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- tcbishop12, on 10/06/2008, -1/+36According to Wikipedia, Gramm was one of five co-sponsors of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. One provision of the bill was referred to as the "Enron loophole" because the House Agriculture Committee drafted it and it was later applied to Enron. Some critics blame the provision for permitting the Enron scandal to occur.
Gramm's wife, Wendy Lee Gramm, was on the board of directors of Enron when it famously collapsed, giving the legislation its moniker, and she was named in many of the subsequently settled lawsuits.
Many believe that legislation written primarily by Gramm in 1999, is in large part to blame for leading to the 2008 mortgage crisis.. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is perhaps most famous for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act which regulated the financial services industry. The legislation allowed Swiss Bank UBS to purchase several American institutions. Gramm later became a lobbyist for UBS, collecting over 750,000 USD in fees. UBS alone issues over 18 Billion USD in subprime mortgages.
was John McCain’s presidential campaign co-chair[7] and his most senior economic adviser[8] from summer 2007[9] to July 18, 2008.[7]
In a July 9, 2008 interview explaining McCain's plans in reforming the U.S. economy, Gramm explained the nation was not in a recession, stating, "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," and "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."[10]
Gramm's comments immediately became a campaign issue. McCain's opponent, Senator Barack Obama, said, "America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy. ... This economic downturn is not in your head."
McCain strongly denounced Gramm's comments. Gramm later attempted to spin his comment, explaining that he had used the word "whiners" to describe the nation's politicians rather than the public, stating "the whiners are the leaders."
In the same interview, Gramm stated, "I'm not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true."
On July 18, 2008 Gramm stepped down from his position with the McCain campaign. However, he often accompanies McCain during the campaign, and continues to be an unofficial adviser on economic and financial matters. - thepoliticalcat, on 10/06/2008, -1/+30Hey, as a "whiner" who knows the recession and current economic disaster is "all in my head," I can only thank Phil Gramm for pointing out the defects of all Americans while slyly enriching himself with our tax dollars. Phil Gramm is THE best reason NEVER to vote for John McCain.
- Arishia, on 10/06/2008, -1/+30Gramm is one of the worst. Notice how frenetically the conservatives are waving us off Gramm and pointing to Fannie and Freddie? That isn't by accident.
- jericho4119, on 10/06/2008, -1/+22Fairly certain that the "Enron loophole" was written by lobbyists. I would surmise that this lobbyist is close to Phil Gramm and I am surprised that no reporter has outed this person.
I bet McCain knows the name of this individual; after all - he and Gramm are friends and his campaign is staffed by lobbyists. Reporters should ask McCain how he intends to make people who slip provisions into bills famous, if he can't even out the author of the Enron loophole. - inactive, on 10/06/2008, -0/+20McCain in March '08: Remove Regulations In Financial Markets
John McCain on the housing crisis just under six months ago: "Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital."
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/09/mccain-march-08-r ...
Obama on Proposed Bailout: No Blank Check!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhgdbC1kMOE
McCain defends deregulation, Obama blames deregulation (AP)
news.yahoo.com — Sen. John McCain defended deregulation on Wall Street even as he endorsed a $700 billion bailout of financial firms in an interview broadcast Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/financial_meltdown_cand ...
Obama Calls Bailout 'Staggering Price Tag, Not a Plan'
onthehillblog.blogspot.com — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is lashing out at the massive $700billion bailout that the Bush administration has put together to rescue the U.S. financial system, while Republican John McCain has offered a more muted response to the bailout plan.
http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-ca ...
Regulations Republicans Eliminated Causing Financial Crisis
Here are few: State Laws Against Predatory Lending, The Net Capital Rule, The Uptick Rule. And McCain has been touting the idea that more deregulation of industry would be part of his policy. That's worked out well so far, eh? Plus he has been stumping for deregulation of the healthcare system, because it worked out so well for the financial industry, seriously.
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/19/perin ...
GOP Was For Deregulation Before They Were Against It
Republicans deregulated markets causin the financial meltdown, then 6 months ago unveiled new plans for more deregulation of financial institutions, which McCain has supported on the campaign trail, but now GOPers have all flip-flopped.
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/19/dereg ...
McCain: Let's fix healthcare the way we did banking
Sept. 20 -- An article about health care published in an obscure journal led to a new skirmish Saturday between the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain over who should be trusted with the ailing economy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic ...
- seddyei, on 10/06/2008, -0/+7One would be an idiot not to paint McCain as a 3rd term of Bush, his policies are almost EXACTLY in line with the despised president. Please, tell me where he differs and I will give credence to your view - until then, get a life and stop defending crooks and liars.
- NoDrama, on 10/06/2008, -2/+7If we're playing guilt by association shouldn't it count if you hire questionable people? Or is that just about judgment n stuff? http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/How_closely_is_M ...
- voxlisa999, on 10/07/2008, -0/+4To "out of the box" :No one is saying that John McCain and George Bush are the same person. They are from the same party. McCain's advisers are Bush/Cheney people. McCain's campaign is run by Bush/Cheney people. McCain's policies were written by Bush/Cheney people. Do you want me to name them all?THERE POLICIES ARE VIRTUALLY THE SAME. He voted with Bush over 90% of the time in the past 8 years. What part of that don't you understand? And how is it a "smear" to compare the Republican Nominee for President to the current TWO-TERM Republican President? And if McCain didn't want to be associated with him, why did he go and get his endorsement?
