Posted on 09/16/2008 12:11:48 PM PDT by markomalley
Yesterday, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the Democrats' vice-presidential nominee, told those gathered to hear him in St. Clair Shores, Mich., "I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain."
The Obama campaign announced: "Sen. Obama did a call this morning with some of his key economic advisors including Paul Volcker, Bob Rubin, Lawrence Summers and Laura D'Andrea Tyson about the state of the financial markets ... and what steps should be taken to address the problems in our financial markets and economy more broadly."
So, with the Democratic ticket screaming for action, and Wall Street in turmoil, what is the Democratic Congress doing about it? Are they in session? Are they debating bills with proposed fixes for the economy? Are they engaged in bipartisan discussions to develop a meaningful legislative strategy to deal with the economic uncertainties? Nothing, no, no and no are the answers to these questions.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are doing nothing! Well that's not quite true.
They're damning President Bush and Mr. McCain for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's failures. Disregard the advocacy of Fannie Mae's polices by Barney Frank, the powerful Democratic congressman from Massachusetts ... disregard Mr. Frank's and Mrs. Pelosi's continuing efforts to obstruct any regulation and oversight of Fannie and Freddie (until the recent restructuring by the Federal Reserve chairman and the Treasury Secretary, both Bush appointees).
Mrs. Pelosi, Messrs. Reid, Obama and Biden are blaming Messrs. Bush and McCain for the greed-driven credit policies of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. They're blaming Mr. Bush for the rating agencies failures to properly evaluate the risks of bundled mortgages. They're blaming Mr. Bush for the risky bank lending practices which were driven by bonus goals for the bank's executives and dividends for the stockholders. All of these practices occurred with a sitting, but idle, Democratic Congress whose members were the direct beneficiaries of huge campaign contributions made by the financial-services industry to their own re-election coffers.
And what solutions have our two Democratic congressional leaders proposed? We have heard nothing about investment tax credit encouragement ... to accelerate business and job growth. We have heard nothing about bank equity requirements relative to their liabilities ... to minimize failures. We have heard nothing about regulations to prevent future debt marketing efforts which create enormous fees and bonus opportunities for the investment bankers. We have heard nothing about foreclosure relief for the millions of home owners falling behind in their payments.
Is it possible that getting a Democrat in the White House is more important than the economic well being of its citizens? Have Mrs. Pelosi and Messrs. Reid, Obama and Biden calculated that congressional action now will help Mr. McCain get elected ... therefore, better to do nothing until Mr. Obama gets elected? This Congress now has the lowest approval rating of any Congress in the last 60 years. It did nothing last year. It's doing nothing this year. Mrs. Pelosi continues to obstruct new drilling for oil. Mr. Reid continues to obstruct new legislative initiatives to encourage investment. We are witnessing what may be the most egregious and destructive practice of "politics for politicians and damn the citizens" in modern history. In WWII, Gen. Leslie Grove ran the "Manhattan Project" to develop an atomic bomb. He did it in less time than it's taking Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid to develop a legislative agenda. In the '50s, Admiral Hyman Rickover led the effort to build the first nuclear submarine. He did it in less time than Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are using to draft economic relief legislation. The most distressing thought of this entire situation is that Mrs. Pelosi, as Speaker of the House and leader of this do-nothing Congress ... is third in line for the presidency!
Sends shivers up my spine...
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