One of the enduring moments from the 2000 Republican Primary was when, in a debate, Bush was asked who is favorite political philosopher was. The question was directed at Bush, because, of all the candidates, he seemed the least likely to be comfortable on the question of political philosophy. His brilliant answer, of course: Jesus Christ. He took a lot of shots for that, but it was a great answer. And I never really thought this answer was so bad. I consider myself to be intelligent, but I don't know what I would've said in a similar spot (it wouldn't have been Jesus, but it might've been pretty friggin' stupid).
I'm curious what John McCain would say to the same question. Maybe he'd name some famous war general.
I got thinking about it after hearing his take on the Wall St. crisis, which he somehow related to a "social contract":
The workers, McCain said on FOX, are the "victims'' of greedy and corrupt financiers on Wall Street. "If there is some way to get that money back, there may be legal remedies for some of them,'' McCain said of the financiers who have profited from the risk-taking that has resulted in so much disruption in the financial markets. "There is a social contract between capitalism and the citizen. That has been broken by these Wall Street'' executives.
I'm sorry, but I have no idea what he could possibly be referring to when he says there is a "social contract between capitalism and the citizen". He's just making up sentences here. Where would he even get something like that?
Monday, Barck Obama made a lot of hay by attacking McCain on his "the economy is strong" line. But whatever; that's just typical political puffery and politicians from both sides engage in it when it's expedient. But this is the line I'd be all over. He should take this quote, put it in an ad and question how McCain can help the economy, when he obviously hasn't the foggiest notion of capitalism, or whatever this means.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think Obama could do anything either, and I can't stand his populist rhetoric on every business issue. But at least he's read "Friedrich Hayak".
biden was on the opposite side on this argument, and was clearly talking on behalf of obama.
yes america, you clearly have a choice between the candidates economic philosophies.
> jack
please, Lord ........ not "4 more years" of republican stupidity and dishonesty ......please.
The 72 year old...had many decades to watch, decide, and act as a U.S. Senator, to defend the taxpayers of the U.S. However, he has voted over 90% with Bush to actually destroy America's Economy and ship our jobs overseas!!!
Despite all of the lies and omissions by the McCain Campaign and the Republican Party...desperate to retain power and their tax loopholes...including his own 2nd wife's immense wealth, he has NEVER STOOD UP TO THIS ADMINISTRATION WHO HAS USED AND ABUSED THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER'S MONEY..spending it like drunken sailors and into the pockets of Special Interests, Corporate America, the Warmongers, and Foreign Countries... anyone who will help the rich get richer!!!
THE TAXPAYERS are the ones that this administration has stolen over $5.1 TRILLION DOLLARS FROM OUR TRUST FUNDS...INCLUDING OVER $1.4 TRILLION JUST FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND ALONE!!! SOME OF THE OTHERS....MILITARY RETIREMENT TRUST FUND, RAILROAD RETIREMENT TRUST FUND, FEDERAL EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT TRUST FUNDS, THE AMERICAN INDIAN TRUST FUNDS..AND MANY MORE!!! THERE IS NO PLAN TO PAY THIS MONEY BACK...THAT WE WORKED HARD FOR...AND NO WAY TO PAY IT BACK NOW!!!
ADDITIONALLY, THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS BORROWED FROM 12 FOREIGN COUNTRIES...TOP THREE: JAPAN (OVER $600 BILLION DOLLARS), COMMUNIST CHINA (OVER $300 BILLION DOLLARS), THE UNITED KINGDOM, (OVER $200 BILLION DOLLARS) AND NINE (9) MORE COUNTRIES!!! ALL OF THESE LOANS ARE BACKED BY HARD AMERICAN ASSETS LIKE U.S. TREASURY BONDS!!! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE PAYMENTS AND THE INTEREST THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE MONTHLY ON THOSE LOANS? McCain was involved in all of this...and knew it well!!!
What about our Veterans...John McCain never questioned nor inquired about how our boys and girls were going to be taken care of before, during, and after this lie of a war!!! DID HE DEFEND THE WOMEN SOLDIERS BEING RAPED TRYING TO DEFEND THEMSELVES!!!
Did you hear McCain speaking up for the Katrina Victims, about the Millions of Foreclosures....people out in the street, children homeless due to predatory lending practices...the tricks, the omission of what the Mortgage documents actually meant, the benefits to the mortgage and lending companies to use subprime mortgages in the first place!!!
THEN THE BIG BANG...USING OUR TAX DOLLARS...WHAT IS LEFT OF THEM...TO BAIL OUT MISMANAGED AND PREDATORY INSTITUTIONS AND CORPORATIONS!!! ISN'T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD???
First off, its debatable if Jesus was a significant 'political' figure in his time, and its certainly debatable if New Testament Christianity has _any_ applicability to politics. If it does, it would seem to come in the traditions of non-violence and passivity, typified by the later Gandhi, the Dali Lama, and of course Jesus himself. So if Jesus was a favorite philosopher of Bush, what principles of Jesus has Bush followed in his political policies? Because I don't seem to remember Jesus and the Disciples conducting a pre-emptive strike on Pontius Pilate or the Romans.....
What has transpired in the markets is a terrible failure of capitalism; or rather a massive series of systematic bets gone wrong, all on the backs of the premise that real-estate would always continue to increase in value. When you pile instruments upon other instruments upon those assets (and then leverage say 10x into that), and use a 'risk' model to try to assess something that has never been assessed (diverse packages of subprime loans of various terms without historical default rates), its bound to fail.
And since the underlying assets continue to fall in price, have not gained liquidity, and buyers cannot easily access credit, the overlying instruments continue to degrade. But what has also built up is a massive counterparty interconnection risk that is probably opaque to most VAR engines; did anyone realize that pretty much everyone was exposed to AIG?
Neither candidate has said much in terms of concrete proposals. That said, given that the underlying problem is getting the housing market moving again, I don't see 'dribble-down' economics as a reasonable answer. I don't see high-end tax cuts simulating buying of average range houses; why would you? Big Ben has tried to get credit to everyone, particularly the banks in the hopes that they will get that credit to the consumer (because Ben can't do it direct), but the banks have zero risk tolerance for this right now, perhaps irrationally so, and that's typical of momentum thinking in a capital market.
So a wipe-out of the fundamentally unsound loans (taking the losses), modifications of the loans that are tenable, and an in-flux of cash to Fannie and Freddie to buy only conforming loans, along with a push to banks to originate more loans, should stabilize the housing prices by bringing more credit into the market. Yes, its at government risk to some extent, and it should be a temporary pragmatic measure, but otherwise housing price keep going down until 2010 and I hate to think who else that will take out on The Street.
He wants "the people" to love him (vote for him) so he showers them with crumbs and the leftover scraps from his rich table.
But in reality, he is a privileged boy whose father was in command of the Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War and his grandfather was also an Admiral.
Then he married a billionairess of the Anheuser-Busch fortune. (These Bushes just wont go away!)
He prides himself for rubbing shoulders with the people and for being one of them, like Prince Hal of Shakespeare's Henry IV.
But like Hal's betrayal of Falstaff after Hal acceded to the throne of England as Henry V, the people will also be betrayed by John McCain who has known only privileged power all his life and will probably be referred to as Busch III when he climbs to the American throne.
"Economics? Don't know much about that. My wife takes care of it for me."
Give 'em hell boys and girls, pour it on...