Monday, September 29, 2008

What Are the Answers? And Who Has Them?

And here I go with the questions again. Like I’m sure nearly everyone else, I’ve been following the downhill tumble of the Dow Jones, the defeat of the bailout and asking, ‘what’s next’?

I don’t think that there is any doubt that the next president is going to have to deal with more than one major financial crisis. Who’s ready to do that? I do agree with Paul Krugman, NYT Op-Ed Columnist, who says that Obama seems well informed and sensible about matters economic and financial. I also agree with him when he says John McCain scares him -- he scares me, too.

Maybe Obama could have shown more leadership in regards to the bailout during the debate over the bailout bill, but that pales in comparison to McCain who was frightening before and is even more so now. We know he doesn’t know much, if anything really useful, about economics – he said so himself. Of course, he denied later that he had said it, but even that wouldn’t matter if he had surrounded himself with capable, knowledgeable advisors, but he didn’t. Gramm is still around even if it’s in the shadows after his “nation of whiners” statement. How do you feel about him as Secretary of the Treasury? I don’t think so!

McCain’s views have gotten progressively erratic. He’ll have a very strong opinion one day and a short time later he will go off in an entirely different direction. He’s still declaring that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong”, and this when the financial crisis had entered a new and even more dangerous stage. He was threatening to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which isn’t in the president’s power.

Then there was the rant about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and claiming that Obama was under their influence, when as it turned out, the firm owned by his own campaign manager was being paid by them until last month.

In spite of the fact that Paulson’s plan was only three pages long, McCain finally admitted that he hadn’t actually read it!

You can talk tough, stomp your feet, shake your fists at the evildoers all you want, but that isn’t what is needed in the office of President of the United States!

Again, my thanks to Paul Krugman! To read his complete article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29krugman.html?ref=opinion

5 comments:

Margie's Musings said...

I couldn't agree with you more. McCain is every bit as scary as our present president. I certainly hope Obama can be elected. I am just so afraid we are a nation of racists that that won't happen.

Darlene said...

I think I should have read your post before writing mine. I also mentioned Paul Krugman's article. I think it's a must read.

As I write this we know the bailout bill failed. It will be interesting to see if the sky falls now after all the dire warnings.

Judy said...

I think Obama has pulled ahead in the polls and is certainly the man to get the position. We all know that McCain just wants to be president more than anything else. I certainly think Obama would be smarter when it comes to the economic situation.

Rain Trueax said...

What worries me are the reasons people vote. We have always had people like McCain and Palin but what has let them get this close to the presidency? It's voters and that's the most upsetting part of this that people vote for people like these and GW Bush. I just hope the situation is turning around. That bunch in the middle though seem to be blown this way and that at any little thing and who knows how they might vote in November

lilalia said...

I read a headline today about McCain saying that Obama's politics will make the recession worse. A recession the republicans created, and one that yesterday, assured will get worse. McCain's accusation was so ridiculous. He doesn't even know what is in the bailout bill, how can he know what Obama proposes beyond the bailout?

I think Americans should revolt: speak out and say they want politicians that can read, think and speak on their own, and who have traveled extensively and know much about the many important matters they will address during their tenure.

The bailout didn't work on many levels... the aftermath is already making itself felt in countries outside of the US.