator of financial health is that it is entirely possible to have growth in an area which, though large, is not part of every day finances. Many people can be in recession on a personal level, even if the country as a whole is not.
OldEnglish on September 15, 2008 at 12:00 PM
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