Who does this sound like:
“We’re going to reform how Wall Street does business and put an end to the greed that has driven our markets into chaos. We’ll put an end to multimillion-dollar payouts to CEOs who have broken the public trust. We’ll put an end to running Wall Street like a casino. We’ll make businesses work for the benefit of their shareholders and employees, and we’ll make sure your savings — IRA, 401(k) and pension accounts — are protected.”
Obama? Joe Biden? Hillary Clinton? Karl Marx?
Newp, it was our very own John McCain who uttered it at a town-hall meeting with Sarah Palin on Wednesday night. This sort of rhetoric is eerily similar to an ad that Obama issued on Monday evening – and one line in particular stands out. “We will make sure your investments are protected,” Obama says, defying all logic and the basic principles of risk in a capitalist society.
It seems to me that neither candidate is particularly pro-business and both seem to have a very limited understanding of money or how markets work. But this is particularly egregious coming from a Republican candidate. So, point by point:
*We’re going to reform how Wall Street does business
Oh. Like you reformed the education system with Ted Kennedy. Or immigration. How did that work out for you? Or Social Security? Actually, if you just talk about it and have plans to actually do something – such as with Social Security – that’s a position I can get behind. Leave Wall Street alone.
*Put an end to the greed that has driven our markets into chaos
Really? You’re going to end greed? Can you also end sloth, avarice, boredom and horniness? Just shut up, please. You can’t end greed and though it’s been said before, I’ll repeat the mantra: Greed Is Good!
*We’ll put an end to multimillion-dollar payouts to CEOs who have broken the public trust.
Depends on what you mean by “broken the public trust” here. If you mean they’re frogmarched off the trading floor in handcuffs, maybe okay. But if you are referring to the oil and gas CEOs who are doing nothing wrong at all, you’ve got beans for brains.
*We’ll put an end to running Wall Street like a casino.
Removing risk is not an appropriate response to a crazy market.
*We’ll make businesses work for the benefit of their shareholders and employees
Oh god, where is my fainting couch when I need it? Businesses don’t work – people do. And you can not dictate what someone’s priorities are going to be, though most CEOs do indeed work for their stakeholders because that’s what keeps their own compensations high. Working for employees? Businesses are not created just to give people jobs; they’re created to make money.
*And we’ll make sure your savings — IRA, 401(k) and pension accounts — are protected.
How? By regulating them to death? Why “make sure” that anything is protected. People need to take risks in order to realize reward.
It’s absurd that McCain is sounding so like Barry Obama. If not for Sarah Palin, I would not be able to overlook his sniffing at the balls of socialism.
Yes, Wall Street is going through a correction right now. Democrats ran Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and are presently Obama’s economic advisers). Democrats enacted Sarbanes-Oxley – which was supposed to fix everything after Enron. Democrats – and our own John McCain – seem to believe that by eliminating risk, they can foster accountability and responsibility in the system. They lack a fundamental understanding that Wall Street, by its very nature, is going to have ups and downs.
(And if you’ll forgive the segue, volatility is what Enron was trying to protect itself against with its hedges – and which now makes critics howl. If you could hedge against the swings on Wall Street, wouldn’t you? Praise Enron for being ahead of the curve.)
Wall Street is in enough trouble right now without the gov adding even more regulation and rules. Injecting more government has never been the solution to any problem. With something as important as our economy in the balance, we simply can not trust it in the government’s hands.
Things They Say