McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition

Crabtownboy · Sep 17, 2008

A decade ago, Sen. John McCain embraced legislation to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries, helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades in favor of a less restricted financial marketplace that proponents said would result in greater economic growth.

Now, as the Bush administration scrambles to prevent the collapse of the American International Group (AIG), the nation's largest insurance company, and stabilize a tumultuous Wall Street, the Republican presidential nominee is scrambling to recast himself as a champion of regulation to end "reckless conduct, corruption and unbridled greed" on Wall Street.

"Government has a clear responsibility to act in defense of the public interest, and that's exactly what I intend to do," a fiery McCain said at a rally in Tampa yesterday. "In my administration, we're going to hold people on Wall Street responsible. And we're going to enact and enforce reforms to make sure that these outrages never happen in the first place."

McCain hopes to tap into anger among voters who are looking for someone to blame for the economic meltdown that threatens their home values, bank accounts and 401(k) plans. But his past support of congressional deregulation efforts and his arguments against "government interference" in the free market by federal, state and local officials have given Sen. Barack Obama an opening to press the advantage Democrats traditionally have in times of economic trouble.

In 2002, McCain introduced a bill to deregulate the broadband Internet market, warning that "the potential for government interference with market forces is not limited to federal regulation." Three years earlier, McCain had joined with other Republicans to push through landmark legislation sponsored by then-Sen. Phil Gramm (Tex.), who is now an economic adviser to his campaign. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act aimed to make the country's financial institutions competitive by removing the Depression-era walls between banking, investment and insurance companies.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html?hpid=topnews

Revmitchell · Sep 17, 2008

We need to get the Federal Government out of our lives. And this article is a distortion of McCain's continued position. I don't agree with McCain on this but this article is fallacious. As soon as one of the fact check sites correct this I will post it. All of this junk is a result of to much tax payer involvement with the market. Fannie Mae and the like need to come to an end. And we need to keep away any regulation that insists anyone should have to give loans to those who cannot afford to pay them back. The result is an over inflated market and higher loans people cannot afford. Add to that higher property taxes people cannot afford. The market needs a serious adjustment to get back to reality and away from the false market Clinton created.

carpro · Sep 17, 2008

It's a red herring.

Deregulation is not the culprit for our financial woes, especially in the mortgage lending business.

McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition

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McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition

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