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McCain speaks out against government bailouts

by Tina Kells | September 19, 2008 at 02:31 pm

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Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke out against the mass government bailouts being given to crumbling financial sector companies, in a speech given Friday, at a Republican rally in Minnesota.

McCain took the unusual step of criticizing the actions taken under the watch of a political ally, George Bush, stating that he believes the Treasury Department should not be purchasing debt from mismanaged companies.

McCain stated that the government should let the corporate world sort itself out, and get back to the business of managing the U.S. money supply and inflation rates.

McCain made little mention of the massive proposal being crafted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that could amount to a $1 trillion taxpayer bailout of the mortgage industry. McCain said simply that leaders should put aside partisan differences and "any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans."

The Fed engineered an $85 billion takeover of insurance giant AIG this week after seizing control of housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. McCain said that to help return the U.S. to fiscal solvency, the powerful central bank should instead focus on shoring up the dollar and keeping inflation low.

"A strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices," McCain said to applause from the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. "It will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again."

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Karen Hatter

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:51 on September 19th, 2008

Tina Kells, good stuff.

Most assuredly government bailouts will come with very much unwanted scrutiny of the practices of Wall Street that had been so hard fought against, as de-regulation was heralded to allow investment firms to do virtually as they pleased.

A related article here.

Tina Kells

at 14:52 on September 19th, 2008

Thanks Karen,

This cartoon kind of sums it all up for me

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26761901/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/21/

Karen Hatter

at 15:17 on September 19th, 2008

Sums it up for me as well, Tina!

What is most criminal about all of this is the chant that is parroted to the average citizen re: responsibility, not over extending oneself yet, it is being reported that the entities on Wall Street were borrowing way above any revenue they held when they made these deals.

Because of the monies involved, if the government does not bail them out, the entire national monetary system is in even worse jeopardy.

Anyone remember this ten years ago, with Greenspan leading the cheerleading section? The Federal Reserve bailed out the hedge funds, for the exact same reason!

Greenspan also supports this latest bailout.

Since it most likely is the richest in the nation, the top 5% that benefited the most out of all of this, it's seems they don't need the hefty tax breaks being offered by the McCain-Palin platform.

Senator McCain would be among those benefiting from his plan, with he and his wife having more houses than they can live in, as so many are without owning just one.

He can't run away from his reputation as a deregulator.