Friday, September 19, 2008

Honest John strikes again.


Photo from here. Read the story and check the Pinochio rating of misinformation by McCain, here. Remember, this is an attack from the guy with Phil Gramm as close, strategic advisor, the man who was the key cosponsor with Leach, (that's how he spells it, rhyming with bleach and not like the little animal), of the repeal of Glass Steagall (before repeal Glass Steagall had since the depression, as a matter of conservative prudence, separated commercial banking - such as lending short term on creditworthy manufacturers' inventory or receivables - from investment banking, such as securitizing subprime mortgages or selling the two Bear Stearns high-risk funds as sound and secure where the Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin names resonate). But giving fair credit, Bill Clinton and his investment banker - Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin collectively had their fingerprints also on the Glass Steagell death-knell effort, while neither Clinton, Rubin, McCain, nor Gramm has been directly linked to the alleged fraud of Cioffi-Tannin. It was Bush's fellow Cox sitting on his thumb instead of regulating things as head of SEC who looked elsewhere, somewhere, while the Bear Stearns and other mortgage-backed mischief was happening. The other four did not pick Cox, Bush did.

You don't need to put faith in my views and comments since I am just a Phil Gramm type of whiner. But it's fair to whine, Obama had no ties to any of those who ended Glass Steagall while the attempt to link him as close to the Fannie-Freddie contingent was manufactured from nothingness, and is as credible as Cioffi-Tannin sales pitch.

____________UPDATE___________
Huffington Post has analysis on Phil Gramm and McCain's Keating Five history. I see nothing there new, but Huffington's writer connects dots, as I did (each with the same general concerns but with somewhat differing personal approaches and emphases). The present meltdown and bailout, (the big time bailout is in the works, we've only so far seen the iceberg's tip but Paulson is working on the presently hidden body of it), and the unfolding events are analogous to the 1980's S&L situation, but with McCain wanting to be president now, not simply wanting a crony like Keating to get favorable regulatory attention as then.