- dinot, on 10/06/2008, -1/+5You find me a picture of Obama and Ayers doing this, otherwise STFU.
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/mccain%2 ... - inactive, on 10/06/2008, -0/+4Phil Gramm's wife sat on Enron's Board of Directors when Gramm helped push through the Enron loophole.
- dinot, on 10/07/2008, -0/+3Dear ThinkOutTheBox,
You don't. - dinot, on 10/06/2008, -1/+4LOL. Are you ***** kidding me? How many times did Obama meet Ayers and discuss policy? How many times did McCain meet Bush and discuss policy? The fact of the matter is that Obama/Ayers is guilt by association, but McCain/Bush is guilt by similar actions.
You name one thing that Obama and Ayers are the same on, and I'll provide you with 10 times as many on how McCain and Bush are similar.
BEING IN THE SAME ROOM DOESN'T MAKE THEM THE SAME PERSON. - inactive, on 10/07/2008, -0/+3Where is the outrage? Why are so few in the media actually talking about this? Where are all of these so called responsible journalists? Liberal media huh? That's laughable! I PROPOSE WE DO A LITTLE PHONE BANKING,DONATE MONEY OR TIME OR DO CANVASSING FOR THIS CAMPAIGN!!!! I DON'T WANNA HAVE ANY REGRETS THIS TIME...WE CAN'T HAVE A REPEAT OF 2000 OR 2004!!! What is being said by McCain and Palin is influencing people to say things like "kill him" or "he's a terrorist" at their rallies for gods sake! Does this not trouble anyone....look what happened recently with the wackos who listen to Limbaugh,O'Reilly and Hannity....does everyone remember the guy who went into the church and opened fire on innocent people killing and injuring them....and his reasoning? Liberals are the problem he said...and they found O'Reilly,Hannity and Limbaugh books in his house! Palin and McCain are now spewing this same vile crap that actually puts Obama and his family in physical danger....who cares about the politics...they are wrong and their lies have been debunked....we need to address the VERY REAL DANGER THESE SMEARS PRESENT!!!!
- AnakSeria, on 10/07/2008, -0/+3Look, there's no use arguing with folks like ThinkOutTheBox. You can only rationalize with someone rational.
If "Think" wants to vote for McCain, I say please do so. McCain deserves such votes. - MsLaurel, on 10/08/2008, -0/+2"Gramm's piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up. As the housing bubble ballooned, the face value of those swaps rose to a tidy $62 trillion. And as the housing bubble burst, those swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper, because no government agency had required the banks to set aside money to back them up."
I have seen this mentioned in other articles. Now that Wall Street has gone bust, the vocabulary (CFMA, credit default swaps) is out there. Now, the words and the story are meaningful to readers. - dinot, on 10/06/2008, -1/+3Are you honestly telling me that you do not see the difference between those two arguments? I'll gladly explain it to you if you want, but I guarantee you won't like it.
- kingofinternet, on 10/06/2008, -1/+3there's a difference between being in the same room with someone and agreeing with that person more than 90% of the time
*****! - xatomic, on 10/08/2008, -0/+2If it is ok for Palin, than its ok for Obama! live by the mud die in the mud!
- ThinkOutTheBox, on 10/06/2008, -3/+1Obama served on two different boards with Ayers how much of the time Obama agreed with Ayers is covered up and nobody is talking. Which means the Obama and Ayers exchanged ideas with each other on a regular basis and obviously they worked so well together they decided they would work on a different board together.
Calling me names isn't going to change the fact that Obama is a hypocrite and a whiner. - ThinkOutTheBox, on 10/06/2008, -4/+1Your a hypocrite, it's OK if Obama does it, but when McCain does it then it is a smear, racist, or a lie. So far my vote went from Obama, to Third Party, to McCain, back to Third Party, and its almost about to change back to McCain.
- ThinkOutTheBox, on 10/06/2008, -4/+1Your lack of critical thinking is astonishing. Obama and Ayers served on two different boards together. Which means they both exchanged ideas with each other on a regular basis. Nobody knows home much of the time Obama agreed with Ayers because nobody that knows is talking about it.
It doesn't matter how much more you can prove that McCain is like Bush, the fact is Obama and Ayers worked together on two different boards together. Which is an even more intimate relationship than serving in congress and voting on legislation. There is absolutely no difference in what McCain is doing to Obama that Obama hasn't been doing for the past 6 months to McCain. - ThinkOutTheBox, on 10/06/2008, -5/+1There is no difference Obama has been playing guilt by association against McCain since day one, now Obama is going to get all in a hissy fit because the same card get played against him. It doesn't work that way. You'll probably say something like McCain voted with Bush 95% of the time or something like that and claim that he is a mirror image of Bush which isn't the case.
The fact is Obama has been playing guilt by association since day one and now the table gets turned and Obama starts claiming lets talk about the issues. It is very hypocritical you have no argument against it. Every argument against it is simply ignoring the truth and it does apply to Obama with Ayers because Obama served on not one but 2 boards with Ayers so how often did he "vote" with Ayers? It is the same thing just one is in a political arena and the other is one on a board of directors which means they exchanged ideas on a regular bases. - ThinkOutTheBox, on 10/06/2008, -6/+1Yea Obama is bitching about guilt by association, but his entire campaign platform has been based off of linking McCain to Bush and trying to portray them as the same person. Right only blind fanatics could not see this.
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